More Of The Same

Along the same lines, another friend from way back has a mantra he tells his kids: "If ya think ya can, ya can." Simple truths. So much power exists in just believing. But, again, it's complicated. If you've always believed, from the beginning of your existence, that the sky is yellow---that's what you were told from the time you can remember---you're never really going to buy into this idea that it's blue. (Okay, okay, we know it's really all about molecules and reflections and it only seems blue, but for the sake of the example)....You can maybe see that the person telling you the sky is blue really really believes it and really feels it's important that you believe it; his or her earnestness moves you. So you concede. You turn your head a certain way as though you've had a breakthrough: "Ah, yes! I see it now! The sky is blue." But deep down you know it's really yellow. It's a leap of faith that's hard to imagine. You can learn to function in a new way; you can remove barriers that you see have been damaging. You can logically talk yourself through the new method of functioning---the more healthy method: I am a good person. I have good qualities. I have strengths. And so on. And you can make strides. But do you really ever get to the point where the sky actually becomes blue?