Doctors in Texas studying the effect of arthroscopic knee surgery, assigned patients with sore, worn-out knees to one of three surgical procedures: scraping out the knee-joint, washing out the joint, or doing nothing.

During the “nothing” operation, doctors anesthetized the patient, made three incisions in the knee as if to insert their surgical instruments, and then pretended to operate.  Two years after surgery, patients who underwent the pretend surgery reported the same amount of relief from pain and swelling as those who had received the actual treatments.  The brain “expected” the surgery to work and it did.

Overtime, the brain comes to expect outcomes based on the conditions of the situation.  This is apparent in the above story as well as with other similar test in the medical field, like placebo pills.  That is why it is important to have positive expectations for the events of your life.  If you believe it’s possible, your brain will expect you to achieve that outcome.

What are you holding off on because you don’t believe it’s possible?  How would changing your frame of mind change your motivation towards pursuing that opportunity?  Is there harm in believing it is possible?

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