The Power of Positive Thinking

Until very recently I had never given much thought to thinking positively. If you know me in my current life you would probably think of me as a happy and positive person. This has not always been the case. Around six years ago I was a very sad person and I hated many of the facets of my life. Eventually I was able to overcome the depression that I originally experienced with my diagnosis. But I still didn't think that I was going to get any better. I still had that cynical little voice in the back of my head that said I ws never going to look any better, and that my condition was never going to get any better. I'm not even sure what finally busted me out of this funk, but I started improving. I finally started to believe that my medicines were going to help me. I believed that my shots where going to help me. My skin has gotten so much lighter, my spots are less hard, and I've retained the motion that I still have. I've even started to think positively about the condition of my left hand. People have told me that they hardly noticed it until I myself have mentioned it. It's a good feeling that I'm in less pain and that I look better, but I didn't realize why all of this had happened until earlier last week. In my Health, Healing, and Religions class we've been talking about the placebo effect. Studies have shown that patients have had marked improvement simply by believing that they will get better when given a sugar pill. Maybe the human mind is exactly as powerful as hippies have always said it is. Perhaps it was the power of positive thoughts that have made me better. Maybe it was the power of God. Who knows?