While there is a place for medication, by design it exists
to suppress symptoms. Drugs do not
heal. We are trained via culture and
media to take one pill for this and one for that. We live in a drug culture that trains us as
children the way of the pill.
I have observed that most people think they are “pretty
healthy”. They can be on six or more
prescription medications, have a current cold and they will say, “Overall, I am
pretty healthy.” It often takes a lot
for them to make the shift to something is wrong. How would you define “pretty healthy? I can still get up in the morning and go to
work? I can make it to the mail box and
back? I go to the doctor and take my
prescriptions?
I love positive thinking but it could be an obstacle to
making change. Sometimes we slip toward
poor health so gradually that we don't even notice. For some there may be a feeling of,
"this is as good as it will get, or I am getting old". I am sure that at some point in time, I will
be old and it really will be as good as it gets. However, there is a time before that where
something really can be done.
Do we deceive ourselves into thinking we are healthy when we
also know we have health problems? Is it
our survival mechanism to keep going, or do we truly believe we are healthy in
spite of evidence to the contrary. Perhaps
it is a strong spiritual perspective carries you forward. Are we intentional or unintentional in our
self-deception? A newsman once said,
"we view things thru the prism of our experience". Interesting.
Advertising has pounded the message that drugs are good, the
flu shot is good, and anything we tell you to do is for your benefit. Many are sincere in this belief. We know what we are doing because we are
smarter than you are. We have done all
the research so you don't have to. If
you do not do as we say you are just ignorant.
Oh contraire. Just some thoughts.
Stay Well
The human brain is a storyteller. It tells us tales about the way things are, and it allows us to imagine the way things could be.
ReplyDeleteBut what if the stories we tell ourselves aren't true? How would we know? What if all our brains are wired to lie about reality and our place in it? Why do so many people consistently disregard risk? Neuroscientist Tali Sharot has discovered there's a reality-distortion mechanism built into the human brain. She wrote a book about it called The Optimism Bias. The optimism bias is our tendency to overestimate the positive things in our lives and underestimate the likelihood of negative things in our lives. People overestimate their success professionally, their longevity. They underestimate their likelihood of suffering from cancer, of getting divorced. We are more optimistic than realistic, but most of us are oblivious to the fact. We're not aware of it. Nearly 80% of the population is affected by this bias. Most people rate themselves above average on most abilities. And that's, of course, statistically impossible, 'cause we can't all be better than everyone else. It's commonly believed that, when your expectations are not met, you alter your expectations. Our brains seem to resist negative information, but only when it applies to us. Optimism changes the way we see the world.
Alas, we are human!