The Power of Negative Thinking

“The fact of your own existence is the most astonishing fact you’ll ever have to confront. Don’t you dare ever get used to it. Don’t you ever dare say that life is boring, monotonous or joyless.” Richard Dawkins, Global Atheist Convention, Melbourne 2010

Meditation and Mindfulness are often associated with "positive thinking". It is the self-help industry that has somehow made this connection. Positive thinking however has nothing to do with either meditation or mindfulness. On our way to Enlightenment (wisdom) negative thinking is much more helpful.

People who practice positive thinking constantly create inflated images and expectations: I am wonderful, you are wonderful, the world is wonderful, I will get rich, you will get rich, the world will get rich.. Yes, we can. What nonsense. What grandeur to have to live up to.

It is much more realistic and helpful to expect the worst: I am going to die, you are going to die, we are all going to die. And it will happen rather soon. Before we die we will probably get sick. And before that we will fail at many things. We will fail at more things then we will succeed at. That's the nature of things.

After having had a good deep negative thinking session we are more inclined to feel better and "get on with it as good as we can while we still can."

In his fascinating book The Antidote, Oliver Burkeman argues that "positive thinking" and relentless optimism aren't the solution to the happiness dilemma, but part of the problem. And that there is, in fact, an alternative path to contentment and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid - uncertainty, insecurity, pessimism, and failure. Thought-provoking, counterintuitive, and ultimately uplifting, The Antidote is a celebration of the power of negative thinking.