The Power of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Our expectations shape reality!?

We’ve all heard about the self-fulfilling prophecy.  Now there’s scientific evidence that our beliefs influence reality. 

“Our minds aren’t passive observers simply perceiving reality as it is; our minds actually change reality.”  ~ Alia Crum, Director of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab

The stories we tell ourselves over and over begin to impact what actually happens to us.  One reason is that the thoughts we repeat frequently will re-wire our brain.  These frequent thoughts create an express channel in the brain and it gets easier and easier for those thoughts to happen.

If my genuine belief is that things tend to work out, that shapes how my brain directs me.  I decide, act and behave according to that belief.

But if my sub-conscious narrative is pessimistic, the brain calls the shots from that perspective.  Imagine that I show up somewhere expecting to be insulted compared to expecting courtesy and respect.  My behavior would be different, right?  My posture, expression, how I interpret what others say, and what I say: they’d all be based on a negative outlook.

What we expect impacts what happens.

The good news is that we have a lot more power than we thought to influence our world.  Over time, our predominant perspectives become a blueprint we follow as we interpret, respond and create. 

We can deliberately choose to re-program our minds by planting more encouraging thoughts and storylines for the important areas of our lives.   Like seasoning a stew, we can season our mindset with supportive beliefs about ourselves. 

If you believe you’re capable of reaching a goal, that belief puts you in a better position to achieve it. It seems a bit magical. But really, it’s learning.  When we learn something, we create new connections in our brain.   That’s what we are doing here.

We are intentionally wiring new brain connections. We notice and recall our successes. We observe our tenacity, our integrity, our kindness even when it's something "small." We harness the self-fulfilling prophecy by teaching ourselves to think more positively about ourselves and our important goals, hopes and desires.

We won’t be perfect and we don’t have to be.  We’ll still have negative thoughts but what’s important is having more positive thoughts than helpless, hopeless ones.  We’re not trying to deny reality, but we are trying to shape a better future for ourselves.

Science is showing that this really works. Here's an example. People who expect to age well live on average 7 years longer than people who don’t. Seven healthy years!  We’d spend a lot of money to get 7 more healthy years.  It turns out we can do it for free!

We really are more powerful than we knew!