Pronoia, What-if's, and Neuroplasticity

ascendmindsetcoach1
Apr 27
2 min read

Updated: Apr 29

✨ I recently discovered the word pronoia which is the opposite of paranoia. It was coined by American sociologist Fred H. Goldner in 1981, and it describes a person who believes that the universe and the people in it are conspiring to do good on their behalf.

Ah, what a lovely thought!

A Note on Toxic Positivity

Real quick, let’s clear something up: pronoia isn’t about ignoring negative feelings or pretending everything is perfect. That’s toxic positivity, rejecting or invalidating real human emotions.

As an iPEC-trained Core Energy Coach, I believe that no emotion is inherently bad. Every feeling has a purpose. We're meant to experience the full spectrum of emotion—not just the pleasant ones. It's important that we always feel our feelings so that they do not get repressed.

Why Our Thoughts Matter

Still, most of us lean toward negativity by default. According to researchers at Stanford University, about 75% of our daily thoughts are negative. Damn. That's so sad! It's a staggering amount of mental energy spent imagining worst-case scenarios (I used to do this all of the time)!

You might recognize thoughts like:

“I hope it doesn’t rain.”
“I’m going to be late.”
“This won’t work.”
“They’ll think it’s a dumb idea.”

Let me ask you something: Has that ever helped?

Because it certainly wasn’t helping me.

Journaling best case scenarios can shift your mindset!

Embracing Pronoia

When I started noticing how often I assumed the worst, I made a conscious choice to shift my mindset. Instead of assuming the people around me were judging me, I chose to believe the best, or, at least remind myself they probably weren’t thinking about me at all.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was practicing pronoia. And it changed everything.

Rewriting My Inner Narrative

I also began to change how I talked to myself. For years, my internal voice was harsh and critical. “Ugh, you’re so dumb,” it would yell anytime I made a mistake.

Eventually, I realized that kind of self-talk wasn’t serving me.

So, I started to speak to myself the way I would speak to someone I love. When I messed up, I’d pause and say, “No, it’s okay. Mistakes are normal - you just need to learn from this.”

At first, it was difficult to do every time. Rewiring your brain takes work. But thanks to neuroplasticity (which honestly feels like magic), those new thought patterns became more natural with practice.