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The Man Who Imagined Himself Sick

Florence Scovel Shinn wrote that whatever a person consistently imagines will, sooner or later, find expression in their life. To illustrate this principle, she shared the story of a man she knew personally.

He developed an intense fear of a particular disease.

It was an extremely rare illness—difficult to contract and highly unlikely to affect him. Yet, for reasons even he could not explain, he became fascinated by it.

He read everything he could find.

He studied its symptoms.

He imagined what it would be like to develop it.

Again and again, he pictured himself becoming ill.

Over time, that possibility became increasingly familiar in his mind.

According to Florence, the disease eventually manifested in his body, and he died.

Florence believed that his imagination, repeatedly focused on illness, had impressed that possibility so deeply upon his subconscious mind that it eventually found expression in his life.

"Attention gives direction. Feeling gives life to that direction."

— Edmar Sasaki

Feeling Is the Bridge

What makes this story so thought-provoking is not the disease itself.

It is the process.

The man did not want to become sick.

He wanted exactly the opposite.

He wanted to avoid the disease.

Yet his attention remained fixed on it.

His emotional focus stayed on what he feared.

And there is an important difference between what we desire and what we consistently occupy within ourselves.

Many people believe they are creating from their desires.

Yet much of the time they are emotionally living in their fears.

They think about them.

They talk about them.

They imagine them.

They react to them.

Each time they do, they reinforce that inner state.

The mind does not respond only to what we consciously want.

It responds to what we repeatedly accept as real.

A person may desire prosperity while continually feeling lack.

May long for health while constantly imagining illness.

May wish for love while repeatedly feeling rejected.

Our inner world quietly reveals where our attention truly lives.

So the question is not only:

"What do I want?"

Perhaps the deeper question is:

"What am I feeling to be true?"

Because whatever we repeatedly occupy in mind and feeling gradually becomes the path we walk.

Sometimes an impression is built through repetition, as in this story.

Other times, a single emotionally charged moment leaves a deep imprint upon the mind.

A criticism.

A rejection.

A diagnosis.

A frightening experience.

The event itself may last only a few moments.

Yet its impression can remain for years.

Whether created through repetition or emotional intensity, the principle is the same.

First, it becomes part of our inner world.

Then, it naturally seeks expression in our outer experience.

Feeling is the bridge.

Feeling Is the Bridge