Positive Thinking - A Follow Up

Ok, so the other day I posted about the power of positive thinking (see below). There were so many comments with interesting points that I felt I needed to dedicate another blog post to it.

One issue raised was that even if, say, The Secret and other positive thinking theories don't work, is there any harm in believing in them? Isn't it good just to have something to believe in, whether or not it's real? (Think of the statistic that says people with religious beliefs are happier than those without.)

Well, with The Secret specifically - I see two major problems. One - this author does a very thorough job in covering her @ss in that she says her proposed theory is 100% effective for 100% of the population 100% of the time (pretty amazing, isn't it?!?!). Wait, what, The Secret didn't work for you?! You must have somehow done something wrong!! Wait, all of a sudden something bad happened to you? You must have somehow brought it on yourself!!

Imagine all the angst, stress, trauma and guilt this can cause a person - especially someone going through a rough time in the first place!! I can't see this self-blame being good for one's self-esteem, psyche, or ability to keep pushing through.

If that alone isn't bad enough, I think the second fundamental problem is much worse. Generally speaking, when one has a dilemma, he or she will work to find a solution; however, once one finds a solution, he or she will usually stop looking for it. I think The Secret, along with many other self-help books on the subject of the power of positive thinking, have positioned positive thinking as the solution.

Although positive thinking can be nice, it is action, not thought, that moves mountains. I do have a feeling anonymous is going to reply that these books don't tell their readers to stop at positive thinking alone, I do think perhaps a good amount of readers have interpreted them that way. I think the positive thinking craze has produced a society of thinkers when what we really need is a society of doers.

That, and another gripe is the notion that no one has ever succeeded without thinking positive. Although I'm sure there are a lot of successful people who will claim their mentality largely contributed to their success, haven't there also been instances of people taking the long shot - maybe throwing up a Hail Mary or taking the half-court shot at the buzzer that he or she thought didn't have a prayer and somehow, someway, emerged victorious?

Ana suggested that positive thinking might not be the real medicine, but what is? That I don't know. But I do know that one should keep searching until he or she finds it. And, in my opinion, this positive thinking movement hasn't helped that cause.

The Power of Positive Thinking?

Now, let me preface this post with the obvious (or at least, what is obvious to anyone who regularly reads my blog or knows me personally, or both):  I am a cynic. 

Let me speak for a moment on the matter of the idea of the power of positive thinking.  The concept has been around for a long time and has had a recent surge in popularity.  Think "The Little Engine that Could" (inset).  The book "The Secret".  Barack Obama and his message of "Hope".  

Now, you all know my feelings on "The Secret" and "Obama" - I'll have to reread the train book before making an informed comment on it.  I was perusing the amazon.com message boards and came across a comment that brought up that 'yes, the book (The Secret) is a total sham in terms of false promises and sleazy marketing techniques, however, is her message of positive thinking wrong?'

Hmm.  Is there anything wrong with it?  Probably not.  But  is there anything really right with it?  Is it as all-powerful as so many self-help gurus have claimed?  Has it consistently performed?  Does it deserve the credit it has received?

Let's look at a couple question on the matter:  Do the masters of positivity really have resumes of mountains they've moved?  More importantly, in instances of success and overcoming great adversity - was positive thinking really the factor that lead to success, or was it a correlation moreso than causation?  Is there any way to really even measure this, per se?  

As I said, I'm not knocking positivity, but maybe it's a placebo when we need real medicine.  

Your thoughts?