essay about power of positive thinking

Essay on Positive Thinking

Positive thinking refers to a belief or mental attitude which makes us think that good things will happen eventually and our efforts will pay off sooner or later. It is the opposite of negative thinking which makes our mind full of stress and fear. Thus, an essay on positive thinking will show us how it reinforces thoughts like optimism and hope and works wonders.

Benefits of Positive Thinking

Let it be clear that positive thinking does not mean you do not notice the bad things in life. It means you try to find a solution in a productive way instead of whining about it. There are many benefits of positive thinking.

The first one is better health. Negative thinking gives rise to anxiety, stress, frustration and more. However, positive thinking helps you avoid all this and focus on staying healthy and doing better in life.

Further, it is essential for us to fight depression which positive thinking helps with. Similarly, it will also help us to relieve stress. Positive thinking overwhelms stress and it will allow you to get rid of stress.

As a result, positive thinking helps you live longer. It is because you will be free from diseases that form due to stress, anxiety and more. Moreover, it is also the key to success. Meaning to say, success becomes easier when you don’t bash yourself up.

Similarly, it also gives us more confidence. It boosts our self-esteem and helps in becoming more confident and self-assured. Therefore, we must certainly adopt positive thinking to make the most of our lives.

How to Build a Positive Thinking

There are many ways through which we can build positive thinking. To begin with, we must inculcate the habit of reading motivational and inspiring stories of people who are successful.

All this will help in motivating and inspiring you and showing you the right path. Moreover, it is important to never let negative thoughts thrive in your mind and work towards putting end to this habit.

You can do so by replacing your negative thoughts with constructive and positive reviews. Start to pay attention to your ideas and don’t pay heed to negative thoughts. Further, it is helpful to use affirmations.

These positive statements will truly sink into your subconscious mind and guide you to take better action. It will also help in visualising your dreams and getting the right means to achieve them fast.

Finally, always stay guard and gatekeep your mind to make important changes in life. In other words, do not be afraid to take actions. Keep yourself busy and do different things to avoid becoming cynical and remaining positive.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Positive Thinking

To conclude, we must change our attitude and believe that we will succeed one day. Moreover, we also need to implement positive thinking techniques which will help us learn from our failures and stay focused. As positive thinking plays an essential role in our lives, we must make sure to adopt in our lives.

FAQ of Essay on Positive Thinking

Question 1: What is positive thinking?

Answer 1: Positive thinking is basically an optimistic attitude. In other words, it is the practice of focusing on the good in any given situation. This kind of thinking can have a big impact on your physical and mental health .

Question 2: Why is positive thinking important?

Answer 2: Positive thinking is important as it helps us with stress management and can even improve our health. Moreover, some studies show that personality traits like optimism can affect many areas of our health and well-being. Thus, positive thinking comes with optimism

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Benefits of Positive Thinking for Body and Mind

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

People sometimes say that they prefer to "look on the bright side" of a challenging situation or that they "see the cup as half full." Chances are good that the individuals who make these comments are positive thinkers, and they may be getting many benefits because of this approach.

Research is finding more and more evidence pointing to the many benefits of positive thinking and staying optimistic. Such findings suggest that not only are positive thinkers healthier and less stressed, but they also tend to have greater overall well-being and a higher level of resilience.

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Benefits of Positive Thinking

Even if positive thinking doesn't come naturally, there are plenty of great reasons to start cultivating affirmative thoughts and minimizing negative self-talk .

Reduced Stress

When faced with stressful situations, positive thinkers cope more effectively than pessimistic thinkers—and with less anxiety and worry . Rather than dwelling on their frustrations or things that they cannot change, they will devise a plan of action and ask others for assistance and advice.

Pessimistic thinkers, on the other hand, are more likely to assume that the situation is out of their control. They often believe that there is nothing they can do to change it.

Increased Immunity

In recent years, researchers have found that the mind can have a powerful effect on the body. Immunity is one area where one's thoughts and attitudes can have a particularly powerful influence.

According to one published article, the more positive thoughts a person has, the better their ability to fight off disease. The authors also suggest that the opposite is true—the fewer positive thoughts a person has, the greater their disease risk.

Improved Wellness

Not only can positive thinking impact the ability to cope with stress and compromise immunity, but it also has an impact on overall well-being. Specifically, it is tied to a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular issues, lower depression risk , and an increased lifespan.

While researchers aren't entirely clear on why positive thinking benefits health, some suggest that positive people might lead healthier lifestyles. By coping better with stress and avoiding unhealthy behaviors, they are able to improve their health and well-being.

Better Resilience

Resilience refers to our ability to cope with problems. Resilient people are able to face a crisis or trauma with strength and resolve. Rather than falling apart in the face of such stress, they have the ability to carry on and eventually overcome such adversity.

Positive thinking can play a major role in resilience. When dealing with a challenge , optimistic thinkers typically look at what they can do to fix the problem. Instead of giving up hope, they marshal their resources and are willing to ask others for help.

By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels , lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future.

When Positive Thinking May Not Be Helpful

Before trying to put on rose-colored glasses in every situation, it's important to note that positive thinking is not about taking a "Pollyanna" approach to life. In fact, in some instances, optimism might not be beneficial.

One instance is when it's unrealistic to be optimistic. As an example, someone who is unrealistically optimistic may not correctly evaluate their risk of developing a major disease such as cancer, causing them to engage in behaviors that further elevate their risk.

Instead of ignoring reality in favor of the silver lining, positive thinking centers on such things as a person's belief in their abilities, a positive approach to challenges, and trying to make the most of the bad situations .

Bad things can happen. Sometimes we will be disappointed or hurt by the actions of others. This does not mean that the world is out to get us or that all people will let us down. Instead, positive thinkers look at the situation realistically, search for ways that they can improve the situation, and try to learn from their experiences.

Yalçin AS. Importance of positive thinking . In: Advances in Health Sciences Research .

Eagleson C, Hayes S, Mathews A, Perman G, Hirsch CR. The power of positive thinking: Pathological worry is reduced by thought replacement in generalized anxiety disorder . Behav Res Ther . 2016;78:13-18. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.12.017

Shankar P, Dinesh P, Preetha S. Impact of positive thoughts on immunity. Ind J Forensic Med Toxicol . 2020;14(4):5364-5371.

Buigues C, Queralt A, De Velasco JA, et al. Psycho-social factors in patients with cardiovascular disease attending a family-centred prevention and rehabilitation programme: Euroaction model in Spain .  Life . 2021;11(2):89. doi:10.3390/life11020089

Bortolotti L, Antrobus M. Costs and benefits of realism and optimism . Curr Opin Psychiatry . 2015;28(2):194-198. doi:10.1097.YCO.0000000000000143

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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• Stress management

Positive thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress

Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health. Practice overcoming negative self-talk with examples provided.

Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you're optimistic or pessimistic — and it may even affect your health.

Indeed, some studies show that personality traits such as optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being. The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits. If you tend to be pessimistic, don't despair — you can learn positive thinking skills.

Understanding positive thinking and self-talk

Positive thinking doesn't mean that you ignore life's less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst.

Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information or expectations due to preconceived ideas of what may happen.

If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking.

The health benefits of positive thinking

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:

• Increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress and pain
• Greater resistance to illnesses
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke
• Reduced risk of death from cancer
• Reduced risk of death from respiratory conditions
• Reduced risk of death from infections
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body.

It's also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and don't smoke or drink alcohol in excess.

Identifying negative thinking

Not sure if your self-talk is positive or negative? Some common forms of negative self-talk include:

• Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all the positive ones. For example, you had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. That evening, you focus only on your plan to do even more tasks and forget about the compliments you received.
• Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is canceled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you.
• Catastrophizing. You automatically anticipate the worst without facts that the worse will happen. The drive-through coffee shop gets your order wrong, and then you think that the rest of your day will be a disaster.
• Blaming. You try to say someone else is responsible for what happened to you instead of yourself. You avoid being responsible for your thoughts and feelings.
• Saying you "should" do something. You think of all the things you think you should do and blame yourself for not doing them.
• Magnifying. You make a big deal out of minor problems.
• Perfectionism. Keeping impossible standards and trying to be more perfect sets yourself up for failure.
• Polarizing. You see things only as either good or bad. There is no middle ground.

Focusing on positive thinking

You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. The process is simple, but it does take time and practice — you're creating a new habit, after all. Following are some ways to think and behave in a more positive and optimistic way:

• Identify areas to change. If you want to become more optimistic and engage in more positive thinking, first identify areas of your life that you usually think negatively about, whether it's work, your daily commute, life changes or a relationship. You can start small by focusing on one area to approach in a more positive way. Think of a positive thought to manage your stress instead of a negative one.
• Check yourself. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you're thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them.
• Be open to humor. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you feel less stressed.
• Follow a healthy lifestyle. Aim to exercise for about 30 minutes on most days of the week. You can also break it up into 5- or 10-minute chunks of time during the day. Exercise can positively affect mood and reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. Get enough sleep. And learn techniques to manage stress.
• Surround yourself with positive people. Make sure those in your life are positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people may increase your stress level and make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.
• Practice positive self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about you. Think about things you're thankful for in your life.

Here are some examples of negative self-talk and how you can apply a positive thinking twist to them:

Practicing positive thinking every day

If you tend to have a negative outlook, don't expect to become an optimist overnight. But with practice, eventually your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance. You may also become less critical of the world around you.

When your state of mind is generally optimistic, you're better able to handle everyday stress in a more constructive way. That ability may contribute to the widely observed health benefits of positive thinking.

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• Forte AJ, et al. The impact of optimism on cancer-related and postsurgical cancer pain: A systematic review. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2021; doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.09.008.
• Rosenfeld AJ. The neuroscience of happiness and well-being. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2019;28:137.
• Kim ES, et al. Optimism and cause-specific mortality: A prospective cohort study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2016; doi:10.1093/aje/kww182.
• Amonoo HL, et al. Is optimism a protective factor for cardiovascular disease? Current Cardiology Reports. 2021; doi:10.1007/s11886-021-01590-4.
• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. 2nd ed. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/paguidelines/second-edition. Accessed Oct. 20, 2021.
• Seaward BL. Essentials of Managing Stress. 4th ed. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2021.
• Seaward BL. Cognitive restructuring: Reframing. Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. 8th ed. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2018.
• Olpin M, et al. Stress Management for Life. 5th ed. Cengage Learning; 2020.
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The Power of Positivity

Why is positivity so important and how do you grow yours find out here..

Posted January 1, 2021 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

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Positivity refers to our tendency to be optimistic in life. This is in contrast to negativity, which is all about thinking, feeling, and doing negative things. When we have positivity, we might think positive, have positive emotions, and do positive things.

Positivity can lead to better mental health and well-being (take the well-being quiz here ). For example, self-directed positive thinking can buffer us from the effects of stress (Taylor & Brown, 1994). So try being positive toward yourself, for example, by building your self-compassion skills.

Future-oriented positivity can also be powerful. For example, optimism can lead to better social relationships and a better ability to cope with stress (Taylor & Brown, 1994).

Examples of Positivity

Here are some examples to help you use the power of positivity in your life.

• Self-oriented positivity: “I'm a good person.”
• Other-oriented positivity: “My friends aren't perfect, but they are there for me when I need them.”
• Gratitude : “I’m so lucky to have such a great husband."
• Paying attention to the positive: “That movie was so cool.”
• Savoring: “That vacation last year made me feel so relaxed and connected.”
• Future-oriented positivity: “I'm looking forward to my friend's 'Friendsgiving' this year.”

Brain Training and Positivity

Research has shown that we can improve cognitive function in ways that boost positivity. For example, computerized training that leads people to focus on the positive over the negative contributes to positive outcomes (Wadlinger & Isaacowitz, 2008).

Power of Positivity Practices

Here are some practices that can help you increase your positivity.

1. Write a self-compassion letter

Being comfortable with yourself—and showing yourself some compassion—can make it easier to find, express, and receive positivity. To build your self-compassion, try writing yourself a self-compassion letter (Shapira & Mongrain, 2010). In this letter, you say nice things to yourself and give yourself a break for anything that you might have been judging yourself for.

2. Practice positive reappraisal

Positive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves trying to reframe the situation to find its benefits and decrease our negative emotions.

3. Practice gratitude

Gratitude journals and lists are good ways to grow positivity. Just try to think of something you're grateful for each day or every few days to boost your gratitude.

4. Try doing a positivity meditation

Mindfulness meditation has become wildly popular. But what about positivity meditations? These can help you focus your thoughts on the positive and improve your mood. You can find several of these meditations on YouTube.

When Positivity Might Backfire

It turns out that forcing people into positivity can backfire. For example, putting pessimists into a positive mood not only hurts performance, but it can also actually make them feel more anxious . Sometimes we use worry and other negative outcomes to help us. Also, suppression and other forms of emotional avoidance are not good for well-being. So if positivity doesn't feel right for you, or doesn't feel right in a specific situation, that's okay.

How to Boost the Power of Positivity

Sometimes we just need to get our minds open and ready to think more positively. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What positive qualities do you have?
• What strengths do you have?
• What are you grateful for?
• What do you have to look forward to (or what can you create so you do have things to look forward to)?

In Sum: Capitalizing on the Power of Positivity

If you want more positivity, you can build it. Just be sure not to force positivity when it doesn't feel right. The more you practice skills that generate positivity, the happier you can become.

Created with content from The Berkeley Well-Being Institute.

Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1994). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: separating fact from fiction.

Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2008). Looking happy: The experimental manipulation of a positive visual attention bias. Emotion, 8(1), 121.

Shapira, L. B., & Mongrain, M. (2010). The benefits of self-compassion and optimism exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression. Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 377-389.

Norem, J. K., & Chang, E. C. (2002). The positive psychology of negative thinking. Journal of clinical psychology, 58(9), 993-1001.

Tchiki Davis, Ph.D. , is a consultant, writer, and expert on well-being technology.

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Home — Essay Samples — Power of Positive Thinking

Power of Positive Thinking

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Published: Dec 5, 2018

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Power of positive thinking

T he legendary author of the powerful book; The Power of Positive Thinking, Dr Norman Peale, has left an enduring legacy through the creative expression of this ageless concept that inspired his nation and the entire world, especially during a devastating economic depression. He demonstrated the principles of positive thinking, not only on the pulpit but in his secular life to inspire a society that was caving under the burden of a tremendous economic depression.

Positive thinking is a universal concept that can be found in all religions, cultures, and classical literature. The concept may have different embellishments depending on the milieu through which it is being expressed but it essentially has the same message. This may be because all humans essentially have the same psychological make-up. Negative thoughts are capable of depleting psychic energy crucial for human survival. Creative optimism flourishes in an atmosphere of positive thinking while there is thought paralysis when negative thoughts predominate.

Ideas evaporate and the cognitive horizon becomes bleak and enveloped in darkness, which may result in suicide. Aaron Beck, a psychologist, gave us the cognitive theory that explains depressive illness as a product of uninterrupted cognitive distortions. In between normality and illness; there is a thought pattern characterised by struggles between negativism and positivism. When negativism overcomes, there will be a loss of energy, loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities, and undue sadness that qualifies the individual for urgent psychiatric intervention before committing suicide.

Negative thinking is encapsulated in the word pessimism, which is characterised by fear, anxiety, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt, doubt, frustration, and disillusionment. Any human being overtaken by this thought pattern acquires a pessimistic lens through which he views his career, marriage, society, and all of his undertakings. While there is the argument of a hereditary predisposition, the truth is that all humans have a natural tendency to indulge in negative thoughts that should be interrupted.

Some individuals choose to employ immature defence mechanisms to explain away their negative thoughts by attributing them to forces outside of conscious cognitive control; thereby denying the experience and refusing to take responsibility. This may impair reality testing and frustrate creative problem-solving strategies. This approach readily breeds failure, frustration, and mental illness invariably. When the leader of a family is overtaken by negative thinking, the children will grow to become school dropouts, victims of drug addiction, and failures in the game of life. There is a linkage between neurolinguistic programming and the predominant thinking pattern; hence the counsel to speak positive words to create positive force at the home, workplace, and society.

Negative thinking is perpetuated by neurolinguistic programming in the direction of self-sabotage. A critical interrogation of the African culture is very crucial at this point to unravel the reasons for our underdevelopment despite the abundance of human and physical resources.

Our cultural myths, superstitions, and taboos annihilate our cognitive emancipation from situations that seek to imprison us because they reduce us to robots in our personal experience and shift the responsibility of solution to a deity that is beyond us. Our leadership in the secular and much more in the religious realm exploits this paradigm for their selfishness.

Positive thinking is the interruption of our natural cognitive distortions through the universal principle of faith which connects the individual personally and consciously to the power of omnipotence. Faith, as a precursor of positive thinking, is a constant element in all religions of the world. Faith breeds hope, love, and joy as it eliminates selfishness, fear, hatred, and other negative thoughts in the construction of a positive cognitive template that enhances problem-solving skills. The facility of imagination becomes activated as faith is applied. This is radically different from fantasy which is an idle, wishful, and irrational projection of the mind as a form of escape from life’s challenges. This is actually the difference between faith and delusion.

Faith acknowledges the existence of a problem but also facilitates your connection to the power of omnipotence in surmounting it, while delusion denies the reality of a problem, and explains it away by leveraging myths and superstitions; thereby assuming that a deity will take responsibility for its solution. This induces a certain degree of passivity in our affairs while the cognitive facility is idle, disconnected, sinks into negativity, and may invariably compensate with escapism into myths that impair reality testing with mediocre capacity for problem-solving.

Nigeria is a very religious nation, but our religiosity has failed to translate our religious efforts into positive thinking that should practically empower us in nation-building rather than self-indulgence and mindless opportunism. Our leaders lack creative problem-solving skills just as we are deluded to rationalise our failures on the doorstep of the Almighty while all manners of material and sensual indulgence characterise our leadership in all ramifications.

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In recent years the stories we’ve been telling ourselves about the future have felt increasingly dystopian. Climate change is on the verge of wiping us out. The people on the other side of the aisle are enemies. Technology is coming for our jobs, and then for us. The more these stories dominate headlines and Hollywood the less hope we feel for a better future.

In his new 6-part PBS series, A Brief History of the Future , Ari Wallach aims to interrupt this doom-loop thinking. Yes, the dystopian stories above contain real risks, he contends, but they aren’t the whole picture. The whole picture contains a set of countervailing stories about a future filled with optimism and possibility. One that we don’t see as often in our fear-filled news feeds. One in which the broader interests of humanity are front and center. A futurist grounded in humanism, Wallach takes us on a journey around the world to meet more than thirty people and companies who are reigniting much needed hope with their unrelenting vision and contagious passion.

The documentary’s strategy is to tell many brief stories rather than dwell on a few longer ones. If you’re a curious person, it leaves you hungry for more information about each. But that seems to be the whole point. Rather than satisfy your curiosity, the series wants to spark it, hitting you with so many eye-opening and energizing ideas about the future that you almost feel embarrassed to have dwelled so long in dystopia. For me, it was a wakeup call. An invitation to further open my eyes to the extraordinary things my fellow human beings are doing to improve life on this planet.

Some of the stories are about energy. The Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco is well on its way to making the country energy independent. The largest solar power plant in the world comprises two million mirrors powering one million homes.

Ari talks with Abed Lagdem in Ouarzazate, Morocco.

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Some are social. Tony Brown runs Heart of Los Angeles and its intergenerational orchestra program. It pulls musicians together across races and ages to play together, inspiring and mentoring each other.

Some are ecological. The Environmental Defense Fund and Ball Aerospace are launching a satellite to globally map methane pollution and help stem otherwise hard-to-identify leaks of this greenhouse gas. Methane is currently responsible for approximately 30% of the global rise in temperature.

Some are community based. A local community in Langholm Scotland banded together to buy 5000 acres of land held for centuries by the dukes of Buccleuch rather than see it sold off to a private landowner. They plan to regenerate the land, create a new nature preserve, and develop opportunities for ecotourism.

Some are agricultural. GreenWave is pioneering regenerative ocean farming. Twenty years ago former cod fisherman Bren Smith shifted his business to kelp farming after cod stocks crashed, decimating jobs along with it. GreenWave’s goal is to support upwards of 10,000 farmers in planting regenerative ocean crops to yield positive economic and climate impacts.

These and other stories Wallach explores will leave you inspired. And enough of them are community based they will also leave you motivated to find a way to get involved locally if you’re not already. The message threaded throughout the show is that humanity’s future is bright. Its greatest limitation is imagination. We hold the seeds for many different futures and must choose which to plant and cultivate.

“It’s so easy to see what’s wrong and lose hope.” Wallach reflects. “It's been an unforgettable experience to spend time with people who simply refuse to give up, building on ancient wisdom to look beyond our modern moment towards a future worth fighting for. These are the stories we need right now.”

A Brief History of the Future premiers on PBS April 3, 9pm EST

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