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Don’t you feel it? Don’t you feel that something seems to be missing, something basic and deeply primordial? Haven’t you ever asked yourself, “Is this all there is to life?” You may have asked this question in a quiet moment of reflection but then trampled it under foot on your way out the door to buy a bigger, brighter widget, find a sympathetic ear to bend, or indulge any of a plethora of electronic diversions to keep that tormenting question...

We have so much potential. Don’t you think so? My goodness, but what we can do. I could list the usual things like putting a man on the moon, the pyramids, heavier-than-air flight, and so on and so forth. Compared to the other species with which we co-habit this earth, our progress has been phenomenal. And we are continuing to grow, in so many ways, exponentially. We are progressing by leaps and bounds. Look how far we have come in...

‘‘How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.’’ ~Spanish proverb Picture a world where you are following your innermost desires, doing the work that you are naturally drawn to do and love. It dovetails perfectly with your talents and interests. Your work regenerates you rather than tiring you out. Time flies by almost too quickly. Like the flickering splinters of a lit sparkler, creativity burns within you. You are self-motivated, take pride in your work, and...

You could well ask, “How is the Stoics negative-neutralizing-positive approach any different from the positive thinker’s positive-neutralizing-negative orientation?” There is a subtle distinction but an extremely important one for all who search for fulfillment. Positive thinkers want to replace negativity with positivity, a kind of denial of reality. Stoics, and a number of other systems that accentuate the negative, do not look to supplant positive emotions. Rather, they strive to recognize the reality that negative and positive both exist, and...

Negative visualization offers another more substantial advantage over positive thinking, and that is the reduction of anxiety. Positive thinking will have you visualize that you already have what you are seeking. Now, you not only have to energetically maintain that illusion but you have to combat the fear of losing it. This phenomenon is especially evident in people who are “always happy”. They tend to overtly push hyper-happiness ahead of them with exaggerated beaming smiles like radar searching for sustenance....

There is a counterculture to positive thinking, a kind of hidden in plain sight non-movement slowly gaining momentum. At first I thought the negative thinking advocates were simply a backlash, a kind of sour grapes movement against the sucrose sweet teachings of positive thinking. But not at all, and you are going to love this. They have been around since the sandaled feet of the ancient Greeks beat a dusty path to the Parthenon. I am talking about the school...

In her book The Willpower Instinct, Stanford University psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal, who has one of the most popular classes in Stanford history, tells us that making a resolution or affirmation makes us feel good at the moment, but creates an unrealistic or optimistic expectation of the future. It creates a kind of satisfaction or relaxation that does not allow us to have a realistic idea of the present and the future. They actually make us far less motivated to...

(Excerpt from When Nothing Works Try Doing Nothing) If positive thinking were benign, a useless dalliance of the mind, then it would be nothing more than a frivolous waste of time. But positive thinking is not benign. Ironically, positive thinking can have negative psychological backlash. You may be surprised at this revelation, but when you understand the mechanism you will know it to be true from your own experience. Let’s take a few minutes to explore these negative effects and...

Up until now I have laid out the basic precepts of the Kinslow System under the creativity, health, personal, relationships, science, society, and spiritual headings. A firm philosophical/functional foundation has been laid and now it is time for us to change direction, or more accurately, expand in any and all directions. I would like to create a more conversant forum. That is I would like to hear what you are interested in and then discuss those interests in the light...

Are you one of those people who always pick the slowest line to stand in? I do, every time. In fact, I think all of us choose the slowest line. I have never heard anyone brag about always finding the fastest line, have you? If that were me, I’d surely let the rest of you “slow-liners” hear about it. In the grocery store checkout, I will stand aloof from the other indiscriminant line-standers and watch to see which checker looks...