The Inspiration Place

Posts Tagged ‘Delusional’

Some people insist that positive thinking is dangerous to you, although they are not in the majority on this. But the disbelievers could know something. After all, just about everything good also has something to worry about. However, any pitfalls notwithstanding, the basic premise of being a positive person isn’t wrong. You just need to understand the ground rules.

There is one obvious danger related to positive thinking, that being kidding yourself into thinking everything is okay when it is anything but okay. There are, of course, certain obviously-negative situations that must be faced up to and dealt with whether you like it or not. The key here, is not to let one bad circumstance cloud your vision and optimism about other future issues. Then too, most bad things can still be responded to with a positive, problem-solving approach best achieved by thinking through the problem and the options available to solve it. That is a positive thinking approach applied to a negative issue.

In general, if you approach life with positive direction, the best way to confront any problem is to ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish?; what solutions are possible under the circumstances?; and what solution is the most practical for me?. This kind of self talk or self questioning almost always leads to the right answer.

Most critics of positive thinking believe it is self-delusional and they can be right in some situations. If you embrace positive thinking improperly, and refuse to face facts that are plainly before you, that is either deluding yourself or being in a state psychologists call denial. Neither is a good thing. You can be a positive thinker and still be a realist at the same time. Positive thinking is a way of looking at things, but not always necessary as a solution.

Critics also sometimes say that positive thinking takes away your awareness, self trust and intelligence. Not if you don’t let it. All those personal assets can be applied in a positive way and to great advantage. Just because you have a positive attitude certainly doesn’t mean you won’t trust your own intelligence and good sense in analyzing a problem.

All this being said, the pitfalls aren’t the result of positive thinking per se. Instead they are really the result of not applying the ground rules of positive thinking properly in some situations.

Well excess of anything may be dangerous but you still must be positive to face any kind of situation in life.