"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, doggone it, people like me" may have been the advice of Stewart Smallie, but The Journal of Psychological Science published a study called The Problem With
Self-help Books: The Negative Side To Positive Self-statements, which finds positive self-statements can actually be detrimental.
The psychologists suggested that, just like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements like "I accept and love myself completely," can provoke contradictory thoughts in people with low self-esteem. Such negative thoughts can overwhelm the positive thoughts, making them ineffective. Also, if people are instructed to focus exclusively on positive thoughts, they may find negative thoughts to be especially discouraging.
What do you think readers? Agree? Disagree? Either way, I guess my dvd copy of The Secret is going in the trash bin.