When Positive Thinking Isn't Working - Get Real

In Praise of Thinking Realistically

By Lori Hope

Do you believe in the power of positive thinking? If so, you're not alone. Many maintain that by harnessing the power of belief, laser-focusing your mind, and visualizing positive results, you can create anything you want, including good health.

Best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich not only disputes this, but she calls it dangerous and delusional. In her new book, Bright Sided: How the Relentless Pursuit of Positive Thinking has Undermined America, Ehrenreich posits that telling others they just have to think positively belies a compassion deficit. It's like telling someone you don't want to hear their whining.

"The failure to think positively can weigh on a cancer patient like a second disease," writes Ehrenreich, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Ehrenreich's not against positive thinking. She's for realistic thinking - seeing things as they are, or "getting real," as I call it. Need convincing? Read on to see how getting real can help, encourage, and maybe even heal you!

Getting Real Allows Tears to Flow

Crying is healthy. Studies show that emotional tears release harmful chemicals that build up in the body due to stress. In addition, crying may stimulate the release of endorphins, natural painkillers that elevate our mood. When someone tells us to "just think positively," we tend to fight back the tears and rob ourselves not only of the release we need, but also of the comfort we deserve.

Lori Hope is a medical writer, editor, and author of the top cancer support book, Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know. Learn more at www.LoriHope.com.


From beliefnet