True Story on the Power of Confidence

I got to hear so many incredible true-life stories yesterday and the class before. I heard a young man tell of being falsely diagnosed with a fatal illness, another who experienced repeated failures trying out for the baseball team before getting into a game he enjoys much more -- golf, a young woman who out-of-the-blue had to deliver a baby for her mom's friend, so many fabulous stories. So much wisdom!

But one story stands out in my mind to illustrate our incredible power. Here's what happened to this young girl, we'll call her Suzy.

One Christmas Suzy had her heart set on getting a new Barbie. But not just any Barbie, it was one where you could cut her hair. At least the doll came with scissors.

It was the last gift that little seven-year-old Suzy opened, and she felt pure bliss.

Barbie's hair went from hip length, to waist length, to long layers to asymetrical, to shoulder length, to China chop, to pixie short....finally ending with a total buzz cut. Suzy was enchanted. And then a little bored. Two hours had passed in hair cutting ecstasy - what next?

The logical thing to do was of course for Suzy to cut her own hair. Which she did.

She cut layers and more layers and then a bit more. Some might called the end result "massacre with scissors." Suzy knew it was THE cut of her life and couldn't wait to show her parents.

Little Suzy had a hard time understanding why her mother wanted to take her to a beauty salon to "fix" her hair style, after all what was there to fix?

Mom knew Suzy would be subject to endless ridicule at school, possibly traumatized for life.

Suzy knew everyone at school would be so envious of her cosmetology savvy and skill. Her friends would turn green with envy.

Who do you think was right?

Suzy.

Her complete and unquestioned confidence in her appearance caused other people to see her beauty.

That was 12 years ago and Suzy still has pictures of that hair cut. She would never cut her hair again, but she cherishes that memory of boundless self-value.

Your Thinking and Your Finances

You're probably well aware that numerous scientific studies support the relationship between the mind/emotions and physical health. There are studies that support the relationship between prayer and healing. Also, there is the placebo effect, and its opposite, the nocebo effect, in which negative thinking actually makes you more sick! In one study, 2/3 of the participants reported experiencing the side effects they were warned about, yet they were only given sugar tablets. In other words, they reported feeling bad, when there was absolutely no physical reason for them to do so. Here's some information on the nocebo effect.

This is from a brief except from a Washington Post article by Brian Reid:

That study is a classic in the annals of research on the "nocebo" phenomenon, the evil twin of the placebo effect. While the placebo effect refers to health benefits produced by a treatment that should have no effect, patients experiencing the nocebo effect experience the opposite. They presume the worst, health-wise, and that's just what they get.

"They're convinced that something is going to go wrong, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital who published an article earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association beseeching his peers to pay closer attention to the nocebo effect. "From a clinical point of view, this is by no means peripheral or irrelevant" (Washington Post, April 30, 2002).

So, your thoughts, negative or positive, have a definite impact on your health. Could not the same be true for your finances? Think about it.