Believe it or not, negative thinking is trending. Does this mean positive thinking is old-hat and is the glass now half empty? With a sudden influx of articles, journals and self-help books focusing on negative thinking, can negative really be the new positive?
by Anna McDougall
The pursuit of happiness; for centuries man has scaled the ends of the earth searching for the happiness Holy Grail. For years our innocent minds were filled with ‘The Little Engine That Could’, the Ugly Duckling that turned into the beautiful swan and Miss Cinderella who lived happily ever after despite breaking her curfew. But in our increasingly cynical society, can chasing happiness and positive thinking ultimately be bad for you?
Oliver Burkeman, mental well-being cloumnist and author of ‘The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking’ is convinced that the pursuit of happiness and thinking positively is a problem. This indicates aiming too high leave us wide open to an overwhelming fall back to earth.
Recently Australia hasn’t been treating herself with the pride and recognition she deserves. After the 2012 Olympics and being considered to have not performed as successfully or fruitfully as expected, our once postitive and happy-go-lucky attitudes immediately dropped after winning ‘mere’ silver medals in our pet events in the Olympics – this was seen as failure not only by the spectators but the Olympians themselves.
Twenty year old Emily Seebohm was reduced to tears after claiming silver in the 100m backstroke. She said at a press conference, “I really don’t know what went wrong. I went out there and tried to give my best. I thought that I gave 100 per cent but it just wasn’t the result that I was looking for.”
“I just expected better from myself and you are your own worst enemy, you expect the best out of yourself. The time I swam the heat I would have won the gold so I guess there is still going to be disappointment but it is motivation to keep going and to keep striving to get that Olympic gold medal which everyone wants.”
As qualifying for the Olympics is an achievement in itself, Rescu. doubts whether negative thinking played a hand in getting them there, or any person that excels in their field. Life is filled with highs and lows and it’s our job to weather the storm and keep that smile on our dial.
Don’t cringe! Thinking positively is good for your health!
Have you ever gone to sports match thinking, ‘I’m going to lose today’ or arrived at an exam with thoughts like, ‘I will fail!’, just so you could feel better about yourself if you actually did lose or fail? It seems to be the hard way round to feeling good.
Thinking positively is exercise for the mind. It may not come easy but it remains an essential part of living a healthy life.
You are more likely to feel more energetic and relaxed when you are thinking positively, and lazy and tired if you are thinking negatively. Thanks to hormones secreted by the body, the sensations of impatience and pressure which accompany anger are caused by stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine. And it is the brain which controls the release of such hormones, influencing heart rate, blood pressure and breathing patterns.
But don’t take it from us! Let Rescu’s own Dr Feel-Good aka Happiness expert Yasemin Trollope show you how it’s done:
