Tim Gunn should be sent to Washington immediately to help with this corporate bail-out the President wants us to deal with really fast, no-time-to-explain-mushroom-cloud-danger-danger-chop-chop.  Make it work, people.  



Last Summer in Saugatuck.  Life seemed so simple then.

Barbara Ehrenreich said it [here] in the New York Times yesterday.  We need a healthy dose of some negative thinking.  All that Oprah positive thinking has gotten us into this mess.  That You-Can-Have-it-All foolishness.  That Secret-Think-Rich nonsense.  Nothing new there.  People were gullible in 1904 too.

I happen to agree with Barbara.  I just don't think it's all Positive Psychology's fault, nor that all those Self-Help Metaphysical Gurus are entirely to blame. Thinking does create your reality.  But reality is composed of  two things: 1) what you're doing and 2) who you're doing it with.  So, maybe you "think" you can put lipstick on a pig and dance with it, and maybe you "think" you can talk other people into doing the same thing.  Knock yourself out.  I have a funny feeling you're gonna make that pig unhappy down the line, but hey, go for it.  Call it whatever you like.  But what you're doing is dancing.  With a pig.

The power of thinking to create reality and manifest a particular outcome is more complicated than it sounds.  It is certainly more complicated than saying some happy upbeat things out loud to convince me and you that everything is fine.  Especially if in your heart you're terrified.  Especially if, like most of us, you have any doubts.  And even more so if you believe that getting it wrong means a Punishing Power in the Sky is going to kick your ass.  You believe that, and all the cheerful slogans in the world won't stop it from happening.   

Let's be clear: thinking affluent thoughts didn't get us into this current financial disaster.  Actions did.  Like lying.  Like deceiving people.  Like acting irresponsibly and sitting back and letting other people act irresponsibly.  Like scaring people and manipulating them into doing things that benefit an elite few, who then profit obscenely.

I worked in a bank once.  One of the guys in our division came up with a new and clever and creative take on a certain investment vehicle, back in the days when people were looking for new and clever and creative investment vehicles.

"But isn't that illegal?" I asked my boss when he explained it.

"Not yet," was his answer.

Now tell me: what was he thinking?  Positive or negative?  Was he imagining the good that exists in the world for you and me?  Or was he hoping we didn't get caught?