Jim spoke to us about the power of positive thinking.  We took turns talking about positive and negative attitudes and how the attitudes affect the outcome.  Gordon believes that a positive attitude gives you energy to follow through.  However, he pointed out that a positive attitude is not the same as a positive direction.  Enthusiasm can carry you to victory even if the victory is in the wrong direction.

Do you follow your bliss, or learn to love what you have to do.

Elizabeth said if you keep up a positive attitude in the face of a probable very bad outcome, people accuse you of being in denial and not taking your position seriously.  But, if you refuse to fall into the morose, it denies the disease the destruction of who you are, even if it does destroy the body.  And, sometimes, the disease doesnt even succeed in that.

So, asked Deepa, where does reality fit in?  Where indeed?

Cathy said attitudes are important, but it is a danger to condemn people who fail to hold a positive attitude and, consequently, fail raise themselves out of bad circumstances.  It is not always easy to be a positive thinker.  Sometimes a support group is is necessary to keep up a positive attitude. 

The discussion was ended here, but I think Cathy’s point bears further discussion.  People who completely fail to keep a positive attitude are often those failing in our midst.  The way we treat them says a lot about us.  In the 1930’s and earlier,  people who were failing were allowed to go without health care and allowed to starve.   After 1945 we in America set up government programs to diminish the number of people without health care and who are starving, but we, apparently, have been borrowing the money to do that, and we have not been telling ourselves the truth about the borrowing.  (We humans are not good listeners.)   Now, we as a nation are seriously out of balance in money,  and in our promises to our retirement funds, social security, and health care.  There are many ways to solve the imbalance.  How we do it is going to fuel the political debate in the next few years. 

Philosophically… Rick…