Bringing about positive changes in your life is hard. Everyone knows this. But everyone also desires them. So it is seductive to believe – particularly if you have no credible way to actually bring them about – that merely wishing for them will make it so. There are many people who will try to sell you on the idea that the world is your personal genie, only with an infinite number of wishes. Of course, if this were so, there would be no unfulfilled wants or needs. The pied pipers will tell you that you are simply not wishing hard enough. If you think this account is implausible, there is now a scientific account of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to make your wishes a reality.
What is more plausible – that the world is your personal wish genie, or that your blind faith in the power of positive thinking constitutes the very chains that ultimately hold you back?
There is a downside to wishful thinking about wishful thinking or positive thinking about positive thinking. It is the sacred mission of science to replace fairy tales and superstitions with a scrupulous account of what is and is not the case. Whether that account is popular or not.
TLDR: Wishful thinking is not enough. As usual, reality is deeply ironic.
Of course all of this only applies *if* you desire to achieve personal goals and contribute in ways that is valued by society. If that is not the case, none of this applies and you are of course still free to *enjoy*. But I would argue that most (but of course not all) people have a desire to achieve and contribute, of course manifesting in different ways.