Friday, April 30, 2010

The Power of Negative Thinking

Back from my lovely vacation and rarely to go once again. I attended a course on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) last month which was quite fascinating. I didn't realise how what we say and think actually influences our actions. I still reserve judgement on whether principles like those discussed in The Secret are actually valid (i.e. that you bring everything on yourself - good or bad). The psychology and benefits of maintaining a positive attitude definitely make for a happier life.

So why the title above you may ask. Well, it relates to South African president Jacob Zuma's hopes and 'willing of the universe' when he went for his HIV test on the 8th of April this year. No doubt he and a number of affected parties waited with bated breath to see the outcome. I guess in his case, the power of negative thinking certainly helped his cause!

The debate as to whether he should have disclosed his results is quite contentious - some claim that it is validating to the youth that his promiscuous behaviour is acceptable. That the media is actually only hyping up the risks. This follows after numerous reports on his unprotected encounters, including the one recently with the daughter of his friend Irvin Khoza which raised significant controversy in local South African media.

I have to say I think Pratish has really outdone himself with his latest satirical sketch on the recent disclosure of Jacob Zuma's HIV status on his cartoon blog.

It's interesting to note that the comments on the more negative posts on that blog exceed by an order of magnitude the comments on the postive posts. I wonder why that is? Perhaps it's just human nature to embrace to negative thoughts rather than positive ones. Sad, but it appears to be empircally true!

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