If we have a positve mindset it helps shooing away stress etc but?

Being positive always benefits our outlook. It is true we have to be realistic in all our approach. But again life is not so easy to calculate everything before hand. We have to approach things with positive attitude so that my mind can achieve higher levels of achievement. Negative thoughts put a brake on the mind and prevents it from moving forward.

LOL I can see you do not have a positive mindset if you equate thinking positively automatically with deception-- does that mean you think that thinking negatively is realistic?

No, it is not deception-- in fact, I think sometimes people who have a negative mindset are decieving themselves, they are making things out to be worse than they are, essentially crippling themselves from making positive changes.

The key is to be realistic, but have a positive attitude because the mind is such a powerful tool.

For example, in studies they gave people chocolate yogurt but told them it was strawberry, people believe it is strawberry.

Doctors have given people placebos (sugar water pills) and told them it was powerful medicine, and people actually feel and get better to some extent just believing the pills can help.

Some people were given drinks and told they were powerful alcohol, and they drank and began acting really, really drunk-- but there was actually no alcohol in the drink!

The point is, science has proven over and over again that the mind is a powerful thing-- how we think can actually affect everything from how we behave to how we feel to what we accomplish.

Basically, only a fool would not use that powerful tool to his advantage.

A positive mindset has many advantages. Does it have drawbacks? Maybe. The over-positive person may risk (as you say) being unable to see the downside of things. It may also annoy others who are not so positive.

If you have (or try to cultivate) a positive mindset you can always back it up by deliberately considering what might be downsides. Then you can have motivational energy (said to flow from positivity) to deal with negatives not ignore or deny them.

I think just like positive people have to find a balance between being optimistic and living in denial, pessimistic people have to find a balance between the negative and reality. I have seen positive people who are so consumed with denial that they actually live in a fairy tale world, a fantasy that they made up because the reality of their actual world was too much for them to cope with. You are right, the fairy tale world is only affective when they are in their safe castle, however, they are not able to cope when they have to venture out into society.

being negative never did anything for anyone. i know you're under the impression that you're "just being realistic", but this is life and anything can happen. you could easily deceive yourself by thinking negatively, you don't know what's around the next corner so you might as well try to be happy while you still can.