But take note that the superstars, scientists, celebrity chefs and business tycoons out there were once just like you, dreaming about the person they want to be in the future. Just like you and many others, they too had doubts. But their perception is larger than their doubts, and stronger than their biggest fears. What sets them apart from the rest is that they continued to believe. And that belief led them to their dreams.

 

Whatever your goals are this year or the next, the key to getting there is believing that you can. That is the power of perception. Viktor Frankl, author of the book "Man’s Search for Meaning”, said "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." He was a psychiatrist who was imprisoned during the World War II in the most notorious Nazi concentration camp. Despite knowing that any minute, the Nazis can take his life, he knew he has a single freedom left - and that is to determine his response to the horror unfolding around him. While he was imprisoned, he imagined seeing her wife again, and teaching his students about the experiences he had and lessons learned during the war. Frankl survived.

 

Scientific Proof

 

The power of perception might appear like something that is abstract and unexplainable. But it has been a subject of scientific scrutiny for decades, and research has shown that it does have real and amazing impact in our life, particularly in our decisions and behaviour.

 

Take for instance in the world of medicine. Perception plays a big role in helping patients suffering from various diseases, from pain to chronic illnesses like cancer and dementia, through a phenomenon called ‘placebo effect’. Researchers attribute some of its aspects to the active mechanisms in the brain that trigger immune response and release of hormones.

 

In another experiment published in 2005 in the American Psychological Society journal, examined how negative perceptions influence those collective beliefs have in determining a positive or negative reality. The research involved testing whether the false beliefs of mothers and fathers could predict the amount of drinking done by their adolescent children over the course of a year. The findings revealed that parents’ beliefs predicted their children’s alcohol use beyond the risk factors - the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. This self-fulfilling effect was strongest when both parents overestimated their child’s alcohol use - the synergistic accumulative effect.

 

Another study carried out by researchers in Italy, found that back and shoulder pain in middle school children was more closely associated with a perception of their backpacks’ weight than with the actual weight of the bag. Meaning to say, the more the child perceives that his bag is heavy, the more likely he will report pain. Meanwhile, if the child doesn’t think it is as heavy, the less likely he is to report discomfort.

 

While our perception of things heavily depend on our past experiences and how we were raised, the path to positive perception and growth can be achieved in many practical ways. The first is to develop the desire to change. There must be an intention to change and make how you perceive things different and better.  Second critical step is self-awareness. Awareness is about being curious, having a sense of wonder, and being able to spot the differences between the past and the present. It also involves being aware of your physical and emotional responses, thinking patterns, habits, etc. Self-awareness is about knowing yourself further. Finally, the power of perception grows with positivism. Dreaming about the world you want, the life you want, and the person you want to become is a right no one can take away from you. Remember the popular saying? When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

 

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