Positive thinking provides a constructive way to deal with the challenges we face.

Positive thinking does not mean that everything will work out in the way that we desire.

Positive self-talk helps to lead us to find a silver lining in difficult situations.

One of my friends decided to present a chapter from my book, The Life Guide for Teens, as a topic for discussion at a recent family dinner. He chose the first chapter of the book that discusses using positive self-talk as a tool for helping the mind consider new possibilities in challenging situations.

His college-aged son responded dismissively. “That’s just positive psychology garbage. It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.” The son ran to his bookshelf and pulled down the 2016 bestselling book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson.

The son said he had read this book multiple times. He explained he learned from it that people who think positively live in a fantasy world. They think that through thinking positively, everything will get better magically, they can always find happiness, and they can achieve anything. And when that doesn’t happen, this leads people to become anxious and more dissatisfied.

He said Manson thinks that improving our lives does not involve turning lemons into lemonade but rather it’s about learning to accept the lemons better.

Positive Thinking Is About Attitude, Not Magic

I appreciated that The Life Guide for Teens helped spark a vigorous family discussion. I suggested that perhaps I could meet with my friend and his son to respond to his concerns about the nature of positive thinking as described in my book.

When I teach that positive thinking has a definite role in our real, non-magical world, I explain that it provides a constructive way........

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