#predictive-brain

#predictive-brain

The emerging consensus is striking-the mind does not merely interpret reality; it actively participates in shaping it. Across research on the placebo effect, athletic peak performance, and self-fulfilling prophecies, a consistent pattern appears: what we expect, believe, and even feel profoundly alters how we experience the world. Put differently, the mind is not a passive observer. It is a predictive, generative, reality-filtering system-one that continually constructs the lens through which we live our daily experiences.

When we don't feel good-low mood, negative emotions, or even anxiety-we reflect on what is happening in life and search for an external cause. The collective belief we share is that what goes on "out there" directly causes what we feel "in here." So, it naturally follows that when we struggle, the mind starts seeking an external reason: work, friends, or family. The hope is that inner peace will follow when circumstances align and we are in control.

It can certainly feel like emotions happen to you. That they bubble up and cause you to do and say things, but that experience is an illusion that the brain creates. Not everybody has as much control as they might like, but everybody has a little more control than they think they do. When you're experiencing emotion or you're in an emotional state, what your brain is doing is telling itself a story about what is going on inside your body.