Self-fulfilling prophecy means bringing about an outcome that was assumed to be inevitable beforehand! Self-fulfilling prophecies work by belief. (Belief means assuming that information received is true before confirming it's true!)

These beliefs can be conscious or unconscious. Usually they're unconscious and a person may believe one thing consciously and something that opposes it unconsciously! Unconscious beliefs tend to be more emotionally embedded and more potent than conscious beliefs.

Self-fulfilling Examples

If a woman believes she is stupid shell tend to find ways to act out that belief! Even if she manages to suppress that belief and gain some successes, her unconscious beliefs may still sabotage her with self-doubt, causing her to do things to undermine her accomplishments proving that what she believes about herself was true all the time!

People usually base their predictions of whether theyll succeed or fail at a goal by their past experiences of succeeding or failing at attaining their goals! The more they've succeeded in the past the more they'll believe theyll succeed in the future! The more they've failed in the past the more they'll believe theyll fail in the future!

Sometimes their predictions aren't based on experience at all, but on being told repeatedly when they were children that they could never succeed at their goals! Convinced of this they never seriously attempted to attain their goals because they believed it was useless to do so from the start! If they did make an effort and experienced setbacks, they used the setbacks to prove that they were right to believe that they would fail all along!

Self-fulfilling Patterns Some studies have shown that people who are optimists are happier and accomplish more out of life than people who are pessimists! For whatever reason, optimists believe they are good people that life is good, that good things happen to them and studies show that they usually do! Optimism is based on belief! What we believe affects what we do! What we do affects what we accomplish!

It was once considered impossible for a mile to be ran in less than 4 minutes. To the experts and those influenced by them this was an obvious reality! The belief that this feat was impossible to do stopped most runners from trying to exceed this barrier (Self-fulfilling prophecy). People were ridiculed for daring to believe that a mile could be ran in less than 4 minutes, until some "fool" proved it could be done!

More self-fulfilling Examples

Alcoholics believe that alcohol is controlling their lives! They believe that theyll always be alcoholics! But alcohol is an inanimate fluid! It has no life or intelligence! How can it control their lives?

Once alcoholics have been detoxified all alcohol is out of their systems and they're no longer physically addicted to it! Then what keeps them vulnerable to it? Is it the belief that they need alcohol to feel normal, have fun and to cope with life's problems? Ignorant of the power of their beliefs theyve learned to project that power into alcohol!

Religious Beliefs

Religious beliefs can be self-fulfilling also. In the New Testament Jesus says, "All things are possible to him that believes." People have recovered from all kinds of illnesses and diseases by firmly believing that God or Jesus was healing them! But its not their conscious beliefs thats the source of the healing power, but their unconscious beliefs, which are more potent than their conscious beliefs!

Additional Examples

Self-fulfilling prophecies affect our health and whether or not we'll recover from illnesses! Studies have shown that people who believe that they will recover from cancer do far better than those who believe that cancer is a death sentence they won't survive!

People who believe theyll recover tend to do all the things that increase their chances of survival. (They take their medication faithfully, kept doctor's appointments, exercise, get proper nutrition, have a positive attitude, etc,). While those who believe cancer is a death sentence tend to be depressed, wallow in self-pity, become less active, and don't do the things that may increase their chances for survival! The belief that one will recover from cancer has a positive affect on the immune system and a healthy immune system is a potent weapon in the fight against cancer and other diseases!

Self-Fulfilling Old Age

Some people believe that they're old at certain ages. Some think they're old at 30, 40, 50, etc! It's usually such a firmly held belief that as they start to approach those ages they unconsciously start to conform to whatever image or lifestyle they've associated with that age!

I know a guy who when he was 39 and hed forget something, he'd attribute it to his being distracted. If he felt sore after working out, he'd attribute it to working out too much! But when he turned 40 and he'd forget something, now it was because "I must be getting old!" Now if he felt sore after working out, it was because" Boy! I must be getting old!" If he noticed a gray hair in his head he'd say " Wow! I'm really getting old!" Any mistakes or perceived signs of physical deterioration, which he hardly noticed before, were now seen as confirmations that he was getting old in accordance with his belief that people are old at 40!

All these beliefs are inculcated in us from childhood through adulthood and usually go unquestioned! They're like computer programs that trigger processes and reactions in computers, except that these beliefs trigger processes and reactions in our minds and bodies that are acted out to the benefit or detriment of mankind and ourselves!

Self-Fulfilling Conclusion

If you want to know the difference between what you consciously or unconsciously believe. Observe whether your cognitive responses about an issue correspond to your emotional responses about the issue! Emotional responses are triggered mainly by unconscious beliefs! Cognitive responses mainly by conscious beliefs! For example, it's easy to believe that you're not afraid of Tigers when there's no Tigers around! (Conscious belief) But let's see how you react when you're face to face with a Tiger! (Unconscious belief)

Self-fulfilling prophecies are based on beliefs! Beliefs control our minds. Our minds control our bodies and behavior! What kind of self-fulfilling prophecies are you allowing to control your mind, body and behavior?

May the Light never cease to Lighten your Minds!

Copyright 2006 El-Veasey Publishing Inc