We’re creatures of excess. As soon as we find out something is good for us, we seem to take it to extremes. Several years ago, researchers decided people were eating too much fat. So manufacturers started to produce a lot of fat-free products. But to make up for the missing fat, they added a lot more sugar. And no one seemed to get thinner.

You wouldn’t think you could get too carried away about something as healthy as positive thinking. But some people do. They get so carried away with the importance of positive thinking that they begin to blame themselves and others anytime something bad happens to them. Obviously, if something bad has happened, it’s because someone had a rogue negative thought.

Well … poppycock!

Sometimes bad things just happen to good people no matter how positive their mindset—as several cancer studies have demonstrated, according to Ivanhoe’s Medical Breakthroughs. Yes, studies have shown optimism and positive thinking can improve overall health and heart health. But a major study of people being treated for head and neck cancer found no connection between survival and positive thinking.

The point?

Having a positive attitude makes you feel better and makes the people around you feel better. It may help lengthen your life. And even if you don’t survive your disease, it can improve the quality of the time you have left. But if you slip and have a few negative thoughts, a few doubts, an occasional bad day, there’s no evidence to suggest that’s why you got sick, why your cancer recurred, or why your treatment isn’t working. And no one is to blame.