Lose the "Retrospectoscope"

Do you like that word?  I read it in a Christopher Brookmyre novel recently (by the way he's very funny).  What does it mean?  It is a substitute for the term hindsight.  




Let me give you an example. "I KNEW I shouldn't have gone to that party because ___________ (host/ess) ALWAYS has tasty food and I KNEW I wouldn't be able to control myself.  And s/he probably goes on to declare that "I'll NEVER be able to lose weight, I am SO lazy and stupid, I'm a COMPLETE failure." And so on.  
What jolly fun.  Not only can you criticise yourself in the present, you can also rewrite the past and guess at a doom-laden future - both of which involve you being a total failure.


If you can see the future, could you please tell me what next week's Tattslotto numbers will be?


What's wrong with this behaviour - apart from it being very unkind and ungenerous?  It is predicting the future and rewriting the past, neither of which are helpful or useful, ESPECIALLY in relation to changing behaviour.  They just make us feel worse, and when we feel negative emotions what do we do????? Soothe with food.  Don't see how that vicious cycle helps.


So lose the retrospectoscope and perhaps  polish the lens on the kindoscope or the generous-o-scope or the nice-o-scope.  Far more likely to have a positive outcome that doesn't involve a whole packet of Tim Tams.