New York, NY – A recent NYT article entitled “The Power of Negative Thinking” has been making the rounds recently as a confrontation to a rampant amount of positive thinking. The article cites the burns suffered by recent attendees of a Tony Robbins seminar as they attempted to walk across hot coals. Apparently the failure of these “fire-walkers” is proof that positive thinking does not work.

“To them, it’s all a matter of mind-set: cultivate the belief that success is guaranteed, and anything is possible. One singed but undeterred participant told The San Jose Mercury News: “I wasn’t at my peak state.” What if all this positivity is part of the problem? What if we’re trying too hard to think positive and might do better to reconsider our relationship to “negative” emotions and situations?”

The author goes on to discuss how allowing for negative or pessimistic thoughts actually prepares one for the possibility of failure.  Most of this is circumstantial at best but doesn’t get to the core of the issue. It’s natural to understand the pushback against a seeming parade of positive thinking and energy. We are drowned in these types of affirmations via media, “self help” books and of course self appointed gurus many of whom are peddlers of “positive snake oil”.  They tell us that by merely having positive thoughts we can overcome difficult situations and realize our dreams. This is positivity as a passive activity. Mere thinking is doing. This is the same thought process that afflicts activism as many people merely signing online petitions, liking cause and retweeting can lead to systemic change. In fact, positive thought is only meaningful if it active and that can be the hardest thing we do.

Much of the world is actually a negative or challenging place. We are confronted by personal battles, and depending on our engagement staggering global issues around poverty, war, income inequality and climate change. In the face of such insurmountable odds it can be easy to fall victim to negative thoughts about the universe and our place in it. To actively engage in optimism and more importantly to use that optimism to drive change requires hardwork, dedication and focus.  If not for those who chose to envision a better world, and work to create it how would we ever advance. Being positive does not mean you do not acknowledge failure it simply means you process failure in a different way.

“Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

The above quote is a perfect example of positive thinking coupled by action. Failure and setback are inevitable but that is not the end of the road it is merely a detour. An optimistic view point is a powerful weapon against the type of cynicism that is all too common in the world already. If you ask me, we never have enough positive thinking, especially when coupled with positive action.