Break on Through

If you subscribe to new age philosophy, there's a popular theory floating around right now that thought significantly influences behavior. If you sit in front of a random number generator and think real hard about 1s instead of 0s, more 1s will show up, the theory goes. Oprah commercialized the idea with "The Secret" which basically states, in its simplest form, that if you really want something (say, a bike), you keep a positive attitude and act as though you have that something (don't ride something that isn't there, but walk with a swagger that says "I have a bike") and the "universe" or whatever will send that request through central processing, and before you know it you're on the banana seat of a Huffy.

I don't buy that for a second, but I do believe positive thinking can do you good. I'm not saying your brain magically unlocks synapses that allow for something to happen that wouldn't happen before, but maybe the combo of motivation, good thinking and, hence, a willingness to put up with set back after set back adds up to a better situation than the one you had before.

Which brings us to today, and my completely inconsequential little victory. In my job, I do a fair amount of design work and use Quark quite a bit. It's easier that Photoshop, for me, but the big P is better for about every application, or so I've read. I don't know why, but the program is counter intuitive to me, so instead of reading up on tips or fiddling around, I decided to stick with Quark unless I absolutely had to go Photoshop. Today, I had to go Photoshop.

But I was feeling good, so I cleared a block of time, sat down and figured it out. It wasn't a difficult application, it wasn't a big deal, but something clicked that hadn't clicked before and voiala. The victory came not in doing a simple application that smarter folks could do fairly easily, but with the trial and error that helped me figure it out. It felt good.

I have a few friends and relatives who are big believers in positive thinking equals change, and I'm not sure I entirely disagree when it comes to your attitude and the change being in your situation. That, however, brings us to the central problem with this philosophy that I subscribe to in a very opaque type of way - I hate thinking positive. There's drugs in the water, poison in the sky, we elect people who try to forcibly destroy our government, people aren't smart enough to change a damn thing, people in general are lousy given the right set of circumstances and about one day out of 20 I wake up feeling like we're nothing more than hairless monkeys collectively drowning in a sea of filth, pushing each other's head under the grey water to gasp a few more breaths before someone pushes us down, never to return. You know, basic mood ebb and flow.

My point is, positive thinking cannot be a constant, and anyone who is constantly thinking positive likely has serious mental issues or is a complete idiot, whether the waves emitted from your brain can somehow shift reality or not. I don't think Photoshop magically opened it's secrets to me because I felt good today, but I don't think I would have made the progress I did if I didn't feel good today.

How's the quote go - I'm a complex person. I am full of contradictions.