To be or not to be

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.Â
William James
1842 – 1910

Most of you are probably aware of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, where the Prince considers the trials of life and contemplates the release of death. Hamlet was fiction, but many people experience similar feelings of despair and hopelessness every day. I want to share with you a true story of one young man and his struggle to find meaning in his life.

In 1864, this man enrolled in Harvard Medical School. He dropped out a year later to join an expedition exploring the Amazon River, but he abandoned that path after eight months. He went to Germany for a year, then returned to his studies at Harvard, earning his MD in 1869. Despite this accomplishment, he never practiced medicine.

By 1870, he was feeling very much like a failure and pondered the question “to be or not to be.” He contemplated suicide, unsure that there was any real purpose to his life.

He decided to embark on one last experiment before taking any action to end his life. For one year, he would keep a journal and record his feelings daily. He would spend that year acting as if he had complete control of himself and his choices. He believed that he had the free will to change his life.

He wrote in his diary, “I think that yesterday was a crisis in my life.” But he believed he had the ability to change. Regarding change, he wrote, “I will assume for the present — until next year — that it is no illusion. My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.”

Every day for a year, he reaffirmed these thoughts in his diary. He began to act on the belief that he was able to make his own choices and that those choices determined his state of affairs. This man totally changed his life by understanding that the way we think about things affects the decisions we make, and those decisions control the circumstances of our lives.

That young man was William James, and he not only changed his life, he changed the lives of millions. The same man who had contemplated taking his own life went on to become known as the father of American psychology.

Your life is built through a series of choices. If you want to make the most of it, be sure you choose wisely.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James