A leap of faith to believe

Seligman's study has shown that our attitudes - positive or negative  - can affect whether we succeed or fail in reaching our goals. In his classic book, Learned Optimism, he offers empirical data showing that life insurance agents with optimistic attitudes sold more policies than did their pessimistic colleagues. Pessimistic blamed failed sales attempts on themselves, which lowered their self-esteem and led to lower sales volumes. Optimists, rather than taking the rejections personally, had logical reasons to explain why prospects did not buy policies. Optimists not only sold 37 percent more than the pessimists did, they also remained on the job longer.
It is also true that those with positive attitudes generally enjoy better overall health. As positive thinking takes hold of your mind, your body responds accordingly. If you're having trouble accepting this concept, I'd like to make you blush. We blush when we're embarrassed, don't we? Isn't that physical reaction the result of a mere thought? We haven't actually exerted ourselves to make blood rush to our faces, causing them to redden. It's the thought that triggers this reaction. If we have this kind of physical reaction to a thought, is it such a leap of faith to believe that a positive thought could affect our bodies in a beneficial way?