Self-Fulfilling Prophecies - How Do They Fit Into Our Lives?

Self-fulfilling prophecies are predictions that will either directly or indirectly come true because of a belief that they will. The beliefs do not have to be true; they only have to be believed.

This happens often with parents and their children. Parents may say of one child, ‘He’s smart; he’ll go to university.’ Very likely this will happen because the child, after hearing this prophecy many times, comes to believe it and will work towards it. Another parent may say of their 1 ½ year old toddler, ‘He’ll do well in sports; look at how well he kicks that ball.’ The child in all probability will be given sports equipment to play with at a young age and will be placed early onto a sports team. Or, ‘He’s always such a klutz; he continually trips over his own feet.’ If children hear this often enough, they will come to believe that’s what they do and the prophecy will likely prove to be true. And if a child is constantly being told that he’s forgetful, there is no necessity for him to remember because he’s known for forgetting and no one expects anything different. Or if a child hears himself always described as being shy, he may make no effort to be anything other than shy because he has never been expected to be outgoing.

There are many of these types of prophecies and parents are the worst culprits. They do their children a disservice by setting them on a path where there may be no validity to the implied truths of their prophecies. A child may be forced to play a sport with no love for the game because of their parents’ belief. A child may wish to take a trade but feel their parents must be right about going to university – after all, they’ve said so their whole life.

But the prophecies do not have to be negative; they can act as positives in programming ourselves for better and happier futures. We may tell all that we intend to become an actor or an actress. If we truly believe that we can be, we will work with determination and perseverance towards our goal. As a result, our prophecy very likely will come true. The same may be true of anything else we have decided to do as long as we are determined to accomplish our goal.

Self-fulfilling prophecies can change our lives either positively or negatively but as with everything else, ultimately we have the choice as to how we live our lives. The question will be: How strongly do we believe?