{"id":332,"date":"2015-01-25T21:24:49","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T04:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journeyinstitute.org\/blog\/?p=332"},"modified":"2015-01-25T21:24:49","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T04:24:49","slug":"opposing-positive-and-the-meaning-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/2015\/01\/25\/opposing-positive-and-the-meaning-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposing Positive and The Meaning of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2012-09-29_11-11-29_738\"<\/a>Positive thinking. Goal setting. Reaching for your Dreams. This is the foundation of motivation, inspiration, and the self-help culture over the past few decades.<\/p>\n

Lately, a new wave has begun a virus like battle to undo this \u2018think good things\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n

Blogs, letters to the editor, websites, and books are being written to down-play this thinking of old and replace it with a more \u2018realistic\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t fall for the \u2018rah rah\u2019 they say. Don\u2019t try and risk everything because most people fail (and thus, the inference is, you will as well).<\/p>\n

Now a new supervirus has begun to combat this positive way of thinking. Although the premise is not new, the propagation of it is. It has been referred to as Defensive Pessimism, that old \u2018if you believe something bad will happen and then work hard to ensure it won\u2019t you\u2019ll be happy when it doesn\u2019t and not disappointed if it does\u2019.<\/p>\n

So the basic premise in all of this is not to get your hopes up. Don\u2019t spend too much time dreaming and for goodness sake don\u2019t actually follow your dreams. Stay grounded, be realistic, and whatever you do don\u2019t drop everything and chase after some lofty goal.<\/p>\n

The intentions are well enough. There certainly is a plethora of data to suggest that those who risk foolishly and jump off the proverbial cliff in search for some far off Dream do in fact fail. Of course, there are those who succeed as well, but they are much smaller in number.<\/p>\n

This alternate course sets you up to succeed, such is the claim of the virus makers, because by \u2018preparing for the worst\u2019 and then working your butt off to prevent it, you virtually ensure that the worst won\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

One might argue that putting forth the same amount of butt-working towards a goal and dream might also ensure its success, but we\u2019ll put that aside for now.<\/p>\n

The biggest Achilles heel of this less than positive virus thinking, is that it has tunnel vision. The focus is all about the end result, either the worst case scenario or a goal or dream.<\/p>\n

It misses one main, and often forgotten, principle of the think positive movement. Namely that it is just as much, if not more, about the journey as it is the destination. You see if you live day to day with a pessimistic attitude, defensive or not, and work to prevent the doomsday scenario you play in your head, even if you are successful in preventing the end result from happening, you spend all of your time expecting the worst to happen.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t seem like a fair trade for the minutes, hours, days, and weeks of your life that are measured by the time you are willing to exchange them for.<\/p>\n

Inoculating yourself against such a virus is more than simply thinking positive thoughts. Simply thinking something good will happen has never made something good happen. It takes action to make things happen. However, thinking positive thoughts WHILE taking action . . . that is, as they say, the \u201cmagic sauce\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the journey, not simply the destination. Positive Thinking in and of itself will not help you achieve your goals. Put together, however, with specific action, focus, thought and the right questions, Positive Thinking will not only help you achieve your goals, it will help you enjoy the journey as well.<\/p>\n

Enjoying the journey gives life meaning\u2026 or perhaps, it is the meaning of life.<\/p>\n\n

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Michael Jenet<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Positive thinking. Goal setting. Reaching for your Dreams. This is the foundation of motivation, inspiration, and the self-help culture over the past few decades. Lately, a new wave has begun a virus like battle to undo this \u2018think good things\u2019 movement. Blogs, letters to the editor, websites, and books are being written to down-play this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"builder_content":"

Scroll down to see our published authors with links to their books.<\/h5>

Coming Soon<\/h2>\n

Kelly Price &
Gavi Michaelson<\/p>\n March 28, 2023 <\/a>\n

Michael Grant<\/p>\n Coming 2023 <\/a>\n

Adina Ciment<\/p>\n Coming Soon <\/a>\n

Jasmine Castigliano &
Hannah Nordman<\/h5>\n Coming Soon <\/a>\n

Ashley Cornelius<\/p>\n Coming Soon <\/a>\n

Andrea Gelfuso &
Lindy Olson<\/p>\n Coming Holidays 2023 <\/a>\n

Dafna Michaelson Jenet<\/p>\n Coming Soon <\/a>\n

Michael Jenet<\/p>\n Coming Soon <\/a>\n

Meet Our Authors<\/h1>\n

Andrea Susan Valentine Gelfuso Goetz<\/p>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/em> Now Available <\/a>\n

Peggy Hill<\/p>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/em> Now Available <\/a>\n

Christy Belz<\/p>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/em> Now Available <\/a>\n

Lisa Lee<\/p>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/em> Now Available <\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}