Do You Use the Power of Your Will?
Do you know when to back off?
Many people believe they are using their will and making decisions when they are in fact not. They are leading programmed lives. They are doing whatever triggers the program. How about you?
If you want examples of people using their willpower, read books written by Navy seals. I have seen interviews of seals. I’ve heard of the amazing things they can do. I wondered how the Navy can train them to control their minds and achieve amazing things. So, I read several books authored by seals. The answer was simple. It can’t be taught.
What the Navy does is put seal candidates in situations which are so arduous that they find a way to control themselves or they give up. Turns out it is not mind over matter. It is soul over mind. Seals learn to control the inner voice telling them to stop. They learn to overcome pain and exhaustion and keep on keeping on.
Knowing that, I was assessing myself two weeks ago before going to Urgent Care. I had no pain. I was resting a lot. I was taking short walks. Based on my breath sounds I thought I might have pneumonia. My question was, do I need time or help?
At the three-day mark, I thought I was breathing a little better, but I still had breath sounds that were not getting better. I like to look at health trajectory. Mine seemed to be flat. I wasn’t getting better or worse. I decided to opt for a medical opinion.
I immediately took the option for chest x-ray, knowing that would confirm pneumonia. The doc and I were both surprised that I had a collapsed lung.
At the hospital, I caught myself trying to direct my care. I was suggesting an IV with nutrition, because I knew my food intake had been poor for a couple of weeks. I had been dealing with a digestive issue. I suggested a look at my digestive tract in addition to the lung problem. The doc was very helpful and ordered an abdominal CT. That is when they realized the lung had collapsed again. My suggestions helped, but not in the way I expected.
At some point I also realized I was out of my depth. It was time for me to shut up and be a patient. I remembered the joke I saw. A boy asked his father:
When a doctor needs doctoring, does the doctor being doctored get to be doctored the way he wants to be doctored? Or does the doctor doing the doctoring get to doctor the way he wants to doctor?
I still looked at the statistics and questioned the doctors, but I became a patient. I decided to become the best patient I could be. A nurse said I set the bar for recovery.
Here’s the point: I could have stayed home and not gone to Urgent Care. I could have used my willpower in that way. It seems unlikely, but perhaps my lung would re-inflate. However, perhaps it would eventually have been resorbed, and I would have four lobes instead of five. Something made me decide to get another opinion.
I love to give examples that show I live a programmed life. I believe we all do. Because of my reading about Navy seals and other experiences of controlling my body, I’m programmed to allow my body maximum time to heal. Somehow, I overcame my programming. I faced my fears of medicine and surgery and ultimately had a wonderful experience in the hospital.
When are we using our willpower and when are we just allowing our programming to run? It is difficult to know.
Practice watching your thoughts and questioning yourself. Why do I want to do that? Why do I believe what I believe? What if I am wrong?
You won’t become a Navy seal with those questions. You might become a better human. You might learn when to use your willpower and when to back off.