The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Your Thoughts Are Indicators of Where You’re Going

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Back when I was a kid, I heard Mom and Ma (my maternal grandmother) talk about saying good things about myself. Norman Vincent Peale’s book had been popular for about a decade and people were talking about the importance of positive thinking.

Just a few years before Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking, was published in 1952, sociologist Robert Merton wrote an article (1948) coining the term “Self-fulfilling Prophecy.”  … [Read More ...]

The Pulse Nightclub Verdict: An Indictment of All Who Perpetrated the Lie

I’m taking a break from my series on self-esteem and self-confidence to talk about the verdict of Noor Salman, the wife of the man who killed 49 and wounded 53 members of the gay community. We were told she helped plan the attack. The trial, however, showed there was no evidence of her guilt except what turned out to be a coerced confession.… [Read More ...]

Mistakes Are Failures When You Quit

Several years ago an on-line journalist make a mistake in the use of the word “penultimate.” People let him have it in the comments section. You would have thought he’d done something which brought the end of the world closer. He didn’t. Instead of using the word to mean “second to last,” he used it to mean, “last.” I’m assuming he continued to write, but I know people who would have quit.… [Read More ...]

The Influence of Your Family of Origin

In psychology we call the family who raised you your “family of origin.” The family you have now, be it through marriage, living arrangements or friends is your “family of choice.” For many, the family of choice builds upon the family of origin. For others the family of choice is as far away from the family of origin as is possible. No matter how different your family of choice is, the influence of your family of origin is with you.… [Read More ...]

You Get to Choose Your Peer Group

When you were a kid you couldn’t choose your peer group. You were blessed or stuck with the people your parents put you with. For the most part, your parents didn’t have much choice. They placed you where they thought was best. Sometimes it was best and sometimes it was horrible.

As children, we learned, for the most part, that life was easier if we could make people happy.… [Read More ...]