The “all-OK” thought!

Back in the 70’s, pop psychology titles like “I am OK, you’re OK” ruled the chart.

Then came the 80’s with “cities on the Hill” kind of positive thinking (charge it baby, you are worth every percent of interests). We are to reinvent ourselves, like Madonna, Cher and Simon (Garfunkel).

Sweeping the negatives under the rug. All of the aims of the 60;s protests seemed to disappear along with the hair,

only a few pony tails remained.

Then of course there is web 2.0 now with MySpace web page and “lonely girl” on YouTube.

Yet, undeterred, there is a study which urges us to “accept our negativity, because fighting back those unchangeable attributes will only make us feel worse”

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1909019,00.html

As we are nearing the end of the first decade of the 21st century, we are reminded to embrace the power of negative thinking.

No more Pavlov’s (positive reinforcement)  group huddles (city employees are warned not to order donuts to meetings, and of course, not to smoke in or outside of buildings – no caffeine, no nicotine, only gelatine).

We are to try our best to have a clean bill of health, but to fix our inner life, leave it to God, our inventor.

What am I supposed to do now? Going back to the drawing board, editing my LinkedIn Profile?

Am I going to reveal to the professional world that I have been twice a refugee (war and corporate shake ups)?

By the way, there is a “my turn” piece in this week’s Newsweek, by a war analyst from Hanoi, commenting on the occasion of McNamara’s death that “during his visit to Hanoi, Mr McNamara jogged every day around the lake, and people all knew who he was. But they had other things (presumably) better things to do than to do war analysis”.

So it’s in print that the Tonkin incident, especially the second incident was a hoax, a trigger point (Vietnam version of WMD) for the US involvement.

All those historical negatives are to be swept under the rug. The power of negative thinking! Don’t bring them up, spin them. Exxon spill! Just clean up. You are so vain! Look in the mirror, and say to yourself “I like myself” and look out to the audience, imagining them “all naked” to overcome your stage fright. They already know they are more than naked. They are imperfect, filled with negatives and will make no attempt to hide this time around.

It’s a version of self-absolution. The only people out of the job this time  are Priests and confessional booth (wood) makers. Sorry, we will do it online, at our convenience, perhaps offshoring it too. I read somewhere people even take Communion online now. Talking about social disconnect. Bowling alone in America. Confessing alone on-line. You’re OK, for I am OK. Now go, find better things to do! Vietnam is now a country, not a war. Do a market analysis, not war analysis.