What You Believe is Real, is Real

I was watching a program the other day, Weird Or What? on the Discovery Channel, about an indigenous tribe from I forget where, who run everywhere they go. Scientists studying them (naturally scientists had to study them) discovered that they run, on average, well over 200 miles a day. The young, the old, the kids, all of them. Barefoot for the most part. And science wonders how on earth this is possible, and they speculate about genetics and evolution and joint strength and so on.

But I think the answer is far, far simpler. They can run 200 miles a day with ease, because no one ever told them they couldn’t. No one told them it was impossible. No one told them it was even unusual, or that it ought to be really hard!

They didn’t believe there was anything at all unusual about running all that distance all the time, because no one had told them so. They just did it.

That’s how powerful our beliefs are. So tell me, if no one ever told you . . . .

That your metabolism slows after menopause… That your skin loses its elasticity after 35… That women past thirty shouldn’t wear mini-skirts… That running five miles a day is impossible for you… That chocolate is fattening….

Would any of it be true?