We’re all a little delusional

Can I be honest with you? I think we're all a little delusional.

Delusion is often spoken of within the context of mental illness but part of the definition of delusional is holding a belief about reality despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. 

We also use the word delusional within a looser context in common conversation such as, “They're delusional if they think that goal can be reached.” 

For the context of this email, I'm offering that delusional means making up or imagining things about your future that could happen but for which you have much more evidence to the contrary. 

This can be good or harmful depending.

We're somewhat delusional when we believe something bad is going to happen to us in the future when we have a lifetime of evidence that we've survived everything we've ever faced.

We're somewhat delusional when we stop ourselves from trying something new because we imagine all the things that could go wrong even thought we have a lot of evidence of things that have gone right. 

A good chunk of our suffering comes from the imaginings of our brain about things that never ever come to fruition. Think about it, how many things have you worried about in your life that DIDN'T ever happen?

I propose to you that if we can be delusional in ways that harm us, perhaps we can be delusional in ways that benefit us. 

If we're making up stuff about our future, why don't we imagine, assume, and expect the good stuff. 

I know that you can look back on your life and see lots of evidence that bad things happen but there's also evidence that so much good does too. 

We get to choose what to use as evidence for our delusions. I recommend we practice finding evidence to support the life we want, not the life we dread. What you focus on truly becomes your reality.

Xo,

Jody