Belief without Verification or Certainty

[arewethereyet]

Well if any of you know who Marissa Peer is I can tell you that she is all about this, "fake it till you make it," mindset when it comes to confidence and therapy. The fact of the matter is this, the words we are told by other people matter but they will never be as impactful as the words we tell ourselves. 

I am one who is slowly climbing out of depression and a class by her has helped me to do this. The whole idea is that you keep telling yourself good things, even if you know them to be lies, because even though our brains are complicated they are simple to program. If you tell yourself you are worth it, then you will believe and act like you are worth it. If you tell yourself you are worthless, then your mind and body will follow. I'm a firm believer in this self-fulfilling prophecy mindset where you give yourself positive affirmations on a regular basis. Tell yourself you are kind, merciful and generous and over time these seeds will grow.


Moving outward from the topic a little, the OP made me think of how much knowledge we take for granite. I mean most of us don't know how an engine works despite the fact that we drive vehicles on a daily basis. For us, the claim that an engine can convert gasoline into power and use that power to turn the wheels is an unverified claim. There are millions of things which engineers and scientists have already discovered/invented which we take for granite every day even to the extent that we don't even know what we don't know. I understand that claims regarding engineering and science can be verified but my point is that for the individual, a lot of times we just have to accept that someone else understands how these things work.

I'm going to focus on one point.

Fake it till you make it may very well not work in the case of someone with clinical depression.  Clinical depression is a chemical imbalance that can't be talked away or wished away.  Though there is nothing wrong with trying to have a positive attitude, and it can help in many things, it's not the 'cure' for everything.