>For all of you nay sayers out there, who doubt the power of positive thinking: you were right! While I was driving to Hardees for lunch today, positive thinking let me down. I pulled into the left turn lane, which would take me to Hardees. The line was quite long. I thought for a moment, “I’m not going to make the green light when it changes…” But then I caught myself. I thought, “that’s negative thinking! I need to be more positive about things. I WILL make his light. There are just enough cars for me to get through the light before it even turns yellow. I’ll make it!” I began to think positively.

The light turned green, the cars in front of me began to move, and I blindly followed. I honestly do not remember anything from the time I stepped on the gas between the time I realized, “I’m in the middle of the intersection and the light is red…” That’s right, I ran a red light. I convinced myself that I would make the light, put the concerns aside, and then made it across the intersection… and broke the law doing it!

Positive thinking led me to break the law. I am now a criminal. A fugitive of traffic school. Had I used negative thinking, here is how it would have played out: it all would have started with my negative thought, “I’m never going to make this light.” When the light turned green, I would begin noting the speed and distance of each car from the intersection as well as from each other. I would be eye-balling the light and watching for it to change. As the light changed colors I would judge my distance and speed yet again, along with how many cars are clogging my destination. If I had room, time, and the speed I would attempt to make the yellow light. If I did not have room, speed, or time I would stop for the red light. I would never run the red light. I would most definately stop for the yellow light, before it turned red.

Why didn’t I watch and plan and time and make sure I didn’t run the red light? Positive Thinking. It let me down. It blinded me to reality. The reality that says, “hey! Life sucks, so keep your eyes open and watch out for red lights!”