Theories such as positive thinking, the Law of Attraction, and
\nEarl Nightingale’s maxim “We become what we think about” are
\nwell-intentioned.<\/p>\n
But they are not absolutes that work in all situations.<\/p>\n
For instance, here are 3 things I can’t do — and just thinking
\nabout them won’t solve the problem:<\/p>\n
#1–I can’t swim.<\/p>\n
I could swim as a kid.<\/p>\n
But when I got older, the composition of muscle and fat in my
\nbody changed to give me “negative buoyancy.”<\/p>\n
Most people have positive buoyance, which means if they are in
\nwater, they float naturally with little effort.<\/p>\n
With negative buoyance (it’s not BS; Google it), the greater
\ndensity of lean muscle mass causes me to be unable to float … and
\ninstead, I sink like a stone.<\/p>\n
So far, the Law of Attraction has failed to switch my buoyance to
\npositive, which I need to avoid drowning.<\/p>\n
#2–I don’t laugh.<\/p>\n
I seem to be missing the “laugh reflex” that most people possess.<\/p>\n
When I see or hear something that is uproariously funny, I smile,
\nbut do not laugh.<\/p>\n
Bellowing, guffawing, giggling, and prolonged, uncontrolled
\nlaughter are not in my wheel house.<\/p>\n
#3–I can’t dunk.<\/p>\n
I’m 5’7″ … I can’t jump — and the basketball hoop is 10 feet
\nhigh.<\/p>\n
Actually, I can dunk. But only if I am standing on a tall ladder!<\/p>\n
Now, the positive thinkers and Law of Attraction advocates
\nbelieve what they are doing can motivate you to have or do
\nwhatever you want.<\/p>\n
But when someone who, say, has negative buoyance hears the
\nmotivational speaker telling them they can do anything they think
\nabout — including swimming — well, for me, it just doesn’t work.
\nBecause I’m not fond of my lungs filling with water.<\/p>\n
Optimists and the positive thinking crowd will disavow me for
\nsaying this, but not everybody can do everything.<\/p>\n
What’s wrong with saying that? If you don’t have the physical
\nattributes, the intelligence, or the aptitude for anything from
\npole vaulting to singing opera, changing your thoughts is not
\nalways going to change the reality.<\/p>\n
Solution: find other things you like that are a good fit for your
\nnatural talents, skills, aptitudes, and abilities. And do those
\nthings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Theories such as positive thinking, the Law of Attraction, and Earl Nightingale’s maxim “We become what we think about” are well-intentioned. But they are not absolutes that work in all situations. For instance, here are 3 things I can’t do — and just thinking about them won’t solve the problem: #1–I can’t swim. I could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1752"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1755,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}