choosing to believe what can’t be proven

if it can’t be disproven, does it serve you to believe it?

can i prove that there’s an afterlife? nope. i can’t. i’d like to, but i haven’t seen any angels, and even if i saw and angel, i’d want someone else to be able to see it because, otherwise, i’d think i was trippin.

does it harm me to believe there’s an afterlife?

yes.

actually…it does.

if i believe i get a second chance to life and that i’m going to live forever, then what i do in this life starts to matter less. if you only get one shot at something – and you can only know that you’re getting that one shot, then it’s best to accept that this is likely your one shot – if you let yourself believe you’ve got more chance than this one, then you may treat this moment differently – you may treat it cheaply – you may take it for granted.

as far as you know, you only get this one life. and that can be a blessing if you accept it. it will make every moment that much sweeter. and if you discover after this life that there’s more, then…hot damn!

you mean the universe doesn’t have my back?

i didn’t say that. sure, you can’t prove the universe wants you to succeed. but, does it do harm to believe that it does? if it does, i don’t see it. if you want to believe in a loving universe that has your back; if you want to believe that what happens to you happens for you, believe it. this is a belief that can bring meaning to some of the shit that happens to you and reminds you that the obstacle is the way.

my bank account is empty and that belief doesn’t serve me

sorry, but logging into your bank and seeing your zero balance is proof that you really should stop spending money. there’s a difference between belief and reality. if you ignore reality, you’re giving into self-deception to try to make yourself feel better, but you’re really just making things worse.

do strangers secretly think i’m awesome?

yes. they do. and you can’t know they don’t, so just keep on being awesome. just go out into the world, expecting to be loved, and if you’re not, just chalk it up to people either not loving themselves, or being too afraid to show how the really feel.

so, to sum up

reject unprovable beliefs that don’t serve you;

lean into unprovable beliefs that do serve you;

accept reality.