At the beginning of this past semester, I gave my students the famous quote by Henry Ford and asked them to respond to it:
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't - you're right!"
It can come across as little more than a cheesy motivational poster caption, but I think Ford was onto something incredibly profound.
If you think about it, in a wider sense, Ford is saying that reality is entirely determined between our ears.
This is something I have been thinking about for the past year or more: I don't have direct access to reality. Reality is ALWAYS filtered through my senses and into my brain where it is reassembled and then ... interpreted.
And my interpretation of what is going on around me is going to play the primary role in what I say and think and do.
(P.S. This is one of the reasons I am so concerned over the possibility I am experiencing some (mild) form of depression. If my interpretation of reality all trends toward negativity and hopelessness, I am going to speak and think and act negatively and hopelessly.
And I won't be much fun to be around.)
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