In a recent column, I included a direct excerpt from a book by Denis Waitley that told a story about a man that was such a negative thinker, that he killed himself with his negative thoughts.
Because I have yet to hear from the author of the book to comment about where he got the story and any evidence he has to verify that the story is a true tale rather than a tall tale; let's assume for now that the Snopes site is correct and the story is fake.
The first story is of a young woman that drove her car off the road, suffered significant injuries and managed to live five days. Part of her survival was sipping water gathered from her fingertips outside of her window. (Watch the two videos and read the story from this page.)
The second story is about an autistic young man and his father that were swept to sea and spent more than 15 hours in the ocean. The story and video can be found here. They both, against the odds, survived.
There are plenty of other stories too, about people surviving amazingly bad circumstances. Had they not lived to tell the tale, complete with rescuers to help and serve as witnesses to the miracle - we would not have predicted anyone could survive the ordeals.
Now, what about the people that don't survive bad circumstances? Is it as simple as "no one could survive that situation"? Or, is it that they lacked the will to live, the positive thoughts, that pulled other people through worse situations? We can never really know what they were thinking, unless they leave a note or other evidence of parting thoughts.
What do you think? Do some people end their lives prematurely with negative thoughts? When, perhaps, they might have survived with positive thinking?
Survival is not always a matter of will or strength. As many people have likely perished in mild circumstances due to some small detail beyond their control, like being two inches shy of some life sustaining element, as those who happen to had access to crucial resources. It is sometimes a matter of chance. From personal experience and conviction, I would say that surviving against-the-odds requires a degree of positive temperment and the appropriate perspective that increases the favorable odds and allows the existance of opportunity.
It is my assertion that some people do end their lives prematurely through over-identification of negative thoughts. The human mind has the ability to will-into-action an environment more conducive to supporting its perspective. Solutions are sometimes found, just by recognizing that they might exist and that positive outcome can exist in apparently hopeless situations.
The human propensity for religious belief also seems to support that we are able to transcend physical hardship through aspiration.
Dave