About Positive Thinking
—By Denise Lammi
Fast food exists because we look for short cuts. We even look for short cuts when it comes to success and happiness. So, short cuts to success and happiness have been packaged and repackaged, over and over again, creating a multibillion dollar industry. Positive thinking is one of the best selling of these products.
Positive thinking does facilitate success and happiness. It can create opportunities or outcomes that may not have happened otherwise.
How does positive thinking facilitate success and happiness? How can it improve our circumstances? Why do negative thoughts produce negative results? Is it that natural forces, universal energy, quantum physics or prayers play a role? No! It is not.
Thoughts can impact our circumstances because a thought (positive or negative) creates an idea and our subconscious stores the idea. The subconscious then causes the conscious mind to notice information related to that idea. Therefore, positive thoughts cause us to notice opportunities to pursue our goals. Negative thoughts cause us to just notice problems and sabotage1 our success and happiness.
Unfortunately, many of us may not be willing to put in the time and effort that is required to obtain the benefits of positive thinking. Instead, we look for, and buy, short cuts. Often, our hunger for instant success and happiness is so great that we consume "positive thinking fast food" products, even if the ingredients are unsubstantiated2 or implausible3. Who really knows or really understands metaphysical laws of the universe, quantum physics or noncorporeal4 beings? When we’re fast food positive thinkers, we don’t stop to think about this. We’re in a hurry; we’re hungry for results.
The main ingredient missing in many positive thinking fast food products is "effort". Unfortunately, even when "effort" is included as an ingredient, we may pay more attention to the packaging and product distractions5 —the filler6 stuff. This is because the filler stuff is easier (and more fun), than the truly essential ingredient, effort.
Effort involves taking personal responsibility for making things happen and taking an active role. For example, the currently popular "law of attraction" principle appeals to the lazy quality in many of us because it "glosses over" the thing which is really important: you have to take responsibility to look for opportunities and you have to take action. Instead, proponents of the "law of attraction" tell us to focus on desiring, asking and feeling and to rely on some aspect of quantum physics to do the work for us. There is very little mention of "doing". Accordingly, it is more likely than not that anyone who has achieved his (or her) goals while applying the principles of the "law of attraction" has been successful because he (or she) has also done some "doing".
My point is that thinking, wanting and visualizing positive things are necessary, but these are not enough. You have to take an active role. You have to get out of bed in the morning. You have to get out of the house. You have to look for opportunities. You have to be open to the opportunities that you see. You have to have the courage to act. You have to do the work that is required. You have to do your best.
In other words, if you really want to benefit from positive thinking, there are no fast food shortcuts. Dreaming about the delicious things you want to eat is great, but if you’re really to taste it, you have to shop for the ingredients and then you have to start cooking!
Positive thinking is just one of the ingredients that help us obtain success and happiness.
Notes:
1. sabotage v.阻碍,妨碍
2. unsubstantiated adj.未经证实的,未被证明的
3. implausible adj.似乎不合理的,不像真实的
4. corporeal adj.物质的,肉体的
5. distraction n.使人分心的事；娱乐,消遣
6. filler n.充数的东西,填补空白之物
关于正面思考
张辉 译
快餐之所以存在，是因为我们总想寻找捷径。甚至对于成功和幸福，我们也总想找出一些获得的快捷方法。于是这些通往成功和幸福的快捷方法被不断地包装、再包装，并随之带动起一个数十亿美元的产业。正面思考就是这些快捷产品中最畅销的那类。
正面思考确实会增进我们的成功和幸福，它会为我们创造机会或思路，如果没有它，这些都不会发生。
那么正面思考是怎样增进成功和幸福的呢？它又是怎样改善我们的处境的？为什么负面思考会带来负面的结果？是自然力量、宇宙能量、超自然的指引或是祈祷在发挥作用吗？不，不是的。
我们的思维方式会直接影响我们的处境，因为正面或负面的思维方式会让我们的大脑产生不同的想法，而我们的潜意识则会把这些想法储存起来，并指引我们去关注与这些想法相关的信息。所以正面思考会引导我们去发现实现我们目标的机会，而负面思考却只会让我们看到问题，因此妨碍我们的成功和幸福。
不幸的是，很多人都不愿意为收获正面思考的益处而付出必要的时间和努力，却去寻找和购买捷径。常常我们想立刻得到成功和幸福的愿望是那么强烈，以至于消费起“正面思考快餐”产品，尽管产品的成分并无依据也不合理。谁又真正了解或明白宇宙、量子物理或是非物质存在的超自然法则呢？当我们成为一个速食的正面思考者的时候，我们并没有停下来想这些。我们只是急切地渴望收获结果。
那许许多多正面思考的快餐产品中漏掉的主要成分正是“努力”。很不幸，甚至当“努力”被包含进成分中的时候，我们也很少重视它，而把注意力更多地放到了产品的包装和引人耳目的地方——即填充物上。原因就在于比起（正面思考）真正的主要成分——努力，这些填充物更容易些（也更有意思些）。
努力包括负起个人的责任以使一些事情发生，也包括发挥积极的作用。例如，目前流行的“吸引法则”对我们很多人的懒惰因子就很有吸引力，因为它虚饰了真正重要的东西——即你必须负起责任去寻找机会，你也必须采取行动。可是，“吸引法则”的推崇者却把人们的注意力集中在了愿望、要求、感受以及依赖量子物理的某个方面为我们工作上，对于“行动”却几乎只字未提。其实，对于那些应用了“吸引法则”而实现了目标的人，他们的成功也正因为他们也相应地采取了一些“行动”。
我要说的是思考、渴望以及想象正面的事物是必要的，但是这还不够，你还要积极地行动起来——你必须要早晨起床，你必须要离开家，你必须要寻找机会，也必须对你看到的机会持开放的态度，你还必须有勇气去行动，做必要的工作，还必须尽力。
换句话说，如果你真想从正面思考中受益，并没有捷径。梦想爱吃的美食确实也很美妙，但是如果你真的要品尝到它们，你还必须要购买原料，然后开始烹饪。
正面思考也正是会帮助我们获得成功和幸福的原料之一。