We all have those times when things are not going so well. We feel a bit heavier, we have to deal with setbacks more often, and we don’t see it so positively anymore. The placebo effect can be precious to get yourself back on track and approach life positively again because you are the placebo! As long as you realize that!
But doesn’t the placebo effect mean that something doesn’t work and that you’re kidding yourself? Exactly, and that’s what it’s all about! The point is not that it “generally works,” but that it works for you! For some people, something must be scientifically proven. For others, it’s simply important that it works.
Our minds can fool themselves. Based on assumptions and beliefs, we have a dialogue “internally” with ourselves. In this conversation, we reason out our “reality”, our perceptions. Remember that the universe is always listening. The field ‘hears’ every single thought we think, and its holographic nature will reflect everything at us.
Just as we can talk ourselves depressed or sick, so we can talk ourselves better. And this ability can sometimes make the difference between your positive or negative attitude to life.
What is the placebo effect?
The placebo effect is the positive outcome someone obtains after using a “drug” that is, in fact, ineffective. Scientists assume that the positive result is caused by our belief, trust, and the hope that the remedy will work against the symptoms. The nocebo effect works exactly the other way around: a non-working substance then has a negative impact.
I deliberately chose the term “drug”, as the placebo effect usually applies to a clinical setting where a patient is administered an ineffective drug. Of course, a means can also be a communication technique in a therapeutic environment. For example, imagination or visualization techniques can be potent tools in creating your reality.
You are the placebo and your subconscious
We all have our habits. Some people make coffee as soon as they get out of bed. Others snooze for another hour. All these patterns develop from an early age, and as you get older, these deep-rooted patterns are increasingly difficult to break. You can see it as tractor tracks that are difficult to get out of.
These behavioral patterns are our software programs with which we control our hardware (our body). The more often we enable a particular “software program”, the more deeply rooted it becomes in our system. You can notice this when you recall your daily commute to and from work. You don’t have to think about it anymore; you automatically take the right exit, know at which roundabout you have to go three-quarters around, and once at work, you walk straight to the coffee machine.
95% of all these patterns are stored in your subconscious, so you execute them without even thinking about them. If you want to change your behavior, it’s essential to be aware of your patterns, and for this reason, you will have to take a look at your subconscious.
The subconscious is difficult to access for most people and can only be reached in deep meditation and hypnosis, where the brain offers access under specific frequencies (theta brain waves). This explains why people under hypnosis are highly suggestible and open to change their behavior. With this in mind, it may not be surprising that meditation and hypnosis are great ways to let the placebo effect do the job and change behavior, heal or change whatever you want to change in your life!
Determine your outcome with the placebo effect
Just as we can make ourselves feel uncomfortable, anxious, or sad, we can also make ourselves feel good, happy, and full of life.
You decide how you feel. It’s all about that little bit of awareness about how your emotions work. How exactly do they work?
You end up in a situation, for example, at work. Your manager indicates that he wants to have a conversation with you, and at that moment, you immediately feel the nerves racing through your body. You know that your contract will soon expire, and due to your absenteeism, it may look like the contract will not be renewed. Your breathing rises higher in your chest, and you become restless and scared. Because of this turmoil, your thoughts are running. What if I am soon out of work? How am I going to pay the mortgage? How long will it take before I have another job? Maybe I will have to travel much longer and miss my colleagues.
This is the point to be alert! Because how does the above anecdote fit together? Your manager wants to talk to you. You feel immediately upset and scared. At least, that’s how you experience it! Often such a feeling is the result of a previous experience in your life or based on assumptions. And how representative is that experience or belief?
In fact, the feeling is based on a pattern or assumptions because you don’t know what he wants to discuss.
At this point, you can make the placebo effect work for you by putting a thought in between the first impulse (“Oh, my contract won’t be renewed later on and then this and that…”). Are you sure that it concerns your contract? And if it were about contract termination, is it the end of the world? Isn’t it a wonderful opportunity to break through your safe and familiar patterns at work and grow by getting out of your comfort zone?
By letting the placebo effect work for you through a little reframing, you can easily break through a negative thought pattern and exchange it for a positive one. Of course, it’s not easy to break deeply entrenched habits and beliefs so easily, but most of the negative thoughts that an average person has daily can.
This way, you can make a ‘dark’ period in your life a lot more pleasant and see life a lot more positively. Always realize that your thoughts are on the wheel, and let your thoughts be more potent than your emotions. Your emotions are the result of the interaction between feelings and thoughts. Always let positive thoughts run their course, add a positive thought, and realize that you are the placebo.
