The Truth About Negative Thinking and Bad Moods

Abraham-Hicks and other law of attraction gurus state that you should avoid negative thoughts at all costs.

They say negative thinking and corresponding bad moods act as repelling forces. Your goal, they claim, is to 'feeeel good', or else you won't attract what you want.

While I certainly believe in feeling as upbeat and positive as possible, I also don't view negative thinking and bad moods as entirely harmful to one's success.

Besides my own periodic battles with melancholy (and paranoia), I know a few other ocassionally neurotic people who also happen to be extremely successful both personally and financially.

One person I know can't help but focus on the negative, especially when it comes to her work. Yet despite the constant complaining about her job and the people she works with, the girl just recently got promoted.

Additionally, her income is up nearly 300% in a little over a year (and we're talking six figures here, certainly not pocket change).

Grant it, she is a hard worker and a whiz in her field. But she's clearly not at all happy with the work she does. In fact, she admittedly hates it.

And it's not like she's irreplaceable either. From what I understand, there are quite a few people who would give up a limb to have her position.

This girl is a perfect example of attracting the opposite of what you focus on. She's also one of the reasons why I believe the 'feeeel good' philosophy of The Secret is overrated.

After perusing some of The Secret's reviews on Amazon.com, I discovered that other people experience success despite their negative thinking too. One customer writes:

"One last story about negative thinking, I wrote and performed in a play, at a small Toronto theatre. I financed it myself. I made the costumes and props and did most of the Publicity. We rehearsed and had some previews and then it was time for the night the critics came.

For two weeks I was convinced the critics would hate it. I was able to visualize their faces in the audience looking grim, bored and angry they had showed up. It was irrational but those thoughts obsessed me. That Opening night was also the night the heat didn't work and it was 12 degrees outside

The reviews came out the next week and it was a huge critical success. They all loved it! The play sold out for 8 months. So despite what the secret says, despite the law of attraction that works whether you believe it or not, I didn't attract bad reviews. I had worked very hard and despite my negativity and fear the play was a success."

Is it possible that Abraham-Hicks and The Secret have it wrong about negative thinking?

The answer appears to be ...yes.

New studies suggest that negative thinking and bad moods can actually be quite useful.

According to research conducted by Jing Zhouby, Associate Professor of Management at Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, naturally occurring bad moods helps employees be more creative and productive:

"Bad moods and negative attitudes have gotten a bad rap at work. For years, negativity has been considered an unavoidable — and unfortunate — part of organizational life; something that should be minimized, criticized, even stamped out. But if you want creativity that leads to innovation in your workplace, those naturally occurring bad moods can play a fruitful role; in fact, they’re necessary to make things better."

Now be careful here. No one is saying that you should walk into work with a bad mood or put yourself in one for the sake of success. Instead, just realize that negative moods are normal, healthy and useful. Professor Jing explains:

"Negative moods should not be viewed as detrimental. They should be understood and treated as a necessary part of the creative process. I’m not advocating that managers go out and promote bad moods. But bad moods occur naturally, and when they do, managers should use these opportunities to encourage employees to identify potential problems and think of ways to improve things."

And...if you're a business owner, you should be thankful for negative and complaining people...

Why? Because negative and complaining people, a.k.a unsatisfied customers, can help you improve your business.

In fact, customer complaints are one of the best ways to improve service and products.

Since most people who complain are upset, they are more likely to speak their minds by telling you exactly what you’ve done wrong. By listening to customer complaints, business owners can make the necessary changes to succeed and stay ahead of the competition.

But the business environment isn't the only place where bad moods and negative attitudes are helpful...

Researchers at the University of New South Wales School of Psychology have found that individuals in a positive mood aren't as reliable as eyewitnesses who are negative.

Apparently, if you're happy while observing an event your memory is more likely to include irrelevant and unreliable information:

"People in a positive mood such as happiness were shown under experimental conditions to have relatively unreliable memories, and show poorer judgment and critical thinking skills.

By contrast, those who experienced a negative mood such as sadness were shown to provide more reliable eyewitnesses accounts and exercise superior thinking and communication skills."

Imagine that. According to the research, even our most negative moods and thoughts serve a purpose. One of those purposes is the ability to think critically on a much higher level.

In my opinion, The Secret and Abraham-Hicks' philosophy of 'feeeeeling good' is actually a suppression of critial thinking.

Keep in mind, The Secret promotes 'feeeeeling good' despite what your current feelings and reality are. This is very similar to what a cult espouses.

Now, I'm not saying The Secret is a cult. But it is very cult-like in that it suppresses critical thinking and actually promotes a concept of 'ignorance is power'.

Massimo Pigliucci Ph.D, professor of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an advocate of science education said it best:

"The Secret is apparently a “theory” of channeling, the idea that by feeling something (positive or, more disturbingly, negatively) you somehow get the universe to “vibrate” in a way that will make your feelings determine physical reality. No need to worry about how this exactly (or even approximately) works: “Our job is not to worry about the 'how.' The 'how' will show up out of the commitment and belief in the 'what'.” Wow, Francis Bacon said that knowledge is power, thereby ushering in the era of modern science, but this is even better, here ignorance is power! Which perhaps explains why The Secret has been so prominently featured on Oprah Winfrey and the Larry King show."

Again...I'm not suggesting that it's better to be negative or in a bad mood. On the contrary. I feel a person should always strive to be as positive and upbeat as possible.

But what I am saying is that as human beings we have a wealth of feelings and attitudes at our disposal; some good, some bad. And they are all useful to some degree.

The idea of walking through life in a constant state of self-coerced happiness, even when reality suggests otherwise, smacks to me of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

You'll recall that humanity in Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel is carefree, healthy and technologically advanced. War and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is in a constant state of bliss.

But the reason everyone is in a state of bliss is because of a powerful hallucinatory stimulant called soma. Citizens use soma as a means of escaping pain and bad memories.

The Secret, with its huge popularity and success, is clearly a form of soma in my mind.

I don't know about you, but I actually enjoy some of my less than happy moments. They make me realize where I've gone wrong as well as what I need to do in order to change and get better.

I like the way another Amazon customer put it:

"You have two sets of feelings: good feelings and bad feelings. And you know the difference between the two because one makes you feel good, and the other makes you feel bad." This seems to wipe out several dimensions of human emotional experience. What about ambivalence? ("I'm happy about the job offer in LA but, gosh, I'll really miss my family and friends in Boston.") Are we wiping out the concept of bittersweet? Isn't it a balance of a range of emotions that makes us human?"

On March 8, 2007, CNN's Lary King Live featured critics of The Secret. One of the critics (actually the only critic on the guest panel) was psychologist Dr. Robi Ludwig.

When asked by Larry King if she thought it was a good idea to eliminate negative thinking, Dr. Robi responded with perhaps the best analysis of all:

"I don't know. Because sometimes the negative is a really important teacher and we grow sometimes and learn way more from things that are painful than positive experiences. I think we need to find a way to have all of our emotional experiences and still figure out how to get what we want."

So, next time you find yourself thinking negatively or in a bad mood, just keep this in mind...

...even negative feelings and bad moods have their place in this world.


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"If drudgery is not found somewhere in a book or course, it isn't worth reading. Of all great works nine tenths must be drudgery." -- Russell Conwell

Calista McKnight
http://www.thesecretlie.com/