“Perception is not merely a reflection of reality, but rather the result of a continuous battle between prediction and evidence.” -Andy Clark, Cognitive Scientist
Expectation: A strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
Predictive Processing: The brain's method of organizing and interpreting sensory information by continuously generating, updating, and refining predictions to minimize the mismatch between expected and received sensory inputs, thereby enhancing the precision of its internal representations.
Theory: A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something (not necessarily proven).
Predictive Processing Theory: A theory that the brain actively constructs its reality by predicting what it expects. Reality is a byproduct of interpreting and refining these perceptions.
Identity (modern psychological definition): Identity is the collection of beliefs, values, memories, preferences, roles, and narratives used to understand who you are and how you fit into the world.
There is a strange and beautiful secret to the human brain, one that neuroscientists have uncovered more clearly. You are not experiencing the world as it is. You are experiencing the world as your brain expects it to be.
The brain is not a camera, recording life with perfect accuracy. It is a prediction construct, continuously calculating what will happen next. In summary, the individual does not react to true objective reality, it reacts to its subjective interpretation based on its predictions.
The human brain utilizes all available information from its history including beliefs, fears, desires, and conditioning, to predictively analyze the world. These predictions become perceptions, which become reality for the individual.
Changing one’s life requires changing not just circumstances but additionally expectations/predictions. This means that you can upgrade your expectations to match the life you wish to build.
The Theory
Your past is not your Past - It is an interpretation
Your past is your brain’s best guess about what happened, filtered through what you expected, feared, or wished for. These interpretations then become the template for future expectations, creating a loop where reality keeps getting filtered through the same storyline. Change the Interpretation, Change your Life.
Identity Matters more Than Circumstance
Expectations are a byproduct of one’s belief of one’s self. The brain constructs its reality from the foundation of identity. Identity + Expectation = Your Reality.
A New Life requires a New Expectation.
Stop wishful thinking, start predictive thinking. Life is changed by expecting new results, not forcing them.
“We Don’t See things as They Are; we See them as We Are.” -Anaïs Nin
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