The Ant and the Ferrari was borrowed to me and has provided me with inspiration for this post. Thanks Leslie xx.
It was written by Dr Kerry Spackman, a neuroscientist whose style of writing is so approachable that you can really relate to the words on the page. He puts a different spin on life and the meaning of it all.
There is one chapter in particular that really grabbed me called 'The Psychology of Belief'. It is an eye opener to say the least!
Dr Spackman discusses the self-fulfilling prophecy and I would like to try and explain this to you without writing word for word from his book.
The self-fulfilling prophecy is an outcome of belief. It comes about when we create something because of our own belief in it. We make it happen because we believe it is going to happen.
I will use an example given in the book because it brilliantly demonstrates this self-fulfilling prophecy theory.
One day you decide to go and visit a clairvoyant. You really want to get married but you are not sure you are looking in the right places. So you go to a clairvoyant and they tell you that you are going to marry a someone in uniform. As far as the self-fulfilling prophecy goes "the instant she says this, your chances of actually marrying someone in uniform increases by 1000-fold.."
Wow really? Ok how? Well firstly, you are keen to find your soul mate and get married and secondly you want to believe in your clairvoyant (otherwise why else would you have gone). When you leave the clairvoyant, people in uniform are now on your radar! Now that you are on the look out for someone in uniform you notice more and more people in uniform! You never really noticed all these people before. Your chances of meeting someone in uniform has just .. well... increased by 1000-fold! You are paying way more attention to those nurses who catch your bus, or the police officers on the side of the road. You even start to notice every single type of uniform there is!
Our mind looks for patterns in our everyday life and as soon as you start to focus on something like people in uniform, that is what you will see. A bit like when you buy a new car, you start seeing that same model everywhere!
Now that you believe that you will marry someone in uniform, you will be more receptive to those who are wearing one. That flight attendant you never thought you would have a chance with will now seem ok to approach, because hey.. they might just be that one in uniform your clairvoyant was talking about! You believe that you are starting to open up your chances of meeting that 'one'.
What also happens is that you will be more inclined to close off an opportunity to meeting someone without a uniform as you don't believe they are the person you are looking for. This reduces your chances of marrying someone without a uniform and therefore increases your chances of marrying someone in uniform.
Incredible isn't it! It seems we make things happen when we believe in them. When we believe in something, our actions become more in tune with making that belief come true! Our persistence increases which in turn creates more opportunities and in the end we succeed because of our belief in it.
My advice to you, believe in something worthwhile. Believe in the positive, believe in happiness and believe you can achieve anything you want!
Belief creates your reality.
What a wonderful life we have.
Veronica Wood
