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Look on the Bright Side

Words by Brooke Broadbent, MA

Recall a day when you woke up in the morning feeling positive? I bet you had a
great day. Want more of that?
David Lykken, who was a behavioural geneticist at the University of Minnesota,

concluded from extensive research that while we can’t control 50 percent of our
thinking (it’s hardwired into our genes), most of the other 50 percent is entirely up to us. We
can simply decide to think positively–and succeed.

Thinking Positively Has Deep Roots To get started, Seligman recommends that you

We can find historical models for thinking first calculate your strengths, and then find
more positively in existing systems of belief. new ways to use your strengths in all aspects
Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, of your life. Here are some of Seligman’s
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other beliefs suggestions to keep you on the positive path:
have withstood the challenges of time, and • Connect to other people through

all have something significant to say about volunteer activities.
positive thinking. For some people, formal • Keep a success journal of your
belief systems are a place to start. life’s accomplishments.

The Grandfather of Positive Thinking •Take time each day to write down

In the self-help age, many people have looked three things that went well and why.
to Norman Vincent Peale. Seven million copies For Seligman, positive thinking is inseparable
of The Power of Positive Thinking (reissued from positive doing.
by Running Press, 2002) have been sold in 15 Negative Patterns
languages. Peale tells readers to implant

positive suggestions into their unconscious Given the quest for positive thinking, why
minds. “Say them until your mind accepts them, do negative thoughts often run our lives?
until you believe them,” he advises. According My clients tell me that some of the negative

to Peale, “It is important to eliminate from thoughts that keep cropping for them up are:
conversations all negative ideas.” • Life is not fair.
• I don’t trust myself.
Today’s Positive Thinking Guru

Fifty-five years after Peale’s work first appeared, • I’ll never have enough money.
positive thinking has a new face–Dr. Martin E.P. When we hold thoughts like these, and all
Seligman, the director of the Positive Psychology of us do, we fear failure, we avoid trying

Center of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a new solutions to our challenges, and we
former president of the American Psychological can’t achieve as much in our lives as we
Association. might otherwise.