Belief

This morning I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned and somehow I got into a conversation with the hygienist about eastern medicine.  Once her hand was in my mouth, the two-way conversation ended, and she continued to tell me about the fact she was studying for her masters in eastern pharmacology, acupuncture, etc.  She talked about the differences between the western and eastern approach, and the fact that while western medicine had merits, it really only addressed the surface issue, not necessarily the causes.  She talked about how the FDA is making it difficult for people working with herbs to prescribe things to patients.  She defended the practice by explaining that it’s existed for 4000 years and has developed via trial and error; and while it doesn’t work for everyone, that’s a small percentage.  Then she mentioned something that really struck me:

“A big part of it is if you believe it will work.  If you don’t believe it will work, it probably won’t.”

At first I thought, “Well, you just blew the whole idea.”  I mean, if something works, it does, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.  But that isn’t necessarily true.  If you’ve ever known someone with cancer, you’ve heard the term “fighting” used.  That term describes the person’s ability to beat the illness.

If one of your organs began to fail, or if you were diagnosed with a terminal disease, how prepared would you be to fight for your survival?

“Fighting” has a lot to do with how much you believe you actually can survive.