The Placebo Effect

The placebo effect is a great illustration of the awesome power of the mind. Here is how it works. A person is given an inert substance with no medicinal properties and told that it is a drug that is proven to cure whatever malady they are experiencing.

The amazing result is that the subject often recovers as if they received actual medicine. The only explanation for the recovery is that since the person's mind believed they were going to get better, they did.

Then there are those who don't believe they can get better. They tend to remain ill regardless of how strong, or how effective, the medicine they are given is. Here the power of the mind becomes self-destructive.

This power of belief is demonstrated in other ways as well. When a class of average ability students is told that they have exceptional ability, their performance increases to meet their expectations.

Conversely, when a group of above average students are informed that they are at best mediocre, their performance declines accordingly. What you believe does control what you achieve.

The placebo effect will work either for or against you. You already have engrained in your mind what you believe is possible and impossible. Some of your beliefs may be based on supposed facts. Others are based on what you have been told or what you have observed.

Regardless of why you believe something to be true, your mind accepts it as so. Over time, your beliefs become so engrained, you accept them as written in stone. You won't challenge any of your assumptions.

The essential characteristic differentiating successful people from others is their belief system. Those who succeed believe most, if not all, goals are accomplishable. Regardless of the challenge, they seek out the solution.

The people who find success elusive, "understand" they have many limitations preventing their attainment of true success. If they attempt something new, it's half hearted with the subconscious expectation of failure.

So why don't more people believe in success? Because from birth, we are conditioned to believe success is achieved by others. We are taught there is only so much we are capable of. Since we are typically not exposed to any other way of thinking, we accept a life of limitation as fact.

You are free to redirect your mind. Take another look at everything you believe to be impossible. If you can't come up with a really good reason for your belief, (there are few if any beliefs in this category), purge your mind of the limitation.

You want the placebo effect to work for you, not against you. It's imperative for you to think about the results you want rather than what you don't want. If you are convinced a goal is reachable, then it is. But when you believe you can't do something, you won't.

Your mind will attract and bring you to the results you believe in. Your mind does not discriminate between positive and negative goals. Stay vigilant as to what your thoughts are. It's too easy to focus on the negative.

Too often, people concentrate on what they don't want. They don't want to be in debt, don't want to be unhappy, don't want to be overweight, don't want to have to struggle and don't want to have problems.

Since the mind will try to bring forth the result you are thinking about, you will be much better off by putting all of your thoughts in a positive framework. Think about wanting enough money, wanting to be happy, wanting to be trim, and wanting to find solutions for any challenges you face. You can make the placebo effect work for you.