Apparently not – if recent press opinion is anything to go by.

Here’s what the Daily Mail had to say a few days ago,

The power of positive thinking is one of the most pervasive myths of our time. It creates totally unrealistic expectations and fosters a culture of entitlement  -  as if all you need to do to achieve something is to want it. Not only does it not work but, according to new research, it can have the opposite effect to the one desired.

Psychologists Joanne Wood and John Lee, from the University of Waterloo, and Elaine Perunovic from the University of New Brunswick, both in Canada, found individuals with low self- esteem actually felt worse about themselves after repeating ‘positive self-statements’.

The authors pointed out that for most people it is impossible to change a deeply-held opinion about themselves, especially for the better. When people hear something they don’t instinctively believe, they are not only often sceptical, but adhere even more strongly to their original position.

‘Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, such as individuals with high self-esteem, but backfire for the very people who need them the most,’ they concluded.

In other words, they don’t work. Like the diet industry, positive thinking is designed to fail, to keep people believing there’s something within, but just out of reach, that is going to change their lives and bring them the kind of untold happiness and success that other people have. But there is no place here for reality. In the world of positive thinking, we are told life can be painless, easy, free of conflict, loss and challenge. All your wildest dreams can come true with minimal effort. The myth is relentless.

OK! As the author of five motivational books and more than twenty years experience in the ‘Positive Thinking’ business, here’s what I think:

Affirmations DO work.

I know this from personal experience and from twenty years of using them with clients. The trick is to make them as ‘realistic’ as possible. If you have a strong, passionate belief that you are ugly, there’s no point in affirming, ‘I am beautiful.’

If you do, you’ll simply set up a huge conflict within yourself and your long-term, fervently held belief will win. A smarter option is to start with a statement that is positive but closer to the truth for you, eg ‘I am now ready to (begin to) appreciate my natural attractiveness.

In this way, you can slowly coax yourself to a better way of thinking.

You have to be rational

Changing your thinking from mostly negative to mostly positive takes time. It also takes some convincing – of yourself. There’s no point reciting mantra-like, I love myself if every part of you is screaming, No Way!

The rational approach requires you to be able to justify believing that and seeing the reasons why you are thoroughly loveable and certainly deserve to love yourself.

Here’s how:

• Take pen and paper and write at the top, Reasons why I deserve to love myself. Go right ahead and begin to list the good things you’ve done that summon up a feeling of goodwill towards yourself.
• Keep this list open and ongoing for a week. The more you’ve been in the habit of seeing only the negative, the harder this exercise will be – and the more important.

Understand your resistance

This is where a really skilled and intuitive coach earns their fee. An affirmation will often unearth an underlying, often very powerful, negative belief. Staying with the example of, I love myself, you may unearth a really strong ‘reason’ to withhold loving yourself,  be it something you’ve done or blamed yourself for.

This is extremely common and you may need to work on some good forgiveness affirmations, eg I am now willing to (begin to) forgive myself for …

Detox, don’t depress negativity

The more you run away from what you want rid of, you more you feed it – what you resist, persists. You don’t necessarily need the analyst’s couch, but you do need to face your negativity, fear, self-loathing or whatever is lurking under your surface.

Bring it up; breathe, work it out with your coach. Assume that the right affirmations may dredge up suppressed negativity and be prepared to deal with this. Affirmations aren’t always a quick-fix. Occasionally they are – on those occasions it’s due to you having a minimum of resistance to the new positive thought.

Be practical

My approach to generating change is two-fold: get your thinking in place and then get your plan in place. Positive thinking is not a substitute for positive action.

Take your affirmation and write down

“If I really did love myself/think I was good enough/(insert your own)

• what I would start doing is…
• And what I would stop doing is… “

This is often a fabulous way of getting clear on a new path ahead for yourself.

Onwards!

Some of the “Cosmic Ordering” books in vogue at the moment might give this impression. Put simply, they say that you can ask for what you want and the universe will deliver. Radiate positivity – even when things are not going well – and you will attract opportunities.

I like the simplicity of this message and wish it were that simple. But, positive thinking is not enough. Deep down positivity comes from a positive feeling.

It is the depth of your conviction that raises your vibration so you are radiating positivity.

Mental clarity is one thing: emotional conviction another And therein lies the challenge ­ how to truly believe and feel that you can attract and achieve what you want out of life. Sending out a powerful, positive message to the world and attracting back a positive response is what we all want.

This is something I work with in my Success Groups and with personal clients. A recent example is a lady, Elaine, whom I coached for the Observer newspaper. Elaine’s goal is to become a full-time novelist. When we spoke I could tell Elaine had little conviction that this was possible

My job was to take her from a 1/2 on the scale of conviction up to a 9/10.

In a nutshell I did it by getting her to see her situation differently: to recognise that she she had been writing stories since she was a child: to appreciate that the logical steps that lead to securing a book deal: to make a plan to allow her to finish her novel. By the end of our session, Elaine was feeling much more convinced.

What would go on your Cosmic Ordering List?

What would you love to usher in to your life? How much emotional conviction do you have around this? On a scale of 1-10, what’s your level? Your challenge is to get yourself above 7.