Recently, I was watching the 5th episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. (Fantastic show, by the way—if you haven’t watched it yet, you really should!) In the episode, Jude Law’s character ‘Jod’ tells one of the children, “Your focus determines your reality.” Not only is that a brilliant and telling callback to Qui-Gon Jinn’s line to Anakin in The Phantom Menace, which hints at Jod’s past, but it also immediately brought to mind a conversation I had with a friend a little over a week ago where I actually used that line. While it intrigued me in 1999, I never really understood what it meant until this conversation when it finally clicked for me.

 

My friend had been having a lot of negative experiences and interactions with the community of a game we both play. I always found it odd because my experiences with that community have always been positive and friendly. I noted that my friend often has a pretty negative and miserable demeanor, and I wondered if maybe he was the source of his problems. He admitted that he generally expects the worst from people and not only does he get what he expects, but he’s often taken aback by how sometimes the outcome was even worse than he expected.

 

“If you focus on the negative, your reality will be negative. If you focus on the positive, your reality will be positive.”

 

And that’s when Qui-Gon’s line suddenly clicked for me! “Your focus determines your reality.” It finally made sense psychologically.

 

If you go into an interaction expecting negativity and toxicity, it can unconsciously influence the attitude you project to others, and that negative vibe will often be picked up on and reflected back at you. If you have a chip on your shoulder, people will usually pick up on it and likely react negatively to you. You become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Conversely, if you go into an interaction with a positive attitude, and you’re being friendly, people will often pick up on that, be it consciously or unconsciously, and they will usually reflect that positivity back.

 

If you focus on the negative, your reality will be negative. If you focus on the positive, your reality will be positive. Even when things around you are bleak, finding and focusing on the positive and having a positive attitude can improve your mood and how well you deal with adversity.

 

So when you’re out there living your lives, remember your Jedi training, my friends!