Smile or Die?

I came across this entertaining animation by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce or RSA (www.thersa.org) of a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich. She talks about the ideology of positive thinking. Although I don't agree totally with Ms. Ehrenreich, I do agree that positive thinking has been misplaced and misused. It has been misused to cloak or draw away attention from reality. This has been done to the point of denying it altogether. That is part of what Step1 is about. In Step1 you must admit that you have a problem. There is nothing more real than having to say out loud to another person that you have a problem. Once reality is acknowledged, it can act as an anchor to stop you from being drawn into presumptions and speculations that really takes you away from finding the solution.

She correctly points out that personal strength is amplified when brought together. That is, working in a group, even a group of two, will provide a better chance of you finding a solution sooner than working on your own. 

I believe that positivity, like everything else, has a time and place and is best used in moderation. There are times that we find ourselves just feeling depressed. And these are times when positivity is useful to support a belief that change for the better is possible.

Here is the rest of the talk that was not animated and would put some of her comments in context.