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What the Tarot Card Reader Told Me
I sat down recently to have my cards read, doubtful that the young woman with a French accent could predict my future. She told me that the cards would help me with a challenge in my life. Then she said, “Depending on how you think about your challenge, you can change the future.”
And I believed her. Consider this:
- If we think medicines will help, they often do, even placebos;
- If we think someone is friendly and smile at them, they are likely to smile back;
- Optimists think they are going to do well and are more often promoted at work; and,
- When the little engine thought he could, he did
If it is clear from children’s fables to science to psychics that our expectations shape reality, then it is more than a parlor trick. It’s a strategy. Here’s what the Tarot Card Reader told me about how to do it:
Find your balance
“Can other people’s expectations change whether a blind man can see?” Batman, This American Life
This American Life recently ran a story about a blind man who learned to ride a bike by making clicking noises. Apparently his mother never told him he couldn’t. The National Federation of the Blind has been making this point for decades. We can do much more than we think we can when we use our natural ability to find our balance.
Access your wisdom
Challenges tend to highlight what we don’t know or can’t do. The way to approach them is by accessing that which we do know and can do. A study of housekeepers in Las Vegas showed that those who were told they were in shape had better health results than those who were told they were out of shape. The key is to believe you have what it takes; that you are on your way to achieving the goal.
Look at it a new way
Thomas Edison’s reframe of failure is priceless. As is the old adage “when one door closes another opens”. They encourage us to look at setbacks and failure as a step toward success. Look for the “silver lining” or upside whenever you are faced with a challenge and see what it opens up.
Trust in yourself
Most of us begin a new year with high expectations. As the year goes on, we realize our limitations and lower our sights. What if instead we took a page out of Martin Seligman’s book Learned Optimism? When we fall short, he advises, we should look for specific explanations that help us course correct. When we succeed, we should appreciate the core strengths that helped us get there.
The expression – a “self-fulfilling prophecy” – is often used to express how easy it is to live into a negative prediction. Yet expectations are so powerful it is also possible to do the opposite. All we need to know is that if we expect good things to happen, they very well might. At least that’s what I think the cards said. {wink}
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