The frightening, incredible power of my mind

I think it; it happens.

Remember the cat? I gave him colon cancer with my mind. I thought very specifically about his having colon cancer. And he did.

Now this:

A week ago Tuesday I was driving home with the radio tuned to NPR. Some lady who wrote a book about MRSA was being interviewed. She explained how everyone carries staph around, and some people even carry MRSA around on their skin, so she mentioned the importance of simply bathing your kids fairly regularly. I thought to myself, "Now I feel justified in bathing my kids fairly regularly. And with my luck, the first time I slack off for a while, somebody will get a skin staph infection."

That very week, due to sickness, super early bedtimes, and travel, my kids went longer than usual between baths. (Every other night is our family average. They went three nights straight without a bath. Three nights isn't bad. Right? I think we only took a bath once a week when I was that age.) By the third bathless night, my mind had the thought that the staph was not being washed away--but I quickly pushed that ridiculous, obsessive-compulsive thought out of my head before I could start to worry. Stupid NPR, giving me more stuff to fret over.

Well, this morning I took Mary to the doctor. Guess what. She has a staph infection on her skin. (We'll find out Friday if it's community-associated MRSA. For obvious reasons, I'm praying it's not!)

What is with my mind?? I NEVER think about staph infections. And one week after I first think about staph, Mary gets it. I momentarily thought very specifically about my kids getting a skin staph infection, and look what happened.

For the safety of the world, I'm going to turn off my mind.

Oh no! A couple of weeks ago I read an article about bed bugs! And I thought very specifically about what an awful experience that would be...TURNING OFF MY MIND!!