POSITIVE THINKING

It hadn't occurred to me that what may be positive thinking in one person's view is not to another. When I had a patient dying of cancer, she was told to read mind over body stuff and told me that she had felt punished by having to read it. She had tried to live a clean and stress-free life but facts and people around her never let that happen. One might ask what her genetics also had to do with her illness. At any rate, she felt that it was expected of her to cure her own cancer with mind over body and she was failing to be able to do it.

When Obama ran on a platform of Hope and Change I could easily relate to both concepts. However, the more I thought of it, I realized that too many people believe prayer is hope, about which they do nothing to advance themselves or their fellow man. Hard work and determination must accompany hope if change is to be the result. Those who pray that a higher power will do it for them, or may even think the President they voted for will do it for them instantly, are living an illusion. Only fools believe an accurate diagnosis means a total cure with no assist from the patient.

Positive thinking and hope make your body feel better. Less cortisol accumulates and your brain deteriorates more slowly as the years go by, giving reason to not leaving clinical depressions untreated. Just as 'you can't cure stupid', positive thinking alone cures little. It allows you to see happiness where others miss it, beauty when others see only blemishes, humor in even a hopeless situation. Positive thinking allows you to take control of your own life rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you. Positive thinking, however, must have facts and reality as a base, otherwise we must call it delusional thinking, which I believe is as contagious and lethal as the swine flu, or H1N1 as we lovingly refer to it.

Rise, Americans, not to do battle but to support the man you appointed to do a job for you. Give him time and ideas, not edicts. It is, after all, his job, not yours, to run the country.

IS ALL SPEECH FREE? NO, IT IS NOT!

Opinions are free. Plotting to overthrow the government, as well as I recall, gets capital punishment. It seems to me that many don't realize they are crossing a very serious line. I can't help but wonder who is minding the store on this. Is no one paying attention who is in a position to legally put a stop to this treasonous oratory?

Actually it may be wise for the non-Republicans to let the Republican party continue on its road to self-destruction as it seems the direction it is currently headed. But I can't help wonder what it says about the citizen's who feel differently. If not legally prohibited, it is certainly morally prohibited to neglect to warn authorities if someone is threatening suicide. Limbaugh is not making a threat to personally take action to cause Obama to fail. However, Michelle Bachman is urging people to take up arms against the government and win it back for the 'people'. Does the 'people' in that context mean those few who think as she does? If that is the case, isn't the way it is usually done is to debate, work towards speaking out then coming up with new and better ideas shared? How can a party who allowed our Constitution to be ignored for eight years, with no solutions to prevent the resulting chaos, presume to be critical of the new broom properly chosen by a democratic process and majority that IS offering new ideas and changes?

Apparently these vicious political critics forget that someone is filming and saving what they say, bringing it out for entertainment after the politician denies ever having said the 'whatever.' The database used for instant retrieval even from speeches made many years ago is wondrous. The snake oil salesman can no longer take your money and run off to a town where you can't find him.

WE ARE CONSTANTLY DEALING WITH LOSS

For those who have difficulty with change, these are trying times, though it feels right to change from an incompetently run Republican USA for the last eight years to a Democratic one with some positive hope. Those unwilling or unable to make change must likely follow the adage, "The Devil you know is better than the Devil you don't know." Once I have met a Devil, I want to make a change immediately!

There was a time when I loved really good French Fried Onion Rings. There was only one place in town that made them fresh rather than little frozen and thawed out skinny strips of gooey onions, deep fried in pancake batter. The restaurant closed. The staff must have taken all their meals there, too, because I have never seen so many well-fed waitresses in one spot as an ad for their highly caloric meals. Not only have I never found a replacement but I have been so long without them, I can no longer eat fried things with any residual enjoyment. (the side-effect is that my cholesterol level is going down)

My city used to have lots of small stores and even a huge discount house. All are gone. (the after effect is that I seldom go to stores, I shop online) It saves fuel and I usually can find what I am looking for. I don't have to eat lunch out or waste lots of time and gas. Living in a city that is surrounded by well-to-do, and often dry towns, we seem to have morphed into a city of restaurants and bars. It is much easier to find a great meal at a restaurant than it is to open the refrigerator door and wish you could teleport food from it to make a meal that never happens.

Sometimes things change for the better. Our single small theater years ago was torn down. only to be rebuilt many years later to house several smaller theaters offering great movies from which to choose. While the cheap movie is a thing of the past, there is rarely a time when there is not a great movie to choose from just two miles from home.

I've heard people say, "Your loss is my gain." It could just as easily be said, "Your gain is my loss." Ideally, we say neither. It is not a loss or gain; it is a change.

THE NEW YEAR ILLUSION

When the New Year arrives I always have to deal with my illusion that it will somehow be a new beginning. Nothing changes at all. All the problems of the preceding year are still there. All things undone on the To-Do list of 2007 followed me into 2008. Weight doesn't magically fall off nor do the aches and pains in my body disappear. The only real change is my disappointment in realizing that every problem still exists both in the world at large and in my own personal sphere.

Birthdays seem to have a similar process. You wake up on the day of your birthday as a child with great expectations of having a 'special' day. Indeed it is special because you are center stage, get a cake with candles to blow out, and if you are lucky, a party with friends and some nice gifts. However, after you reach the mileposts of 16, 18, 21, and 30, there is far less to look forward to. You feel the same after your birthday as you did the day before, and if no one knew you had a birthday, they couldn't tell.

Years ago, I gave up making New Year's Resolutions. Waiting for the new year to start anything is, in my mind, total procrastination. Whatever day of the year I resolve to do anything is the day I start the change or there will be no change. It has always fascinated me that people make so much of New Year's Eve. I can't imagine myself standing in a freezing Times Square, another herring in a sardine can, for five hours to watch a ball drop even if God were standing there holding the ball. First Night celebrations are a step up. It seems that any excuse for fireworks is grabbed up by someone. The rest of the entertainment is well-planned and organized and seems a worthwhile venue with all the entertainers, ice artists, and everything else offered. Happily, the celebration does not depend on my being there. I feel that anything presented outdoors when it is under 70 degrees will not tempt me any more than an ocean colder than bathtub temperature will draw me in. Spending a large part of the evening in lines to get into places when the comfort of my living room offers good entertainment also does not seem a particular attraction, either.

Then main thing that I notice this New Year is that I have been to a lot of places, done a lot, saw a lot, gave at the office, learned my lessons, paid the price for my mistakes, and work harder to be optimistic about my fellow human beings. Despite this seemingly pessimistic view of life, I find no end of things or people in my world that aren't exciting and which make me happy to wake up to face every morning!