The Little-Known Truth About Psychic Predictions

Many believe future predictions are set in stone when they are merely snapshots of what might happen, not what will happen.

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV and author of Answers About The Afterlife, Insight from Hindsight, and The Magic Mala. He’s also the founder of the top directory of reputable psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com.

Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash

In the late 1990s, I had readings with what I’ll call “neon-sign psychics.” These were psychics who had tiny offices on busy city streets with neon signs that read “Future Predictions,” “Palm Readings,” and “Tarot Readings.” In those days, they offered five-minute readings for five bucks, often upselling you to fifteen minutes for fifteen dollars.

I didn’t believe psychics were real in those days, so I thought every one of these practitioners was a snake oil salesperson. Of course, many were legitimate psychics, but skepticism didn’t allow me to recognize it.

Despite my skepticism, I was intrigued by predictions about my future and always wanted to see if they panned out. They rarely did, but a few were accurate enough to make me curious. I was intrigued enough to test this phenomenon from every angle. Since I was testing psychics and mediums for my research anyway, I always made sure to get a prediction in these test readings.

This is when some of the predictions I was given came to fruition. They were rarely accurate in timing—the predictions often came true a month or two later—but a few predicted events did happen, eventually.

Once I finally got a handle on what was truly happening with psychic predictions, I discovered the real problem with getting them. The problem is that some people make important life decisions based on these predictions, which is a terrible way to navigate life. Since most people don’t understand what I’m about to explain to you, they make critical choices in life because they think the psychics know more than they do about the future. And this is why I’m not a fan of predictions.

The Truth About Predictions

Many believe future predictions are set in stone when they are merely snapshots of what might happen, not what will happen. The best way to think of a prediction is as a photograph of your life’s direction taken at the moment of your reading. This photo indicates the direction your life is heading, but it doesn’t consider that you might make a right or left turn at any moment. In other words, predictions don’t consider that we have free will.

Because we have free will, we can change what psychics and mediums see in our future. Free will is our ability to make right and left turns before we reach the destination predicted in the photograph.

You could hang up the phone after a reading or walk out the door of the psychic’s office and instantly alter the prediction in that reading simply by making a new choice. If the psychic saw you taking the job, you could decide to keep your current job or accept another job altogether. If the reader saw you getting back together with your ex, you could choose to stay as far away from that toxic personality as possible and not repeat history. If the psychic predicted you would move to a new home in October, you could decide to wait for the housing market to change before making that investment.

I’ve been given numerous predictions that didn’t come to fruition over the years. I’d say that nine out of ten weren’t even close. Yet a few were accurate enough to credit the psychic for seeing it. But I won’t make any important life decisions based on a ten-percent accuracy rate.

Early in my research, I had a psychic predict that someone close to me would turn on me. I got so in my head about it that I began asking people in my life to please let me know if they had an issue with me. When a business associate responded to my request with, “Why, is there a reason I should have an issue with you?” She got suspicious that I had done something she didn’t know about. I realized that I was potentially making the prediction come true by attempting to avoid it.

After meeting my first medium, she told me my friend was going to die in a car accident within a year, which was a horribly irresponsible prediction to make. It indicated her immaturity and lack of training, but it got into my head nonetheless. Based on other information she gave me, I suspected I knew who she was talking about, so I asked my friend his thoughts on predictions, mainly if a psychic predicted that he would die, would he want to know. He immediately responded with, “No way! I would never want to know.”

That was more than twenty-five years ago, and the friend never died in a car accident as predicted, but I suffered with what felt like the responsibility of knowing that he might.

Many people are afraid of predictions like this one, which keeps them from pursuing a psychic reading in the first place. They are fearful about what they might find out. This is why it’s essential to understand the big picture about predictions and how much weight to give them when they appear in a reading. It’s also important to instruct your psychic or medium not to give you predictions even if they get them (if that’s what you want).

Predictions With Mediums

Although predictions are primarily associated with psychics, sometimes a medium will use their psychic ability to give a prediction. More often than not, if you get a prediction during a reading with a medium, the prediction comes from your loved one in spirit. In other words, your deceased loved one decided to make a prediction of their own.

This doesn’t change the fact that predictions are unreliable. Whether it comes from someone’s intuition or a person in spirit, your free will still holds the power to change the prediction. Just because the person in spirit has a view from the spiritual dimension doesn’t make their prediction any more accurate than that of a psychic.

When I receive a prediction from a loved one in spirit during a reading with a medium, I don’t give it much weight. Instead, I consider it while matching it with what my intuition is telling me.

For example, if a deceased loved one gives me a message through the medium that an idea I’m having would be a good move, I’ll note it. If I also feel this idea is a good move, it confirms this for me. But if it contradicts what I’m feeling intuitively, I don’t allow this message alone to influence my choices. It’s a weak message at best. I need to gather more information before giving the prediction much weight.

If my intuition doesn’t help me determine if the prediction is accurate, I’ll keep it in the back of my mind to see if any other signs come into my life with a similar message.

I once had a mediumistic reading in which a loved one in spirit mentioned getting my pickup truck fixed. Sadly, the medium could not elaborate when I asked for more information. I hadn’t had any mechanical work done, and there was no other indication that anything was wrong with my pickup truck, so I kept the prediction in mind.

The following week, I bumped into a guy in town who drove the same pickup truck. I rarely saw him, but in that one week, I saw him three times. The third time we crossed paths, I chatted with him and asked how his truck was running. He told me about a recall on the truck that he recently had fixed, which I didn’t know about. Coupling the message from my loved one in spirit with what this man told me was the confirmation I needed to bring my truck into the dealership for the recall.

Free Will Equals Freedom to Choose Your Path

You have free will to change what you think and believe.

Many people have left the religion of their youth because they changed their spiritual beliefs. Others trusted everything science told them, only to realize that scientists discovered they were wrong about something and later said something else.

I grew up being told that butter was good for me. Later, science told us that margarine was healthier than butter. A few years later, scientists decided butter is now healthier than margarine, but we shouldn’t eat too much of it.

You might even change the way you act.

Perhaps you always got angry when your child disobeyed you, but you’ve now learned to appreciate that your child is learning to think for herself. Maybe you always grabbed a beer with friends after work, but you began grabbing a bottle of water at the gym to improve your health. People change, and these changes can affect the outcome of a prediction.

The moment you change in some way after your reading, you change the trajectory of what the psychic saw, thereby changing the prediction.

Thus, you’re no longer following that trajectory viewed by the psychic because you decided to turn left when the psychic saw you going straight. That’s how quick and easy it is to alter a prediction with your free will, making it null and void.

The other side of this is that other people have free will, too. So you might be on your way to the grocery store when your mother calls you, asking you to stop by and help her with something. Her phone call instantly changes your trajectory. You were going to the store, and now you’re stopping by your mother’s house before you go to the store.

Every time another person interrupts your flow, their free will affects your future. When your boss stops you in the hallway on your way to the cafeteria, he’s just affected your future. When the police car pulls into traffic behind you, your speed suddenly slows down, making your drive home a little slower. When that guy backs into your vehicle in the parking lot, you now have to take the time to exchange insurance information, which alters the rest of your day.

We’re like balls in a pinball machine, bouncing around while constantly being pushed in new directions. We might ring the bell predicted by the psychic, or our free will or someone else’s free will might make us arrive a millisecond sooner or later than predicted, affecting whether we ring the bell as predicted, ring it early or late, or miss the bell altogether.

Considering this, is there any purpose in getting a psychic prediction? I don’t think so, especially considering that many predictions can make us fearful about the future. Still, some people enjoy them, and that’s them utilizing their free will, so to each his own. In the comments, I’d love to hear about your experiences with future predictions. Thanks for reading.

With love,
Bob

PS, If you haven’t heard, I have a new book out, Insight From Hindsight: Stories that Reveal What Life Is Trying to Teach You, which is now available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.

Editorial Reviews for Insight From Hindsight

"As a keen observer of life, Bob Olson combines a curious mind with a unique gift for storytelling to showcase the lessons available to each of us in everyday life. His stories are like medicine for the soul. They will touch your heart, expand your thinking, and inspire you to see the world in a fresh, new way!" ~ Cheryl Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of Take Time for Your Life and The Art of Extreme Self-Care

"There is a loving and moral center that informs all the stories that comprise Bob Olson's collection, Insight from Hindsight. Bob writes from his own life, simply, honestly and with great candor, sharing the deeper life lessons that come from everyday experiences (a road trip with his father, a roofing accident) and the less than ordinary (a posse of psychics searching for a lost cat, a near fatal carjacking). Bob effectively shares with us the deeper spiritual truths that are always present, just below the surface, if we take the time to look for them." ~ Paul Selig, author of I Am the Word, A Channeled Text

"This poignant collection of anecdotes is pure clear-sighted gold. Insightful and well-versed, they'll warm your heart and soothe your soul. Bob Olson can tell a story better than anyone I know." ~ Michael Gerrish, author of Postcards from the Cosmic Club of Everlasting Souls

"Bob Olson's generous tales of wisdom found in the humblest places remind us that paying attention during our own daily lives will keep us open to magic and life-changing insight. This collection of stories are the charming, heartwarming, and wise reflections of a beautiful soul." ~ Natalie Sudman, author of Application of Impossible Things: A Near-Death Experience in Iraq

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, the author of Answers about the Afterlife, Insight from Hindsight, and The Magic Mala, and the creator of the most trusted directory of psychics, mediums, animal communicators, and energy healers, BestPsychicDirectory.com.