What you believe is of vital importance

A simple question, but an interesting one. We all believe in something, of course. I suppose the question, to make it more pertinent, should be changed to “What do you believe?”.

The big questions to do with belief concern a higher energy, or a creator, sometimes called Source Energy, or God. Some people believe in such a thing, while others don’t. And for the most part it comes down to what makes the individual feel better. Some people feel validated and more secure believing in a higher power, while others feel … well, more or less the same, but due to the exact opposite, i.e. not believing in a god. It depends very much on the way you approach these things.

And some people can only explain various natural phenomena in the light of the existence of God, while others maintain that the whole thing is purely the result of natural forces at work. Physics … not God. But then, some believers maintain that, although they believe in God, the god they believe in is just a natural part of the fabric of the Universe (albeit a very, very important part), and part of the physics that others believe gives the lie to the whole god idea.

Let’s not get our brains in a knot!

Anyway, you know as well as I do that you could get your brain in a knot trying to work that kind of thing out so, for the sake of this article, let’s stick to more mundane beliefs, and how they affect each of us. There should be more than enough on that subject to keep me writing for quite a while, and I promise not to get too carried away and wander too far into the realms of metaphysics.

Do you believe in your ability to succeed? I think everyone agrees that if you do it will affect your performance positively, and if you don’t, then the opposite applies. And so it makes sense to believe in yourself, and if you don’t already, to make efforts to create that belief. That’s where the magic comes in! Because you can create a belief, rather than just hoping it will happen, or accepting, miserably, that it never can.

You can create beliefs!

You can create any belief you want, and we do it all the time. One person believes that he could never stand up and make a speech (and he can’t, obviously, until things change), while others believe they can do it, and sometimes those people go on to become stand-up comedians, or politicians, or lecturers, or presenters, or very successful sales people.

And there’s no shortage of evidence that we can successfully change our beliefs about ourselves. Some of the best actors are not naturally gregarious people, and outside of acting prefer to keep very much to themselves. Yet they manage to ‘become’ that other person, the one who can hold an audience’s attention for an extended period of time, and do it in such a way that people assume they were born with that amazing confidence.

If you want a great example of the power of belief, check out the Derren Brown’s episode, Fear and Faith, where he offers a new, experimental drug to a selection of individuals and charts the effects it has on them. They achieve things they never believed possible, and the drug did indeed prove to be amazingly effective, but not in quite the way the subjects expected it might be. There’s a great lesson in that episode, and one we would all do well to take to heart.

If you believe you can, or if you believe you can’t … you’re right!

Do you believe you’ll always be unlucky? Then you probably will! How about making money … do you believe you’ll never be prosperous, and there’s just some unaccountable reason for it, but somehow you just know it’ll never happen? Right again! Same goes for relationships – if you believe you’ll never find someone to love, you’re probably right. If you believe you’re lousy at maths, the same holds true. And if you believe even stepping into an elevator is enough to reduce you to a shivering, terrified wreck then guess what … yep, you’re exactly right!

Your beliefs about yourself are some of the most important beliefs you can hold onto. Maybe the most important. They determine your abilities and your success … or the direct opposite. But the great thing to be aware of is that a belief is just that … a belief. Believing something, whatever it may be, does not make that thing right. Or permanent. Or wrong, or anything else. It is simply a strongly held opinion. That’s all. Wars have been fought over the beliefs held by whole nations, yet those beliefs are nothing more than strongly held opinions.

A belief is just an opinion

You might not like eating garlic. That’s just your preference. It’s an expression of your opinion of garlic. From that you might state that you believe garlic is a horrible food, and unfit to eat. That changes it from an opinion to a belief … but really that belief is still no more than a strongly held opinion. It doesn’t make garlic unfit for human consumption. And it doesn’t make it taste bad either. Garlic, used in cooking, can add tremendously to the flavour of a meal, and moreover it can make the food more nutritious, in that it promotes good health. Your belief about it won’t affect it either way.

Yet we raise the level of importance of our beliefs to great heights, way above opinions. And so we wage war on others who hold different beliefs … or strongly held opinions. That’s why it’s so important to be respectful of the beliefs of others. As long as someone else’s beliefs don’t harm or endanger anyone, they shouldn’t concern us. They’re basically just someone else’s opinions, and nobody should get wound up over that.

You can change your beliefs about yourself!

Back to personal beliefs. You can change your beliefs about yourself, and unless you consider yourself virtually perfect, you should. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to meditate in the mountains for years to develop this ability. You don’t have to perform any obscure exercises or join a cult. Actually, it’s not even difficult. It does take a while, of course, and that’s enough to put lots of people off even trying, but if you’re willing to make the effort it’s quite do-able.

First, and quite naturally, you have to decide what you want to change. You might want to become more confident. You might really want to stop assuming everything you touch will turn to dust (or worse!). You might want to become more easygoing and relaxed. Maybe you would like just like to feel more in control. Or enjoy a better financial situation. Or maybe you’re desperate to find your soul mate. Whatever it might be, spend a little time weighing up what it is you really want, and then think about how to change things.

Sometimes, of course, it might just be a case of taking action. Surprising things happen when you get up out of your chair and start doing things! We can all sit there and make plans, but the movers and shakers are the ones who take action. So maybe that’s what you need, to feel more motivated. But let’s assume for now that that’s not the problem. Let’s assume the problem lies in your attitudes, which, in all fairness, it usually does.

Get your beliefs written down

Okay, now that you’ve settled on what you want, how to go about achieving it? Well, a surprisingly simple method is to write down that you want. Sorry if you were expecting some arcane and mystical method, I’m all out of candles and incense at the moment so I’m falling back on the old favourites. Just write down what it is you want. But make sure you write it in the most positive way you can. Stay away from things like “I want to be rich”, or “I want to be successful.” Both of those statements are vague and can be interpreted in various ways. They also include the word ‘want’, which is generally not a good choice of words. If something wants for something (as in “that old shed wants a good lick of paint”), the implication is that it doesn’t have it already. Obvious, I know, but better I think to steer clear of any phrase that highlights that fact.

If those were your wishes, maybe you could rephrase them like this: “I’m getting richer all the time!” or “Fresh opportunities for success just seem to keep appearing!” Phrases like this have the feel of you already getting richer or more successful. It might seem like nothing more than semantics, but the brain (and particularly the subconscious) takes things very literally. Which is both good news and bad news. It’s good news because if you tell yourself you’re already successful, the brain believes it. And acts on it. Bad news because most of the time our default setting is negative. Meaning for most of us, and for most of the time, we engage in negative self-talk.

Beware of negative self-talk

Now you might not even be aware you’re doing it, but each of us carries on a fairly constant dialogue in our minds, and unless we’ve taken control of it, it tends to take us down a negative path. We tell ourselves we’re unlucky, or unpopular, or bad at certain things (e.g. maths, languages, music, business, etc), or destined for failure generally. And the more we feed ourselves this terrible diet of garbage, the more we make it come true. This is a dreadful state of affairs, and if we could hear our thoughts being spoke alound we’d be shocked. Fortunately, we can fix that!

When you write things down, make them super-positive. Go overboard a bit. Don’t settle for “I’m getting richer all the time!” if you think “I’m getting richer day by day, and I’m so good at making money it’s almost embarrassing!!” sounds even better. The only drawback is that you might come up with statements that are literally unbelievable. Be aware of that. Don’t write things you simply can’t relate to. Might be better to stick with “I’m getting richer all the time!” if that feels right for you, and you can always boost it to an even more positive phrase later on.

Write your affirmations down … and read them!

So, write several affirmations outlining your new view of yourself. And read them every day. But make sure you’re fully engaged in it, in other words don’t just repeat the words … a parrot could do that, if it heard the phrases often enough, but it wouldn’t get any richer or be any more successful. And neither will you! When you repeat the phrases, really mean them. Conjure up the positive feelings you would associate with those phrases.

For example, if you’re stating that you’re becoming more successful, imagine that it’s absolutely true, and try to experience how empowering that makes you feel. Put a smile on your face and feel good about yourself! Feel how amazing it is to be continually improving in this regard, or in whatever issue you’re addressing. Feel richer … feel more confident … feel more successful … feel more popular … feel more relaxed … feel exactly what it is to be successful in whatever thing you’re focusing on.

Repeat these affirmations every day, or better still twice a day. If you keep a journal, don’t just read them, write them down as well. Write them fresh every day! They needn’t be long and involved. As long as they’re positive and they get right to the point, that’s fine. Read them every day, better still write them out again each time, and read what you’ve written. And make it real! Believe totally in what you’ve written.

But I don’t really believe that …

Oh, hang on, there’s a problem … you can’t totally believe in it because you know it’s not actually true … oh, bummer, this’ll never work then. Oh, hang on … y’know when you’re watching James Bond or Indiana Jones or Ethan Hunt and they’re in a really desperate situation, and you feel as though you’re really there and it’s you in danger … or hanging by a cable from the bank vault ceiling … or fighting the foreign spy, or whatever … hey, it seems you can believe certain things when you know for a fact that they’re not actually true! Who’da thunk it?!

Believe exactly what you’re repeating. Say it aloud, if possible. Say it with conviction. And thoroughly enjoy the feelings of being successful, or confident, or gifted … or whatever. Ignore the annoying fact that some of these things may not strictly be true … yet. Ignore them! Facts like that only serve to undermine your desire to get what you really want. Believe in yourself, and in your abilities, and you’ll be well on your way to making it happen in real life.

Act as if!

And act out your fantasies. All I mean by that is do things related to your desires. For example, if you really would like to travel, but you can’t afford it yet, you can still play with the idea. Take a good look at the brochures in a travel agent’s, or online. Visit the airport occasionally and go through the motions of travelling. Stand around for a while (there’s lots of that going on at airports!), maybe with a bag packed full of towels or something. Sit in the departure lounge and read a newspaper. Stroll over occasionally and ask at the desk if a certain flight that’s due in later is on schedule. Have a coffee, or stroll around the airport shops.

Yes, it can sound daft, and if someone you know saw you you might have to make up a story about supposedly meeting someone off a flight or something. But if it makes you feel like you’re really travelling … like you’ve arranged it, and you can afford it … who cares if someone asks you what you’re up to – it’s nobody’s business but your own, and you’re actually doing something quite important. You’re mentally preparing, adjusting your mental landscape in such a way that you will soon, and quite naturally, make your desire (travelling) become a reality.

Use any method that works for you. You might want to write yourself a fake cheque for a huge amount of money. Imagine it’s a sizeable payment into your business, or for your skills and knowledge. Convince yourself, any way you can, that things are going your way. You want a Merc? Go for a test drive! Or at least read about the car and familiarise yourself with it. Grab a few pictures of Mercs via Google images and use them as a screensaver, or to make a dream board.

The opportunities to approach this are all round. And they all come down to the same thing … you need to change your beliefs, and there are lots of ways you can do just that. Until you actually believe in what you want, it’s going to be difficult to get it. But once you believe in yourself, and in your ability to achieve your goals, you’re already halfway there!