Wishful Thinking: Is There a Better Choice?
We begin wishing at such tender ages.
Upon stars. Blowing out birthday candles and dandelions.
Our family tradition is lifting our feet as we drive over train tracks, although most who do that apparently do it for good luck.
But it’s all the same thing. We hope for the best and things that we want.
Wishful thinking has gotten a bad rap in our society. It’s usually used in a pejorative way. “Getting a raise at work? YEAH RIGHT. Wishful thinking!!”
In other words, NICE DREAM BUT IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!
But wishful thinking is the best option we have, isn’t it?
We don’t wish each other horrible days as we peck each other goodbye on the way to work.
We don’t rush to open the fortune cookie because we hope there is a terrible, depressing message inside.
Imagine if we opened the fortune cookie to find: “You will lose your job today!” or “Something really awful is around the next corner waiting for you!”
The coolest part about making wishes and so called wishful thinking is that at our core, we believe there is truth to it all.
Right? I mean, where did the expression “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it?” come from if not from the realization deep down that wishful thinking WORKS.
Thoughts do indeed manifest into things.
To the skeptics who insist to me that this is all New Age mumbo jumbo, I extend my famous challenge to them.
Every time you look in the mirror, tell yourself that your day will be full of trouble and menace. Wake up willingly on the wrong side of the bed. Ask everyone you encounter to wish you a miserable day. Have people send you negative thoughts all day long when you go get a medical screening.
Why not?
Because deep down you don’t want to tempt fate, materialize bad mojo, or however you prefer to label it.
So next time someone accuses you of wishful thinking, say “DARNED straight. What other kind of thinking IS there??”