mental mythology

a woman told me today that her husband's claim (apparently unfounded) that he had improved his eating habits was just a bit of mental mythology.  how funny!  don't we all have a bit of mental mythology working for us?  i hear plenty of it everyday.

'why can't i lose weight?  all i eat is _____ .'
fill in the blank with any two tasteless, calorieless food choices such as skinless chicken or cucumbers.

'the reason my blood pressure is high today is because _____ .'
 fill in the blank with any number of unlikely reasons for your blood pressure to be high today or any day.

'i always need an antibiotic for my viral respiratory illness because _____ .'
 fill in the blank with just about any random reason you can think of.

it goes on and on. oh, what limitless deceptions and misconceptions our clever minds are capable of!  of course, i'm sure i have absolutely no mental mythology of my own...