Hope you’re doing great with your gratitude journaling! We are here for a cautionary call. There is a problem with positivity, and we want to ensure you are aware of it.

Self-help is a vast field, and rightly so. Anything that helps us live better should be valued, but like every other field, there is a lot of noise there. In fact, you might come across more noise than signal. It is tough to tell the reason for this, but we suspect that it could be because of more room for subjectivity in self-help than a purely scientific field. And yes, Kosma is also mostly self-help, but hey, we are the good folks (Psst… arguably the best 😉).

Some self-help gurus use words like abundance, manifestation, etc. far detached from reality. It gets tricky to catch such deceivers because a lot of self-help content is based on experience and not all the experience can be backed by scientific facts, as research often follows a slower pace, like how the benefits of the ancient Indian practices of Pranayama (breathing) and Yoga were validated centuries later. So how can you filter the truth from the lies?

Here’s a quick litmus test you can use:

If the author suggests things like “You are perfect no matter what others say” stay away from it. Denial of truth does not change reality!

While no one should be judged based on appearance, if you do not keep basic hygiene, you cannot expect others to be attracted to you. Similarly, if you have been getting scolded at work due to bad performance, beliefs like “I am perfect” cannot change your life. Your whole life will become a lie, and that is the last thing we want.

Similarly, if a manifestation coach tells you to “Attract wealth by writing a cheque of $1 million to yourself” be careful. This method can be helpful by changing your mental associations (as we will see in a later mission) but it will not magically make you rich. For that, you still need to work.

Change is possible only once you accept the present reality.

Remember, as you practice gratitude, what you feel good about should be based on facts. Yes, the truths can be surprisingly simple, like a flower you saw in full bloom, or a bird chirping in the balcony, but there is no room for lies. If your relationship with your parents is not good, you should not write in the journal that you feel gratitude for it. Rather, it should be a wake-up call for you to do your part in improving the relationship. Good things require effort, and there is no escape.

Before we part, take this not as a reason to criticize self-help or its practitioners, rather criticize the lies. Only a life based on truth can bring sustainable progress to the world. As with everything else, be your own judge and walk the line of balance, neither a blind follower nor a hater. If some self-help content works for you, spread the word. As our happiness is linked with others around us, it is only by spreading the good that we can improve our own life 😊