Monday, November 8, 2010

Believe?

Aren’t we better off believing we can change things, than allowing other things to have control of our lives? I recently had a conversation with someone regarding Alzheimer’s. During the conversation I mentioned that if we have concerns about getting Alzheimer’s, we should work every day to keep our minds sharp. I went on to say that our minds our like our muscles - the more we neglect them, the sooner they will weaken. After going on about it for a few minutes, I got a disapproving look followed by the comment that Alzheimer’s is hereditary and there is nothing we can do about it.


Regardless of whether this is a true statement or not, do we want to live our lives this way? Isn’t it better to believe that we can change the things in our lives, than to believe we have no control? Isn’t it better to believe that we can keep our minds sharp by reading daily, doing Suduko puzzles, working, or anything else we can think of doing? Isn’t that better than believing it is all completely out of our control? I mean if you have ever heard about the placebo effect, you know that our mind is capable of doing just about anything that we believe it can do. The point isn’t whether or not we do or do not have the ability to change things but whether or not it is better to believe we can. Once we stop believing we can, we lose hope and with loss of any hope, we lose our will. I believe I can cure my own back problems, prevent Alzheimer’s, fend off potential colds, and anything else that may come my way. When I believe that it is possible, I look for things that I can start doing to help these things happen and I work hard at them. Most of all, I believe that believing empowers me and makes for a much happier life. By doing so, the worst thing that could happen is that I end up with these ailments anyway but had a great time believing I could overcome them. On the other hand, if I give into them now, the battle is already over and I succumb to the inevitable. Which one sounds like something we should do?