The Power Of Negative Thinking -
" Ancient Philosophers and spiritual teachers understood the need to balance the positive with the negative, *optimism with* pessimism, a striving for success and security with and openness to failure and uncertainty "
*optimism- hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.
* pessimism- a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.
Metaphors For Life -
" Metaphors help us *compensate for our natural weaknesses "
*compensate - make up for (something unwelcome or unpleasant) by exerting an opposite force or effect.
To me the central idea of both these Thesis's is that you need to see both the good and bad in life to actually set forth to your goals. Metaphors help us maintain a stable balance of that good and bad. I agree with both of these authors because in a way they fit exactly for each other. In the power of negative thinking people were asked to unleash the power within them. Telling them to think that the coal is something coal and it won't seem hot... its burning coal, what do you expect? Metaphors For Life squeezes right in there because it is like a band aid to our natural weaknesses as human beings. We often numb ourselves with soothing words to get us through everyday life. You use metaphors to pick yourself up and keep going and sometimes use it to just get out of that negative mood.
I agree with your main ideas of the two readings. I think that the main idea of the two texts was to explain people that you always have to see the two sides of a problem. The Power of Negative Thinking states that the Ancient philosophers and spiritual teachers understood the need to balance the positive with the negative, optimism with pessimism, a striving for success and security with an openness to failure and uncertainty. Being able to understand that there is always two ways that something can go will help people to be prepare to understand when things go the way we had not planned them previously. When we understand the complexity of the world, we will understand better our surroundings, and we will have a better view of the world.
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