There can be a self-fulfilling, rather prophetic nature to our life.  Consider this all-to-true riddle or Catch 22:

We learn from our past what to predict for the future.  Then we live in the future we expected.

Continuing, we predict the worst outcomes, not the best.  We will do less well in a presentation and our prediction comes true.  Or we want to lose weight or go to the gym but deep down inside we really don’t believe we can or will, and low and behold we underachieve. We are setting ourselves up for failure. Can we make this “pre-lived future” work for us? Can we undermine its destructive influence?

Yes, there are several strategies that we can do to make these self-fulfilling prophecies work for us.  The best place to start is to predict an attainable but reasonably challenging and wonderful future.  If your expectation is unrealistic, then by design you will fail.  Better to under-promise and over-deliver than to over-promise and under-deliver and fail.  Next, predict successful outcomes.  Imagine winning, achieving that realistic goal.   Turn this riddle so it works to our advantage by expecting positive outcomes. What also is helpful, if we have been unsuccessful in the past on this mission, is to re-frame this attempt as a FIRST TIME, even if it isn’t. Those previous attempts are plaguing us and setting us up for failure.  Mindfully LET GO of past disappointments or consider them irrelevant.  At the very least don’t let past disappointments set us up for another one next time around.  Let go of pre-conceived notions or ideas that are unhelpful or hold you back.

At the root of this cycle is the tendency to predict the future and fuss about the past.  Rather we should strive to be in the present moment and be mindful.  Being caught up in a loop between the past and the future compromises the NOW. Why not live the present moment, reframe it and believe it will is very well indeed?

Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org

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