You may think that reality is immovable, but the truth is, our expectations have a strong influence over how we perceive reality. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at this scene from the show “The Irrational.”
In it, Professor Alec Mercer, played by Jesse L. Martin, plays a recording of football fans chanting “That is embarrassing.” He then shocks students and viewers alike by making them hear different things each time the very same chant is played — all by changing the words on a screen.
What you hear when these football fans chant ‘That is embarrassing’ shows that our expectations skew our reality.
Mercer begins by telling students that he will play a clip of people chanting “That is embarrassing” four times while displaying the phrase on a projector at the front of the auditorium. He instructs his students to write down what they hear after the final time. The most popular answer is (surprise, surprise) “That is embarrassing.”
He then plays the same audio a few more times and requests students to write down what they hear after the last repeat. This time; however, he projects a different phrase on the screen each time the audio plays.
“That isn’t my receipt” flashes across the screen, as do “Lactates in pharmacy” and “Baptism piracy.” Finally, “Bart Simpson bouncing” — the top answer from his students.
Somehow, as the exact same audio repeated, people — students in the classroom and viewers at home — heard something entirely different, all because the professor changed a few words on a screen.
“Our eyes and ears take in electrical signals which our brains interpret based on our expectations,” Mercer says. “We don’t see reality, we see our reality.”
Your thoughts affect your reality.
Science backs up this scene — research shows that your thoughts have a strong influence on your reality.
“Our minds aren’t passive observers, simply perceiving reality as it is. Our minds actually change reality,” Alia Crum, an assistant professor of psychology and director of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab, told Stanford Report.
Mindset is a powerful thing. According to Stanford researchers, your thoughts can make you experience intensified pain, become more intelligent, and even develop desired qualities.
Use this knowledge to create the life you desire.
If our expectations affect our reality, can’t we use that to our advantage? The answer is yes — through positive thinking, you can create the life you want.
“If you want to create a reality that feels in alignment with yourself, that you are happier in that you are excited to wake up to, you have to start doing the inner work,” spiritual life coach Taylor advised. “Because your external reality is a direct reflection of your internal state of consciousness.”
“We create our reality 100% of the time,” she concluded.
You can create the life you want just by changing the way you think and by turning your negative thoughts into positive ones.
It’s so easy to get caught up in self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think you will fail, you engage in self-destructive behaviors or make choices that will hinder your performance. So, do your best to reverse this mentality.
“Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way,” the Mayo Clinic clarified. “You think the best is going to happen, not the worst.”
Say positive affirmations and engage in positive self-talk. Instead of saying, “There’s no way it will work,” say, “I can try to make it work.”
You’ll be surprised by how far some positive energy can take you.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.
