Changing our Likes

This morning was all Alzheimer's. There were five Alzheimers or MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) patients. There was a pinched nerve in the back patient, a Parkinson's patient, a chronic pain and seizures patient, one Migraine patient, and a woman who clearly has a broken hip and has been walking around with it for a week. Well, she hasn't really been "walking" around. She's been limping. I had to do one LP for a woman who may have MS this afternoon. It was annoying because the lab lost her spinal fluid the first time. I had one patient who wants his muscle cramps fixed right away, so he's going to see a surgeon (I told him I don't think surgery will help). He has to have this pain fixed before his wife dies, because she gets him his pills when he gets a cramp. If she isn't there to get him his pills, it will be a problem. (Sometimes people amaze me with their deep compassion and love.) I had a new patient this afternoon who was really an old patient. He counts as a "new" patient because I haven't seen him for six years. He has pinched nerves in his arms. He was mostly talking about his wife who has Alzheimer's. I think he's more worried about that than his arms. He was supposed to be here for his arms, though. That was the day.
The most interesting thing today was chosing what we like. It really is important that we decide what we want to like and don't want to like. We create who we are if we want to. I can change me. You can change you. Sometimes, if things are all set up correctly, I can change you. You can change me. People change. That means we can change how we think, how we act, and what we like or don't like. So if you don't like something that you should like you can change your liking. When people say "I don't like to walk" I pretty much always say something like, "Oh, you like being in a wheechair better?" It's silly, of course. But it isn't really possible to not like walking. It isn't possible, at least, if you consider it as an option. Do you like walking or not walking? "Not walking" (paralysis) is not pleasant at all. So we have to like walking. Then there is the nuance of wanting to walk just for the fun of it, or just for the exercise of it. Still, people don't want to be unhealthy. So they want to be healthy. This means that they want to exercise. Exercise is a requisite part of being healthy. If we say, "Do you like to be healthy or unhealthy?" People say "I like to be healthy." Being healthy includes doing exercise. It is a part of it. It is not separate, it is a subset within the larger whole. One cannot like being healthy if they don't like being a person who exercises. This is like someone saying, "I like being alive, but I don't like having a beating heart." It can't be. Even so, people sometimes don't see the logic clearly.
I need to learn how to better explain the process of changing ourselves to like what it is that we want to like instead of sitting around passively and noticing what we like as if we have no control over it. We sit around "resigned" to our likes and dislikes. This prevents our ability to create the person we want to be.