What Does "Thinking Positive" Really Mean?

It's impossible to totally separate our sense of reality from that of illusion. Our thoughts, underlying assumptions and feelings that make us who we are, often times obscure actual reality.

Thus, navigating through life becomes a balancing act that requires us to mediate the demands of the real world with a "software system" that may contain many false and/or outdated presuppositions. Because of the innate blinders all of us wear, it's crucial that we maintain a keen awareness of what these underlying assumptions are as we use them to understand and interpret our reality, because ultimately that will determine our state of equilibrium in the long run.

Adopting the "Pollyanna principle" - everything will work out right in the end — or positive thinking without critical thought as your chief way to maneuver through what can sometimes be rough terrain is the surest way to negative consequences.

Don't think you can if you can't. That's what people tripping on LSD do. Yet, it seems, Americans, in particular, believe in a form of positive thinking that borders on delusional optimism, if not outright delusional optimism. Maybe it's because we can...because we're fortunate enough to live in a country that up until now has been (geographically) insulated from the rest of the world. However, as the world continues to shrink, so does that advantage.

Positive thinking isn't about pretending everything is hunky dory. It's not about burying your head in the sand and telling everyone life's a bowl of cherries. It's not about asking for big houses, big cars, and making your own life comfortable at the exclusion of knowing what's going on around you.

It's about paying attention, so you are not caught off guard by the powers that be. It's about doing your homework to find out what you need to do to take positive action. It's about hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. And ultimately, it's about accepting the resulting reality in lieu or despite your best efforts.

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Precarious Pollyanna and The Impotence of Positive Thinking

Why do the caustically cheerful or perfunctory perky, often times, trouble the nerves of the sepulchrally somber (Debbie Downers) amongst us ? Probably for the same reason the wording of this question is enough to make anyone's skin crawl. It tries way too hard to be something it's not.

Anyway, the genuinely joyful are excluded, unless, of course, they are morning people, then they're included, genuine or not. It's fairly easy to tell the difference between someone who just happens to be blessed with gleeful genes and the ones who create their cheery facade in order to hide the reptile that lurks beneath. If, all of a sudden, while talking to said person, despite his or her saccharine sweetness, an ax-murdering televangelist pops into your head...you know you've found yourself a charlatan of cheerful.

The "power" of one-dimensional positive thinking, underwrites the American belief that anything is possible and you will get whatever you want, even when accompanying circumstances are in clear opposition. In other words, if you fail to "achieve", it's your own fault because you lack the mental and emotional strength to stay chipper and perky despite the sky falling all around you. Just like in the book, "The Little Engine that Could", "I think I can" always translates to success.

However, when you think about it, the reason we're in this fiscal mess is because of this type of magical thinking, that distracts itself from anything that might interfere with its "positive" agenda. America doesn't like “negativity”, especially when it interferes with an envisioned fantasy that is supposed to transform their "reality".

Corporate America capitalizes on this false optimism and "Freudian denial" that defines our culture, in order to smooth over the fundamental contradictions and incoherencies that exist in the inconsistent logic it spews, which serves to line the top of the corporate hierarchy at our expense. Rose colored glasses are mandatory for employees in this environment and anyone who even questions or dares to face reality, quickly vanishes.

The enormous scale of deception that permeates our current economy has paid those who have participated in its creation very well. For all the rest of us...not so much. But, because so many Americans believe in the "power" of positive thinking, they dared not question the bill of goods being sold to them, in fear of being labeled "unpatriotic". You see, corporatism and consumerism is very intrinsic to patriotism, or so we're indoctrinated to believe.

On the other hand, negative thinking is certainly not the answer as it erodes self-confidence and motivation, and very often leads to depression. So, what is the answer? We could start by developing an awareness of things as they really are, and not how we would like them to be. Granted, it's not as easy as it sounds as we all carry with us, an inherent bias, that will delude our thinking. However, if it walks like a crook, quacks like a crook, and looks like a crook, it probably is a crook, no matter what color his skin, how much money he has, his status, etc...it's not rocket science.

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