Think Positive
Reality Begins in Your Head
The story is told of a follower of R. Menachem Mendel, third Lubavitcher Rebbe, the “Tzemach Tzedek,” whose son was seriously ill. He was advised to travel to the Tzemach Tzedek to ask for a blessing. With a heavy heart, he made the difficult trek to the Rebbe. In response to his request for a blessing, the Tzemach Tzedek pronounced five Yiddish words, which have been quoted by the Chabad Rebbes ever since: “ Tracht gut vet zein gut —Think good and it will be good.” The Chasid took these words to heart, and during the entire homeward journey he strove to strengthen his trust in G‑d and visualize a good outcome for his son. When he returned home, he was shocked to see his son completely healed and back to his normal self. 1 A Bad Plan For many people, this kind of positive thinking is a difficult directive to take seriously. “Think positive” sounds like the naive content you’d find in a supermarket self-help book or an amateur new-age podcast peddling feel-good platitudes and banal soundbites. Besides, isn’t this approach dangerous? It can set you up for great disappointment! What if you visualize an excellent result and the positive outcome doesn’t materialize? Indeed, some scientists recently have pushed back against “positive thinking,” claiming that only focusing on the best outcome is not the most psychologically sound approach to life, given the high potential for failed expectations. A recent article in Scientific American 2 suggested that imagining the worst outcome rather than the best is a more optimal way to live life, because if you envision and plan for the worst-case scenario, you will never be let down and can only be pleasantly surprised if you end up with a positive outcome. Similarly, Newsweek ran a much-publicized story 3 titled “The ‘Tyranny’ of Positive Thinking Can Threaten Your Health and Happiness.” It reported the findings of motivational scientists who said that an insistence on positivity could cause people to blame themselves for their own
