On Thursday night of last week I attended a presentation by a local sales trainer and motivational speaker, Mush Panjwani. The talk was titled “Staying Positive in a Negative World”. I instinctively raise my guard when I see messages like this. Positivity is fine, I believe. But realism untarnished by foolish positivity or self-destructive negativity seems the best policy. But Mush’s presentation spoke to my inner scientist. And it is worth sharing a summary of his arguments here.
Mush stated that positivity is influenced by three behaviors: thoughts, vocabulary, and actions. Thoughts affect mood, vocabulary programs our brains and the people around us, and actions have physiological benefits. Below I share my own experience and research on why Mush’s ideas are correct.