Here’s a brainstorm that hit me last night in
bed. I was wondering what the point of life is if in one moment it could be
turned upside down by death or illness. Why work so hard at a future when it’s
going to end eventually, and we don’t know from minute to minute what the next
second will bring. So why even bother?
Before even addressing the question, I first
want to acknowledge two things that I know and accept upfront, whether I feel
it or not:
·
My premise is wrong. Thousands of
years of existence of the human race and billions of people today who are all
living their lives and working hard to progress and advance and accomplish and
who do not have this view. So the fact that the extreme majority of the
population does not have this overly negative view of life and the world is
proof positive that it is not the popular or truthful view.
·
My view is wrong. In fact, people who
have this view are the ones who need therapy to change their view, not the
other way around. A person with a positive outlook on life is considered
healthy and happy, while people with a negative view on life that leads them to
think negatively about things are the ones who need therapy and counseling to
help them change their incorrect, false and inaccurate negative outlook.
·
My facts are wrong. Despite the
sensationalism of disaster and tragedy, the fact remains that we live in the
best of times, when death and disease are at their lowest levels in history, and
disease, when it does occur is usually treatable or manageable. We also have
the best preventive health tools available, have the best emergency response
systems, the most advanced medical and rescue technology and unsurpassed safety
standards in history. Of course, when tragedy or disaster does occur it is
sensationalized, because good news doesn’t sell – only bad news. But our brains
only absorb what they are fed. We read the news each day and see negativity and
tragedy and horror. We hear of 5 bad news stories. But we don’t hear of the
millions of non-horror stories that consist of neutral good stories (as if
there is such thing, because even when things are ‘neutral’ they are
miraculous), and the countless good news stories:
o
How many people are healthy?
o
How many people have jobs to go to?
o
How many people got married?
o
How many people got engaged?
o
How many people had babies?
o
How many people became pregnant?
o
How many people found new jobs?
o
How many people were released from
hospitals?
o
How many people had minor illnesses
that were easily treatable?
o
How many people were cured from
serious illnesses?
o
How many illnesses were prevented?
o
How many people stopped their
addictive behaviors?
o
How many people had a health concern,
had a test and the test results were good?
o
How many people had a health concern,
had a test and the test results were not as bad as feared and is easily treatable?
o
How many people drove to work and did
not get into a car accident?
o
How many people did get into a car
accident but it was minor and no one was injured?
o
How many people made a new friend?
o
How many people found a new
opportunity in life?
o
How many enemies made peace?
o
How many people are happy?
o
How many children learned something
new today?
o
How many children were provided with
the tools needed to develop into healthy, well-adjusted adults?
o
And the list goes on, ad infinitum…
But
those things don’t make news, which leaves our brains to see the relatively
minor and statistically insignificant as the only facts, which results
in….drumroll please….overmaginification
of the negative, and minimization of the positive…when in fact the negative
is the minority and the positive is the norm and the majority. But fed and
overfed with exclusively negativity, the brain has no perspective…it needs a
scale, a full, big picture, to enable it to keep the negative in a realistic
perspective.
So going in, I already know what the truth is and
that my perspective is grossly inaccurate. My goal is to internalize the truth
that I know and accept, because although I may not feel the reality of the
truth, is till know it as fact and am willing to work toward internalizing it. So
we’re off to a pretty good start because there is no need to convince me of
what the truth is, only to internalize it and live it.
