Well, there is always exceptions. 🙂 We look at statistics.

I get what you're saying @windyshores. As a scientist (albeit not medical), I've seen that people love to confuse correlation with causation. For example, it's easy to have a positive attitude and lead a healthier lifestyle when one is feeling reasonably healthy in the first place. So the "data" are only as good as they're collected and as they're interpreted. And the jury isn't out on this yet.

Thank you so much for sharing this. You are so very right. Popular culture including books have influenced society to blame the victim. This happens way more often than people realize. Someone gets a disease & the whispers & outright slander begins "well look at how she (fill in the blank), it's no wonder she got this!" It's always been the prevailing attitude throughout history to blame the victim. Rape is an obvious example. "Well, of course she got raped. Why did she go to the grocery store alone at dark? She should have known better!" So many "justifiable" reasons to blame the victim--makes me sick & sad when this same argument is used when a person gets sick with (full in the blank). Everyone has their 2 cents opinion why it's their own fault. The very time that the person needs compassion & empathy, instead they are shunned. "Friends" drop away one by one. Finally there has come to light the flaws in "the power of positive thinking." It's simply not true, not that simplistic, not even reasonable. Books are being written on the dangers of always believing that if you just have positive thoughts then "statistically" nothing bad will come your way. This hogwash is not only harmful, it's dangerous. And I don't even think that the statistics bear out the facts. It's a propaganda campaign. I was vegetarian for decades. Never even drank a Coca-cola. Only water. Was fit & strong. I'm now 71 & I have the spine of a sickly 95 year old. Every single part of my body from head to toe began falling apart in my early 50s. Why? You can't deny your DNA. You simply cannot. I have just about every well known autoimmune disease in addition to many rare diseases, disorders, syndromes, call it what you want to. I have more than one terminal illness. I'm wracked with pain every day. Yet in my mid 40s I took up solo hiking on the Appalachian Trail--no cell phones then either, I was a female alone on the trail with a 50 pound pack. The freedom was exhilarating. I even built a fence--dug the post holes, mixed the concrete. I still climbed trees for fun. I was riding high with positivity. Boom, I hit my 50s & started the long painful decline & now I'm wheelchair bound forever. The doctors are baffled by how many diseases I have to the point that they want me to get my entire genome sequenced. Life happens to you on your journey here on Earth. Things beyond your control. Exposure to toxins, our increasing air, water, & ground contamination is impossible to avoid. Tragedies & traumatic events happen to every single one of us. You can't escape this fact. Oh! People say "but it's how you respond to theses stressors." I beg to differ this popular notion. Genetic predisposition is what it's all about, people. The specific predisposed gene is flipped to the "on" position, like a light switch that you can't turn off. It's important to understand that there's a difference between positive thinking & hope as well. We can still be fighters, but positive thinking is not going to cure you. It's just not. Having some hope is helpful in dealing with what your DNA & environmentally unhealthy situations have been dealt to you, but sometimes doctors are honest enough to tell you "your condition is hopeless. There is no cure. There isn't even any treatment that has been shown to make a difference. Get your affairs in order. I'm very sorry." STOP with the "power of positive thinking." Please! It's just not true. Bad things happen to good people. Viruses are more & more in the spotlight for their insidious long term effects on our health. One thing people can & should do is wear a *#^@! mask when they are sick. This pandemic is with us forever, people. Forever. We, the sick ones, need compassion not gossip about how "it's no wonder she got sick! Look at how she xyz." Please, friends, don't drop away. When you do, you only prove that you never really were a friend in the first place. "The Power of Positive Thinking" is nothing more than a worn-out cliche, a platitude, victim blaming mentality, & pure hogwash. Hope is always helpful. Learning to have hope in the face of terminal illnesses does not mean you think that you'll be spared your destiny. Hope is so much more than that. Hope can help keep our spirits up. --Hope that tomorrow your pain level will allow you to enjoy a few moments of relief. Hope that you can find a few moments of life's joys despite your hopeless condition. But please, stop with the "just think positive!" And stop with "statistics say that..." What statistics? State your sources. Don't just say "statistics show that xyz....." Show me the research. Show me the scientific studies that prove what you say.