Do You Really Want to Know?

Sometimes "knowing" means "no-ing." Recently my doctor asked if I wanted to have a test that would tell me whether or not I was a candidate for Alzheimer's. I immediately said "no." My inner voice did not, in the least, contest my immediate answer. If I had made the decision hastily, it (my own personal version of Jiminy Cricket) might have asked, "are you sure?" For me, having this information, would have been detrimental to my health. In my world, knowing what "might happen" is simply TMI.

I remember when each of our children left home and began living their lives outside the nightly supervision of a parent's watchful eye. It might have been better had we known some things, but some things are better left unknown. I was relieved to be able to go to sleep at night, not listening for their cars to pull up in the driveway or the door to be opened so I could at last go to sleep. I am not suggesting that everything is better left in the dark. I am simply suggesting that sometimes we seek answers where we really do not want to ... I mean SINCERELY do not want to... KNOWwhat that answer might be.

At a time of information overload and a great need by society to keep up with the next saga of Lindsey Lohan's misadventures, maybe we would all gain a great deal of peace of mind to not know all the details. I am the type of person, had I opted for the Alzheimer's test and received bad news, would have fretted about it for the rest of my cognitive days. What do you want to know? Is there anything that tugs at your fascination that might be better left buried? Some things, I believe, are like seeds. If they are to be known, they will sprout above the surface. If they are not to serve anyone then they are better left ungerminated, buried deeply in the dark soil of life experience. In the meantime, I am drinking my water, taking my EFA oils, and exercising my brain...in spite of what that Alzheimer's test might have had to say!