Even in difficult situations what you believe has power

Gordie Jackson
3 min readAug 18, 2017

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I awoke in the morning and felt my nose was doing something different. It was subtle, just noticeable. By lunchtime, I could feel a cold in my nose. I continued on as normal though by the time I reached home in the evening I was running the bath. I don’t often run baths so that was the sign that it was getting to me.

After the bath I stretched out on the bed and it was hours later I awoke only to fall asleep again.

At one time I denied sickness seeing it as an illusion and would not take treatment. I was always intrigued by the power of ‘The Teacher’ to heal and saw healing as evidence of the divine.

In my teens, I had a small stye in my eye and each time someone offered a prayer for healing I would rise and go forth. On one occasion the person recommended that I go to the hospital and have it removed, I thought that was missing the point. I did go and it was gone in minutes.

Mary Baker Eddy the discoverer of Christian Science is perhaps best known for her book Science and Health. Mrs Eddy was born at a time when ‘New thought’ was taking root in the US. The central belief of New thought is that your thinking determines the life you have. So if you believe you have an illness you will have an illness whereas if despite the signs of the illness you refuse to believe you have it you will be free of it.

You might be thinking this sounds psychosomatic and you would be right. I believe there is a truth in the notion that what you believe determines how you live. Even with a degenerative illness what you believe about that illness on your life will determine the quality of your life.

We have all known people who have allowed illnesses to define them and others who defined themselves despite the illness.

I recently had two experiences which told me the power of belief. I had a dent in my old car and I moved it slightly after parking to give the guy behind me more room. On alighting from his vehicle he saw the dent on my bumper and was suspicious of why I had moved. He asked, “Did you dent my car?” I said to him, “What makes you think that?” “Because of that dent on yours,” he replied.

It is often our suspicious or negative thinking that gets us into trouble.

In the other example I got a take away tea from the train station. It was as I was drinking the tea I thought there was a small difference to the taste. I opened the lid and could see that no milk had been added. I then realised that the white lid had deceived my eye and made me think I was still drinking tea with milk. I decided not to return for milk but enjoy the illusion.

Years ago I had a pup that would not stop crying at night. This annoyed my mother intensely. I asked my da what should I do he said to put a clock inside a blanket with a hot water bottle and place it with the pup. I know you may not believe this but it worked, the dog believed it was with it mother.

During holidays when we are about to jump into what I believe to be cold water I shout, “Mind over matter”. The phrase conveys the notion that although I really don’t want to do this I will.

For now, I won’t be jumping into any cold pools rather I will find a book and hold it close to my chest.

g.

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Gordie Jackson

Speaks with a Northern Irish accent, lives in Hertfordshire, England.