Thinking Out Loud: It’s Time to Look on the Bright Side

Learning to Appreciate. A look at appreciative inquiry. Excerpts are taken from, Appreciative Inquiry Handbook (2003) by David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, and Jacqueline Stravros.

Powerful placebo: the placebo effect is a fascinating process in which projected images, as reflected in positive belief, ignite a healing response that can be as powerful as conventional therapy. . . . The placebo effect is accepted by most medical professions as genuine between 1/3 and 2/3 of all patients show marked physiological and emotional improvement in symptoms simply by believing they are given an effective treatment even when that treatment is just the sugar pill are some inert substance. p. 10.

Note: I have always been a big believer on looking on the bright side. It’s the title of my blog. I’ve found, in my experience, that believing that something was possible was significantly more helpful than believing the opposite. When we believe that something is possible and commit ourselves to working toward that possibility our mind shuts the doors to negative thinking and begins to work overtime to create a road map for that possibility. Last year, I had both hips replaced within 90 days. I was told by many people that my surgeon was the best in the city. I bought into that. I did everything I needed to do pre operation and post operation. Within three days after each operation, I was walking without a cane. Was the placebo effect at work in my belief in the surgeon? I think it all worked together. Why let your mind walk down a road that provides no benefit. This appreciative inquiry principle tells us that all things are possible within our relationships at work or at home when we choose to believe in possibilities and commit ourselves to that belief.