Is Positive Thinking Even Advisable As A Strategy Or Is It A Fools Errand

[Joseph Maynor]

I know some of you spiritualists on here seem to think that positive thinking as a personal development practice is a fools errand.  This actually surprises me, and I think that that's too bad.  Care to elaborate and debate/discuss this with me?  Let's do some hashing out here.  Some getting to the bottom of this.  

I believe positive thinking is the holy grail after enlightenment.  The final solution so to speak.  The last move one can make in personal development.  The hallmark of the true sage.  Peace and positive thinking go together like ham and eggs.

Please watch Leo's video on "Positive Thinking" first before responding to this question.  It is a prequisite to this discussion.  So if you haven't done that go do that first.  Otherwise we're not gonna be focused in our discourse.  We're gonna be talking past each other which is no good.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Emerald]

13 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

I know some of you spiritualists on here seem to think that positive thinking as a personal development practice is a fools errand.  This actually surprises me, and I think that that's too bad.  Care to elaborate and debate/discuss this with me?  Let's do some hashing out here.  Some getting to the bottom of this.  

i believe positive thinking is the holy grail after enlightenment.  The final solution so to speak.  The last move one can make in personal development.  The hallmark of the true sage.  Peace and positive thinking go together like ham and eggs.

I think it's wise to practice positive focus but not positive thinking. So, I think of positive thinking as being self-deceptive and trying to convince yourself that everything's all positive. So, it's not honest because sometimes we don't feel positive and that's normal. It undercuts the ability for awareness to only allow yourself to interpret things as positive.

However, with regard to positive focus, you can be very honest about the situation. So, if you feel terrible or hate the situation that you're in, you can admit that. But almost everything has something positive about it. So, in positive focus, you find that thing. If we take an extreme example of having been the victim of assault in the past. This is a bleak thing and it's normal to feel very negative about it. But if I were to try to practice positive focus, I could notice that, "Now that I've experienced extreme suffering, I can offer my help to others." or "Since I've experienced this, it enables me to practice letting go in an extreme situation, so now letting go in normal situations is much easier." But this can be used in any everyday situation too: positive or negative. You can always find something that's good in a mundane situation by focusing toward positive things that you take for granted. 

[Bob84]

You feel how you think. Mental mastrubation is part of life. Might aswell enjoy it.

[Natasha]

@Joseph Maynor I've found stretches of no-thinking to be most relaxing, peaceful, and positive   

[Arkandeus]

16 minutes ago, Natasha said:

@Joseph Maynor I've found stretches of no-thinking to be most relaxing, peaceful, and positive   

that is true,but unless you've already gotten rid of your negative beliefs it might be more beneficial to purge negative thoughts with positive thoughts.

 

there's really no downside to being positive and there is never any upside to being negative. that is the only truth. 
you're here to accomplish your desires and be happy, that's what life is about. 

we as a society, think we can be ''realist'', observe our lives and take "conclusion''. 
but you're living it, you cannot take a step back, evaluate things and make conclusions like an observer.  
you're an active participator, you are in the frontlines, you have to make this happen

when one gets really serious about being happy, they will know that there is no negotiating, if you want to be happy, you will not settle for anything less then being happy with your life.
negative thoughts are useless, doubt is useless, fear is useless. 
somehow with the life you're living you need to be able to be happy, whether you're poor, whether you're sick, whether you're missing a leg, whether you're terribly lonely,don't let anything stop you
this is about matter beyond the physical life,you cannot believe in your happiness if you put conditions on it. 

it is not up to us to decide what our happy life will look like, what form it will take, the circumstances surrounding it,but it is in our power to attain that happiness, we may not decide how get it but it is ours to take, we deserve to be happy. 
you just have to be able to drop the conditions, drop the illusion of your physical circumstances, drop the limitations, whatever is going on in your life, it doesn't matter, don't let it bring you down, don't let it make you think negatively. 

that's basically it, if you stop thinking negatively no matter what happens in your life you will quickly attain enlightenment, to not think negatively when your life feels like absolute shit is to love your life, it is to forgive the universe, it's to bear hope, it's to forgive this world, forgive yourself, forgive others, it's to believe in yourself, to believe in the good in the universe, it's to practice unconditional love, which is the key to enlightenment

 

it's this simple in theory, in practice it's one of the hardest things on earth

Edited June 24, 2017 by Arkandeus