I recently came upon this article in an issue of one of the popular Women’s Magazine that spoke glowingly about the merits of ‘positive thinking,’ and the ‘laws of attraction,’ as far as it relates to relationships, and thought to myself wouldn’t it be wonderful if this principle could be extended beyond matters of the heart but also to some of our other familiar and grave issues that involved political affairs? The article in questioned was centered on the romantic ordeals of a 40 year old LA Social worker that unsuccessfully endured the regular dating scene for several years yet was unable to find Mr. Right her true love as depicted in her favorite movies. Eventually in desperation, or perhaps frustration, she decided to take up a caring friend’s offer and embark on a course on the power of positive thinking.

For those unacquainted with the principle, it centers on the belief that you get what you wish, and dream about, especially if it’s good. In addition advocates would acquire a miniature symbol of the dream, which they’ll look at daily as they maintain a positive attitude and strong belief in the coming to fruition of the object of their desire. In her particular situation, her friend offered her a gift of a wedding cake topper, complete with miniature bride and groom. This she passionately looked at repeatedly and visualized her future wedding to an imaginary spouse. At the same time she ran personal ads to find her mate which she eventually did, and married what was later claimed to be her perfect partner some six months later.

I must admit that the inclination was there to treat this as another new age frivolous sap piece story by lazy or mentally deranged individuals with too much time , money, and nothing meaningful to do in their lives . Instead I decided to see where if possible similar thinking ‘political animals’ might be able to replicate some of this energy for the common good. As much as I am aware that it is virtually impossible and impractical to achieve similar results by a large masses of people, I thought that a few useful positive quotes can nevertheless do the trick especially if only it can stimulate and encourage hope for a people that are tittering on the precipice of despair with only the occasional national festival or fantasies and dreams of escape to foreign distant lands , that presently serves as the safety valve to prevent more mayhem and wanton destruction as frustration abounds.

The first was by a famous author David C. Coten ,it reads as follows: “Energy always flows either toward hope, community, love, generosity, mutual recognition, and spiritual aliveness or it flows toward despair, cynicism, fear that there is not enough, paranoia about the intentions of others, and a desire to control.” http://www.davidkorten.org/

The second is by James Freeman Clarke and deals specifically with politics,it stated : “A politician thinks of the next election - a statesman, of the next generation.”
The final one comes from Mother Teresa and it deals specifically with hope: “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
All three if followed closely can I believe produce similar positive results in much the same way that our lovelorn female was able to achieve.