Positive thinking just means that you approach the really bad situations in a more positive and productive way. You must think the best is going to happen, not the worst.
Obviously different people have different approaches on this issue. As a general rule, working toward the best while being prepared for the worst seems to work for some people. In many cases preparing for the worst is the only way to attain the best outcome when something bad does happen. Which is sometimes does!A few weeks ago I was cruising down the highway when it started raining. My driver-side windshield wiper did not work, and it proved impossible to drive. I pulled over under an overpass, pulled my tools out of the trunk and fixed the wiper. Why do I have tools in the trunk? Because my car has 180,000 miles on it, and I would be exceptionally naive to think that nothing was going to go wrong with it. In this case I was able to get the best outcome from a bad situation because I anticipated something bad happening.
But my main concern on this blog is with people who have affective disorders. Affective disorders are not cognitive issues; that is, they are not caused by WHAT people think. They are caused by things that have gone wrong in the very physiology of the brain. When someone breaks an arm we don't tell them to cheer up and send them on their way. We fix the bones. Likewise, telling people with depression or dysthymia to cheer up is unproductive. And not just unproductive, but counterproductive: it reminds us that we are surrounded by people who cannot even begin to understand our conditions, thereby deepening the profound social alienation we already feel.
None of this is to say that there is no connection between cognition and affect. But that connection is surely complex and governed largely by genetic and other somatic issues. And in particular, any causal relationship probably runs opposite the direction that cognitive-behavioral therapists think it does.
Positive thinking just means that you approach the really bad situations in a more positive and productive way. You must think
ReplyDeletethe best is going to happen, not the worst.
Thanks
Mark Duin
Motivational Speaker
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by!
Obviously different people have different approaches on this issue. As a general rule, working toward the best while being prepared for the worst seems to work for some people. In many cases preparing for the worst is the only way to attain the best outcome when something bad does happen. Which is sometimes does!A few weeks ago I was cruising down the highway when it started raining. My driver-side windshield wiper did not work, and it proved impossible to drive. I pulled over under an overpass, pulled my tools out of the trunk and fixed the wiper. Why do I have tools in the trunk? Because my car has 180,000 miles on it, and I would be exceptionally naive to think that nothing was going to go wrong with it. In this case I was able to get the best outcome from a bad situation because I anticipated something bad happening.
But my main concern on this blog is with people who have affective disorders. Affective disorders are not cognitive issues; that is, they are not caused by WHAT people think. They are caused by things that have gone wrong in the very physiology of the brain. When someone breaks an arm we don't tell them to cheer up and send them on their way. We fix the bones. Likewise, telling people with depression or dysthymia to cheer up is unproductive. And not just unproductive, but counterproductive: it reminds us that we are surrounded by people who cannot even begin to understand our conditions, thereby deepening the profound social alienation we already feel.
None of this is to say that there is no connection between cognition and affect. But that connection is surely complex and governed largely by genetic and other somatic issues. And in particular, any causal relationship probably runs opposite the direction that cognitive-behavioral therapists think it does.
Cheers