~ P-INSMOCOOMAIIPOOI-TWWETWATWOTFWI ~ Positivity – Is Not So Much Our Condition Or Our Mood As It Is Part Of Our Ideology – The Way We Explain The World And Think We Ought To Function Within It

~ H-IAE-AY-TEOWINEWOC-O-IA-CS-ACE-WPACDTP ~ Hope – Is An Emotion – A Yearning – The Experience Of Which Is Not Entirely Within Our Control – Optimism – Is A – Cognitive Stance – A Conscious Expectation – Which Presumably Anyone Can Develop Through Practice

~ ITRETMPWOT-O-I-H-PE-C-A-R-MIEFUTAOG-AFLRTARR-TITOTCISMW-DATPW-NT-SP-NO-W-PT-RTITFO-H-P-A-S-FBRAMR-T-TEO-PT-ISTBWWOTAA ~ In The Rational Explanation That Many Psychologists Would Offer Today – Optimism – Improves – Health – Personal Efficacy – Confidence – And – Resilience – Making It Easier For Us To Accomplish Our Goals – A Far Less Rational Theory Also Runs Rampant – The Idea That Our Thoughts Can In Some Mysterious Way – Directly Affect The Physical World – Negative Thoughts – Somehow Produce – Negative Outcomes – While – Positive Thoughts – Realize Themselves In The Form Of – Health – Prosperity – And – Success – For Both Rational And Mystical Reasons – Then – The Effort Of – Positive Thinking – Is Said To Be Well Worth Our Time And Attention

~ ITG-‘PT’-IC-A-TARGB-ITAOTUTTHAA-TWBWTMEOPT?-O-B-WDFBTTWGBOTO ~ If The Generic – “Positive Thought” – Is Correct – And – Things Are Really Getting Better – If The Arc Of The Universe Tends Toward Happiness And Abundance – Then Why Bother With The Mental Effort Of Positive Thinking? – Obviously – Because – We Don’t Fully Believe That Things Will Get Better On Their Own

~ WWTPIAOBSATAOR-A-WBWADLODAETPD-WAGTCTTWAOETET? ~ What Was The Point In Agonizing Over Balance Sheets And Tedious Analyses Of Risks – And – Why Bother Worrying About Dizzying Levels Of Debt And Exposure To Potential Defaults – When All Good Things Come To Those Who Are Optimistic Enough To Expect Them?

~ TD-H-DNSFR ~ The Dogma – However – Did Not Survive Further Research

~ TFT-TP-CWOACPLASD ~ The Failure To – Think Positively – Can Weigh On A Cancer Patient Like A Second Disease

~ IYA-‘N’-PWBMITLY-TIYAC-G/C/OOS ~ If You Are – “Nice” – People Will Be More Inclined To Like You – Than If You Are Chronically – Grumpy / Critical / Out Of Sorts

~ B-ITWO-PT-OP-ANT-TBN-O-TPURC-TAT-OT-N/P/A ~ But – In The World Of – Positive Thinking – Other People – Are Not There – To Be Nurtured – Or – To Provide Unwelcome Reality Checks – They Are There – Only To – Nourish / Praise / Affirm

~ WTGA-D-‘N’-P-TAAIAW:SABA-GWTF-O-PTBO-OC-I-T-POM-WT-‘I’-OWNHTENPFOLE-OC-FE-S-CTITBIAPW ~ When The Gurus Advise – Dropping – “Negative” – People – They Are Also Issuing A Warning: Smile And Be Agreeable – Go With The Flow – Or – Prepare To Be Ostracized – Of Course – If – The – Powers Of Mind – Were Truly – “Infinite” – One Would Not Have To Eliminate Negative People From One’s Life Either – One Could – For Example – Simply – Choose To Interpret Their Behavior In A Positive Way

~ TFTVSTL-EAP-CALB-WAP-DNMTTAFTDA-O-OC-T-W-C-MIWAP-N-DT-UP-MT-‘TMISTVTTIBP’-OT-TALTWWCEFOA-A-Q-LP ~ The Fact That Very Small Things Like – Electrons And Photons – Can Act Like Both – Waves And Particles – Does Not Mean That They Are Free To Do Anything – Or – Of Course – That – We – Can – Morph Into Waves And Particles – Nor – Does The – Uncertainty Principle – Mean That – “The Mind Is Shaping The Very Thing That Is Being Perceived” – Only That There Are Limits To What We Can Ever Find Out About – A – Quantum-Level Particle

~ ‘YMIDWFY’ ~ “You Mean It Doesn’t Work For You”

~ TSDSAS;IREO-O-TCBSWARBO-B-IAWW-‘E-YDIT-IT’-WKOCBPCTB? ~ There’s Something Deeply Sociable About Science; It Rests Entirely On – Observations – That Can Be Shared With And Repeated By Others – But – In A World Where – “Everything – You Decide Is True – Is True” – What Kind Of Connection Between People Can There Be?

~ TT-PT-ERS-A-OILMBSTRM ~ To The – Positive Thinker – Emotions Remain Suspect – And – One’s Inner Life Must Be Subjected To Relentless Monitoring

~ WSSMTWOO-W-TISMRWTBD? ~ Why Spend So Much Time Working On Oneself – When – There Is So Much Real Work To Be Done?

~ T-O-S-CEO-HRFWTROTC-MEAOTBBATTT;T-NO-WLTHBHFH-CSITBW-EIIWDFTULOB ~ The – Old-Style – CEO – Had Risen From Within The Ranks Of The Company – Mastering Every Aspect Of The Business Before Ascending To The Top; The – New One – Was Likely To Have Been Hired For His – Celebrity Status In The Business World – Even If It Was Derived From Totally Unrelated Lines Of Businesses

~ YCJA-SM-WTCAASNOTBAMHCP-B-TEMTAL-FN-YCOCY-POR-F-NAB-T-PAA-TWTCWGGTIL-OEATOS-PT ~ You Could Join A – Social Movement – Working To Create An Adequate Safety Net Or To Bring About More Humane Corporate Polices – But – Those Efforts Might Take A Lifetime – For Now – You Can Only Change Your – Perception Of Reality – From – Negative And Bitter – To – Positive And Accepting – This Was The Corporate World’s Great Gift To Its Laid-Off Employees And The Overworked Survivors – Positive Thinking

~ B-TMPTFMT-SOD-W-‘TB’-AESMTIHSA-‘T-BI’-OTMI-JALWMAMOTTC-EWUTFCAASOCPATMOT-‘T’- ~ But – The Most Popular Technique For Motivating The – Survivors Of Downsizing – Was – “Team Building” – An Effort So Massive That It Has Spawned A – “Team-Building Industry” – Overlapping The Motivation Industry – Just As Layoffs Were Making A Mockery Of The Team Concept – Employees Were Urged To Find Camaraderie And A Sense Of Collective Purpose At The Microlevel Of The – “Team”

~ PT-P-A-SOC-IAWW-T-‘C’-WAM-TMHH-LALPTCTOF-B-THBGA-W-A-BS-AA-R-TCTWIF-IP-IOTC-MTOM ~ Positive Thinking – Promised – A – Sense Of Control – In A World Where – The – “Cheese” – Was Always Moving – They May Have Had – Less And Less Power To Chart Their Own Futures – But – They Had Been Given A – Worldview – A – Belief System – Almost A – Religion – That Claimed They Were In Fact – Infinitely Powerful – If Only They Could – Master Their Own Minds

~ FM-ITM-SM-ETMOIMB-A-YWBLM ~ Follow Me – Is The Message – Send Money – Employ The Methods Outlined In My Books – And – You Will Become Like Me

~ E-TSM-YCHATSITM-I-O-YBTYC-B-A-IAHU-TIT-DM-TIYDHATYW-IYF:S/D/D-YHOYTB ~ Everywhere – The Same Message – You Can Have All That Stuff In The Mall – If – Only – You Believe That You Can – But – Always – In A Hissed Undertone – There Is The – Darker Message – That If You Don’t Have All That You Want – If You Feel: Sick / Discouraged / Defeated – You Have Only Yourself To Blame

~ TA-‘IAE’-HOCBUAAEPR ~ This Argument – “Impractical And Expensive” – Has Of Course Been Used Against Almost Every Progressive Reform

~ HS-ITFO-MT-DO-OATLIG-B-TIOM-GC-CSO-RACS-MUHTCTCOBTBOBN ~ Human Survival – In The Face Of – Multiple Threats – Depended On – Our Ability To Live In Groups – But – The Imperative Of Maintaining – Group Cohesion – Can Sometimes Override – Realism And Common Sense – Making Us Hesitate To Challenge The Consensus Or Be The Bearer Of Bad News

~ PT-DNATNF-CV-IOTTVI ~ Positive Thinking – Did Not Abolish The Need For – Constant Vigilance – It Only Turned That Vigilance Inward

~ S-WNTHOFANT-A-AAT-WNTBATTWOO-EWTI-ABN-A-ETVO-‘N’P ~ Sometimes – We Need To Heed Our Fears And Negative Thoughts – And – At All Times – We Need To Be Alert To The World Outside Ourselves – Even When That Includes – Absorbing Bad News – And – Entertaining The Views Of – “Negative” People

~ A-VR-DNFTPOH-IF-IMIP-HCWET-IOS-WA-TACWFOI? ~ A – Vigilant Realism – Does Not Foreclose The Pursuit Of Happiness – In Fact – It Makes It Possible – How Can We Expect To – Improve Our Situation – Without Addressing – The Actual Circumstances We Find Ourselves In?