The Power of Negative Thinking

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Author Norman Vincent Peale is probably best known for his book, The Power of Positive Thinking. While most mental health professionals denounced his thinking, the book remains a best seller today.

I have always been a great believer in positive thinking. Norman not withstanding. It’s always seemed to work for me throughout my life. The power I’ve seen is pretty undeniable.

What About Negative Thinking?

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Vladimir Lenin. Doing something negative usually gets more press than doing something positive.

We will relate bad service to others quicker than good service. We might embellish gossip about someone else to make it more salacious.

Negative press appears on the front page while the retraction is usually buried somewhere else in the paper.

Richard Jewell, an off duty police officer working as a security guard for Piedmont College, was falsely accused of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The press ran with it and had a field day. Jewell was exonerated of all charges but carried the stigma of the event to his death in 2007.

Political Negative Thinking

Politicians have used negative ads since the beginning of time. The amount of dirty tricks in politics is legendary.

Why negative advertising? Because it works. And sadly it works much better than positive ads.

Saying bad things about the other candidate works so much better than pounding one’s own chest.

Placing blame for the pain is the order of the day. Black Lives Matter, White Privilege. Buzz words sell.

We all want to know the latest dirt. Otherwise Hollywood fan magazines would be out of business.

People Magazine reports the stupid rather than the inspirational.

“If it bleeds it leads,” is the first rule of newspaper publishing.

Some Final Thoughts

As we head into the final months of the next presidential election the mud slinging has already begun.

Prepare yourselves for a lot of negative thinking.

But keep one thing in mind. Only the receiver of the information gives it power. They can accept the information and spread it or they can reject and condemn it.

The choice is yours. You alone hold the power of whether something is positive or negative

So think before you send it out because it reflects on you once it’s out — not the person you heard it from.

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