Nine Reasons Why Positive Thinking is Actually Negative

On Tuesday, Beyond Words author Garret Kramerposted the following article on his blog expressing why he feels positive thinking is actually negative. Needless to say, it sparked a lot of discussion around the office.

On the surface, it seems counter-intuitive to think that positive thinking could be negative. We wanted to hear your thoughts on his position. Below is his blog on the subject. You can learn more about Garret's position and his book, Stillpower, on his site garretkramer.com.

Nine Reason Why Positive Thinking is Actually Negative

by Garret Kramer

As many of you know, in my mind, affirmations (or trying to think positive) don’t work. In fact, they work against you. Because so many readers have expressed surprise at hearing me say this, this week I’ve decided to list my reasons, one by one. So, here are my nine reasons why if you believe in positive thinking—you might want to think again:

1. All thoughts are random and meaningless (not a result of your circumstances)—including positive thoughts.
2. Positive thinking implies that negative thoughts are the result of your circumstances, and, thus, not random and meaningless.
3. Positive thinking energizes negative thoughts by turning something that’s meaningless into something that we must overcome.
4. There is no connection between peace of mind and positive thinking.
5. There is a direct connection between peace of mind and unnoticed thinking (a state of no thought).
6. There is no connection between performance excellence and positive thinking.
7. There is a direct connection between performance excellence and unnoticed thinking (a state of no thought).
8. Positive thinking implies that clarity of mind can be achieved by doing—manipulating or changing thought—when clarity of mind only occurs instinctually or on its own.
9. Manipulating thought (changing negative into positive) stunts your innate functioning, inner wisdom, intuition, and personal development.

There’s my list. Let me know what you think or if you have questions.

Obviously, pointing readers inward, to an understanding about the principle thought—not to trying to control thought—is a very important component of my work. I look forward to continuing the discussion.

- Garret

P.S.  If you’re wondering about thought being random and meaningless, look at it this way: Have you ever had a thought about something and then had a different thought about the very same thing? Well, which thought is meaningful?