Category: Positive Thinking

Robert Anton Wilson (“Cosmic Trigger, Vol. I”), after witnessing his daughter forgive her muggers, gained new insight into the meaning of karma: “Karma, in the original Buddhist scriptures, is a blind machine; in fact, it is functionally identical with the scientific concept of natural law. Sentimental ethical ideas about justice being built into the machine,… Continue reading Karma

In his book Genome, Matt Ridley sheds some light on one compound— serotonin— whose levels change in the body based on society: Serotonin levels are not innate and inflexible. They are themselves the product of social status. The higher your self-esteem and social rank relative to those around you, the higher your serotonin level is.… Continue reading Serotonin and Social Status

Psychologists at the University of Waterloo concluded that [affirmations] make people with low self-esteem feel worse”. —Oliver Burkman, The Power of Negative Thinking So are affirmations best avoided? Let’s parse this out. Affirmations are akin to goal setting. Set an unreasonable goal for yourself and you may feel crummy when you find it out of your… Continue reading When Affirmations Make You Feel Worse

Jack Handy would consider speaking negatively about another person as falling off of the positive thinking wagon. Yet venting is a powerful tool in resolving emotional upsets. Venting done right leaves us feeling better afterwards, we  become less stuck within ourselves. This is not to say that speaking negatively of others is without fault. Venting done… Continue reading Venting vs. Poisoning and/or Blaming

I planted a bunch of sunflowers this year. I noticed one sunflower was having trouble standing up straight, so I put in a stake to prop it up. It continued to grow nicely just like the others. Yesterday, I remove the stake. Despite the sunflower now being considerably taller, it still leaned over. It had… Continue reading Crutches

In my 20s I spent a lot of time learning ‘positive thinking’ (for lack of a better term). I was involved in groups who loved throwing out simple statements like “your thoughts create your reality” and “whatever you resist persists”.