NEVER LISTEN WITH YOUR MIND MADE UP

The truths of life are best taught through stories and the following is one of my favourites :

A teacher teaching math to a 7-year-old asked him, "If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?”

The child replied confidently, "Four!"

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three). She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen properly," she thought. She repeated, 'listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?'

The boy had seen the disappointment on his teacher's face. He calculated again on his fingers. But within him his search for the answer was not for the correct one, but the one that will make his teacher happy.

This time hesitatingly he replied, "Four ..."

The disappointment stayed on the teacher's face. She remembered that he liked strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn't like apples, and that is making him lose focus. This time with an exaggerated excitement and twinkling in her eyes she asked, "If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many will you have?"

Seeing the teacher happy, the young child calculated on his fingers again. There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed.

With a hesitating smile the young boy enquired, "Three?"

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained. Once again she asked him, "Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?"

Promptly he answered, "Four!"

The teacher was aghast. "How, how?" she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.

In a voice that was low and hesitating,the young boy replied, "Because I already have one apple in my bag."

The Moral of the Story?

When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you expect, don't think they are wrong. There may be more to it than meets the eye. You will have to listen and understand, BUT NEVER LISTEN WITH YOUR MIND MADE UP.

It is so important to keep an open mind in life, and that includes when it comes to your health. Simply believing the status quo, without searching for a deeper explanation, will often leave you with a superficial solution and an unrealistic slant on what is real. For instance, all of the following may seem true at face value, but if you dig deeper you’ll find that they are actually myths.

• HOSPITALS ARE ALWAYS SAFE AND CLEAN.- Biggest myth in the world..... my mother picked up an infection when she went to cut her cataracts that she didn`t recover from.
• TAKING PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS WILL ALWAYS RESTORE YOUR HEALTH.- Tell that to all the blood pressure and diabetes patients and their bags of medicine
• AMERICA HAS THE #1 HEALTH CARE IN THE WORLD.- When I had my first bout of colon cancer one of the doctors that came so highly recommended in Miami told me I had gas and prescribed some tablets that when I came back to Jamaica a pharmacist friend of mine on seeing me swallowing these things like sweets told me they were given to terminal cancer patients.
That's just three of many.