Positive Thinking Pioneers create Depression Getaways



'Positive thinking' however unreachable it seems to be, is one of our great hopes for depression.

 Depression Getaway is designed to encourage and inform. Last time we talked about how positive thinking, although valuable, is on the one hand not the definitive answer for depression, but on the other hand, shouldn't be tossed out the window as pointless.

 I promised to share with you some of the pioneers of 'positive thinking'. Norman Vincent Peale coined this phrase with his best selling book 'The Power of Positive Thinking'. The poster above is one of his memorable sayings. He had a strong faith in God and was one of the first ministers to combine that Christian faith with popular psychology. He became a dynamic speaker and the author of over 40 books.


 Unknown Object
Robert H. Schuller came along next. His approach was similar with a strong faith and dynamic speaking as well as a best selling author. His book 'Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking' was a best seller.

 One of his powerful quotes was this:

Our next pioneer, Dale Carnegie became the most famous motivational speaker of his day. He wrote the best seller 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' and in his day thousands of business people read his book.


As fresh and inspiring and productive as these three men were, as much as their new contributions had great value, they did not factor in mental illness with those inspiring quotes.

With mental illness we are not just one quote away from recovery. 

 The truth is that 'positive thinking' is not always the best 'depression getaway' for many of us. Those good thoughts can sometimes make you even more depressed.

But there is still value and benefit to reading these kinds of things. These sayings are absolutely true. Since they are not easy to adopt when you are depressed you may want to plug into positive thoughts when you are not depressed.

 Maybe they will help you gain some new perspective. One of the best kinds of help, whether that is medication, counselling, therapy or positive thinking, is helpful because it can give you new perspective on an old situation.

 The best friend or best therapist I ever had helped me gain

NEW perspective on an OLD situation.

 I would come away from those conversations thinking 'gee, I never thought of it that way'. I would feel lighter and less burdened with my negative thoughts.

 A little dose of positive thinking can potentially do that too.
Next time I am going to share some of the best positive action I know.

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? Could you use a dose of positive thinking today, or any day? Would any of these posters be worth printing out for you right now?

 Don't give up! There is hope for depression.

Popular posts from this blog

My Little Helper

Image
  My Little Helper Casey Writes a Book! I am writing another book! This time it is a Christian devotional and I am looking forward to sharing it with you when I am done. In the meantime, just for fun, I googled 'yorkie writing a book' and this is the picture that came up. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? Actually looks like a painting to me, what do you think? Anyways, that reminded me of how much you can find on the internet just with a few words to google. It's amazing, isn't it? And that got me thinking about how much information I have found over the years about depression that has helped me.
Read more

Joy and Sorrow - Together?

Image
  Joy and Sorrow - At the Same Time? Have you ever experienced joy in the middle of sorrow? I have. My father died suddenly at the age of 59. I remember the moment. I was at his funeral, sitting in the front pew holding my mother's right hand with my sister on the other side holding her left hand. The three of us were drenched with tears. The big church was packed. But despite my sorrow I was filled with joy at the life my dad had lived, at the lives he had impacted in a good way, and at the thankfulness I felt for having him all those years.
Read more