@Randem

I’d like to take a moment to talk about mind control. Mind control is the ultimate power; you can use it to influence others, to alter your own reality, and to make personal gains or profit. The possibilities are endless.

Now let’s be clear, I’m not talking about some ESP or other hocus pocus that you might see in a movie. This isn’t some Jedi mind trick, and it’s not hypnosis. It’s much simpler, much more down-to-earth, and yet much more powerful if you learn to use it.

In other words, I’m not talking about controlling other people’s minds, I’m talking about controlling your own. Frankly, yours is the only mind that you have the power to control anyway.

Why So Negative?
Considering all the facts and evidence may be the most logical course of action, and may lead to the most accurate and reasonable decisions, but it takes time. When a prehistoric human was faced with a new threat — for instance, a hungry lion — considering all the facts and evidence would have taken too long and he would have been eaten. Thus, our brains are equipped to take shortcuts. We have the power to assume. We developed the ability to make quick, loose judgment calls without considering all the evidence, because the ability to assume proved to be beneficial to survival.

We humans are biologically evolved to favor negativity. As a simple survival trait, natural selection favors pessimism because those who are too trusting or too nonchalant would not have survived, while those who were cautious or skeptical were likely to live to tell about it… and to reproduce.

So, to greatly oversimplify the complicated topic of evolutionary psychology, that explains why it is so easy to see the bad in a situation, or to assume the worst about something someone says. It’s built in to our DNA! We humans are natural skeptics. We are natural pessimists. Murphy’s Law is a product of evolution, and so is the “why me?” attitude.

Unlike our ancestors, however, we don’t face daily challenges to our survival. We’ve learned about man-eating tigers in school so we don’t have to guess at their motives… but moreover, the odds of encountering one in daily life are inordinately low!

There aren’t many threats to our survival lurking around the corner. Civilization has provided us with governments and laws and hospitals and health care. We’ve learned about germs and disease and all-in-all, modern civilization has made it pretty easy to survive. Yet we still have that evolved propensity for negativity, and now it’s working against us!

The Power of Positivity
Caution and skepticism work because our brains have evolved to use shortcuts, but those same shortcuts can be exploited to favor positivity and optimism. Instead of assuming the worst in a situation, you can make the conscious choice to assume the best. And doing so repeatedly will make it a habit.

I hear people all the time talking about fear of failure. They’re afraid to try something because they might not succeed. But failure when trying something new, like investing in stocks or starting your own business is a far different thing than the failure our ancestors would experience if they weren’t able to escape that hungry predator.

All the most successful people in history have understood this same concept: failure is not a bad thing. Instead of fearing failure, successful people welcome it. They see the positive, rather than the negative: they learn from failure, rather than sulking in it.

Perception is Reality
The power of our evolved ability to assume is that we are not consciously aware of the difference between an assumption and a fact. It truly is a shortcut, leading to the same place: belief. What you perceive becomes your reality.

If you believe that you are cursed, you will find the evidence of it everywhere you look. If you believe that people are out to get you, you will see yourself as the victim in every interaction you have. If you believe in Murphy’s Law, things really will go wrong at every turn.

But the opposite can be true, too. You can choose to believe that people are inherently good, and you will find that they will prove you right. You can choose to believe that there is no such thing as a lose-lose — that every choice has a positive outcome — and you will benefit from that attitude as you go through life.

Success is a choice. Popularity is a choice. Happiness is a choice. It’s all in your mind. No one else can make you unhappy if you choose to be happy. No one else can take away your joy. Only you make the choice.

The power of mind control is choosing how you will perceive the world, rather than defaulting to those negative assumptions.