Essay on The Balance Between Positive and Negative Thinking

I believe that in life you have to have a positive mindset on the things you do. Having a positive mindset will influence the things that you do. If you are constantly being negative then negative things will happen to you, but if you are positive, positive things will happen to you.

In his article, The Power of Negative Thinking, Oliver Burkeman discusses the realities behind excessive optimism and the benefits to negative thinking. Specifically, Burkeman argues that positive thinking hinders the preparation and motivation necessary to tackle actual real world problems whereas negative thinking allows for such preparation. His argument’s strengths come from his constant use of logic in regards to his evidence whether it be the “fire walkers” in the first paragraph or the opinions of Barbara Ehrenreich in the paragraph nine. In short, Burkeman does a superb job of championing the benefits of pessimism through his criticism on positive thinking.

Achor utilizes a meta-analysis, or the combination of different findings, of over 200 scientific studies to prove his overall theory that happiness leads to success in almost every aspect of life from family to friends to careers and businesses. He does not rely solely on the data or information from a few relevant case studies, but instead relies upon experimental research to support his claim. He utilizes his findings to create “The Seven Principles”, which are “patterns that predict success and achievement” (Achor, 17), which is headed by “The Happiness Advantage.” He utilizes the concept of positive psychology and neurological activity to showcase the point that we can “retrain our brains to

In the strength of positivity, an individual is often smiling, praising other people for their accomplishments, smiling and always keeping a positive attitude in every situation (Rath, 2007). The eager for enjoyment in life is very attracting, as an individual with positivity strength views the world in a better place. As this person comes in contact with other people in this world, a positive vibe is transformed into their lives. Even if negative things are happening around this individual, the positivity strength defeats and overcomes the negative energy (Rath,

There are skeptics who believe positive thinking practices are a mere trend and wants society to stop encouraging it. Myth buster and author of Bright-Sided, Barbara Ehrenreich, goes as far as saying positive thinking has damaged America. In her book she comes down on positive thinkers insisting they need to be more realistic about the struggles that undoubtedly are coming into their lives. Disagreeing with certain peoples’ beliefs about the method of simply thinking goals into existence.

In the video titled “The Happy Secret To Better Work”, Shawn Achor really outlines how being happy and staying positive can really change your life. In other words Achor is referring to positive psychology. When referring to the world around us Achor really believes the majority of people focus on only the negatives and not the positives. He also talks about how that reality might not be what shapes us but in actuality it is our brain that puts a lens on how we perceive things and that may change our happiness. Achor also outlines another trait of our brain, which is that we as humans set progressing goals that never seem to be fulfilled due to human nature. He finishes his presentation by giving the audience some ways to help reverse the way we see the world and help our work and life in general.

The Power of Positive Thinking Annotated Bibliography Smith, Dr Curtis E. Applied Power of Positive Thinking. Inspiring Voices, 2014. People struggle with issues of which they seem to be lacking adequate solutions to them. In this book, Dr. Curtis presents a formula that can help us to transform hopeless situations into opportunities.

There are many different views on positive thinking whether it is to be positive all the time as suggested by the film The Secret, be a realist and don’t be delusional as stated by Barbara Ehrenreich in her speech “How Positive Thinking Undermines America”, or just be somewhere in between such as a person who is optimistic but not to the point where they expect something they want to come out of the blue, they have to work for it.

In this video, Achor (2011)discusses how instead of simply trying to help or cure individuals with some problem in their life, positive psychology tries to take average people and find ways to reach their full potential. Many people believe that if they change the circumstances in their environment, they can generate greater amounts of happiness and well-being in their lives. Achor (2011) maintains that only about ten percent of long term happiness can be predicted by the external world, a whopping ninety percent is dependent upon what happens within our minds; and by changing the way people process the world around them, it can ultimately change how they perceive reality. Approximately twenty-five percent of job success can be predicted by

Positive thinking is one of the best ways to respond to conflict. In the following three stories Dear Miss Breed, I Am Malala, and Anne Frank show positive thinking. These stories will show how they used positive thinking in their lives. The teenagers showed how they used positive thinking when they had bad times.

People can train their brain to scan for the positive and become experts at capitalizing on Happiness Advantage (Achor 91)

Positive thinking alone is not going to effectively help out the world to become better, thus people need to take actual support for the society. To put it differently, being happy for one’s own life is not enough, above all, one should take his or her happiness and use it to inspire others and to give back to the society. Actions that contains positivity can be small, but influential. Namely, it could be a smile; it could be being thankful and thoughtful for others; it could be generously giving and many more. Individual can do small action every single day and the accumulation of it could turn into something bigger and further powerful that one could not imagine. It takes someone to put themselves out there that will be a real

Positivity is all around life even though in times it may look like it is impossible to see. Being in a positive state is when happiness is attained in someone’s life resulting in a boost of confidence and power. Wanting to just fight for more and get the most out of life is instinctive in society. Trying to get past a certain point just to crave more explains the need for positivity resonance to play out. Seeing a problem in a different way and solving it with skills that would not be thought of to use explains that need to improve life’s content. Seen in Barbara Fredrickson’s writing, “Selections from Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Do and Become”, life experiences certain blockades that limit outlooks on life

Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help you notice the discouraging thoughts that make you feel bad. These thoughts are sometimes called irrational or automatic thoughts. Using Cognitive-behavioral therapy you can learn to stop these thoughts and replace them with helpful thoughts. Positive thinking, or healthy thinking, is a way to help you stay well or cope with a health problem by changing how you think. Its based on research that shows that you can change how you think. And how you think affects how you feel. If you think in a positive way, you may be more able to care for yourself and handle lifes challenges. You will feel better. And you may be more able to avoid or cope with stress, and depression.

Positive psychology, which has emerged recently, is the scientific study of human thriving. Psychology traditionally focuses on dysfunction—on people with mental illness or other psychological problems and how to treat them. Positive psychology, by contrast, is a relatively new field that examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. In his 1998 APA presidential address, Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, argued that psychology had become too focused on curing mental illness according to a disease model, and that, for all intents and purposes, it had become a “victimology” (Seligman, 1998). What was needed, he averred, was a new “science of human strengths,” a positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).