There’s a psychological mechanism that unsettles me: the self-fulfilling prophecy.
A phrase you repeat so often that you eventually believe it and live it.
“No one will ever love me.”
“I’ll always be poor.”
“Happiness isn’t for me.”
“I’ll die young.”
Sometimes we convince ourselves we know what will happen.
And by believing it, we make it more likely to come true.
It’s not superstition. It’s a mental pattern that shapes our reality.
I knew a woman who said repeatedly, “I know I’ll die young.”
She didn’t reach 50.
This isn’t the only case.
We often assume the future is fixed, but that’s not true.
Tomorrow is unwritten — for you, for me, for anyone.
So here’s my invitation:
Challenge every self-prophecy.
Every sentence that sounds like fate but is actually just a belief.
The power of belief
There’s strong evidence for both the placebo effect (healing through positive belief) and its opposite, the nocebo effect (harm through negative expectation).
Placebo is often dismissed, but it’s incredibly powerful.
Nocebo is equally real.
In a Japanese study, students with past trauma from stinging nettles were blindfolded and told they’d be touched with the plant.
They weren’t.
But their bodies reacted as if they were, with rashes and irritation.
If your mind can trigger a rash just by believing it,
what happens if you believe you’ll never find love or success?
Dismantling the prophecy
This isn’t about magical thinking.
It’s about asking yourself:
Why do I believe this?
Where did this idea come from?
What purpose does it serve?
Is it still true today?
Beliefs can be rewired.
And when you shift them, you shift your life.
If you feel ready to start breaking free from your own self-limiting beliefs,
Gestalt counselling can support you in that transformation.
