"Positive thinking perpetuates the past" - Undo App

Positive thinking is often positioned as a universal cure for our issues and a must for a successful life. But what if it actually merely keeps us trapped in our past...?

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Introduction

​Have you ever considered that there can be downsides to positive thinking? How about the fact that it merely perpetuates the past?

Essence

Lately I have been using an app called Undo. Through it I receive daily insights at random times. These are like little awakening calls to get me out of thinking mode and back to the present moment. 

The other day I was struck on a deep level by the profundity of one particular notification. It was the following: Positive thinkging perpetuates the past. 

I immediately recognised that there is a lot of truth and depth in this statement. Nonetheless, it did take me a couple of hours and a discussion with one of my clients to fully unpack its meaning. 

The idea of positive thinking can be seen in several different ways. On the one hand, it is about seeing whatever happens to us in a more constructive way. It is about reframing how we see circumstances so that we can make better use of them. Additionally, it can allow us to create better narratives about our lives. 

On the other hand, though, positive thinking can be seen merely as an antidote or a coping mechanism. In other words as a shortcut for dealing, or perhaps even suppressing, dissatisfaction and frustration. 

Very often, instead of accepting and seeing reality as it is, we are deluding ourselves with a hopeful story. We are smoking what can be called HOPEium. 

This need not be

The only way to really transcend the past and go beyond is to deal with whatever you are facing. This can only happen by going directly into the experience itself and allowing yourself to experience the discomfort. You need to see it clearly and as it is and overcome it in this way. 

So, the most helpful way to do this is to drop away all the narratives around it and connect with the raw experience itself. I hope you can see now that if you are creating a narrative, as suggested by the 'positive thinking' school of thought, you are limiting your ability to experience things as they are. 

By freeing yourself of the compulsion and the necessity to think about everything in a positive way, you will be much more able to see and connect with its entire reality. This would enable you to deal with it and move forward. This is how you transcend the past and go beyond. 

Thanks for watching/reading. For a deeper discussion or to work together, please feel free to drop me a line on: youaremore@martinpetkov.com 

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