Hale Dwoskin on why “Positive Thinking” fails to build lasting personal growth
Hale Dwoskin is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-being, is a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council, and CEO of Sedona Training Associates.
He writes in an article about trying to use a form of positive thinking:
When I was in my early 20s, I was extremely shy. I couldn’t approach women, I had no idea how to properly introduce myself to strangers, let alone make small talk.
I’d heard that positive affirmations and “happy thoughts” could bury my fears and help me build the confidence I needed. I was certain that if I told myself I was great in a crowd, I would be great in a crowd.
So, for months on end, I walked around all day long repeating over and over in my head, “I am highly pleasing to myself in the presence of other people.”
In the meantime, I forgot to stop repeating and start living. Instead of propelling my social life into the next dimension, my record-player thoughts played again and again in my head and I felt completely ridiculous!
Positive thinking takes an immense amount of effort and, for most people, it doesn’t even work! It only covers the negative thoughts with positive ones and can still leave you crying on the inside. Remove them by letting go of your limiting thoughts, feelings and beliefs and your thinking, feeling and life experience will be a thousand times more positive.
More in his article Why “Positive Thinking” Actually Fails… and What to Do Instead.
[Photo: Michael Cera in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.]
For more on shyness, see the Highly Sensitive site.
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