THINKING THE WORST

In rehearsing failure, rehearsing success, Seth Godin writes, “The active imagination has no trouble imagining the negative outcomes of your new plan, your next speech or that meeting you have coming up. It’s easy to visualize and even rehearse all the things that can go wrong. The thing is: clear visualization, repeated again and again, doesn’t actually decrease the chances you’re going to fail. In fact, it probably increases the odds.

When you choose to visualize the path that works, you’re more likely to shore it up and create an environment where it can take place. Rehearsing failure is simply a bad habit, not a productive use of your time.”

It seems there is enough naysayer in most of us to conceive of what might go wrong before we conceive of what might go right. Convincing ourselves of negative things and outcomes is almost a sure-fire way to have negative results. Training our minds and attitudes to first think positively is not only healthy, but it is a reasonable step of faith.

“I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Jesus