Harness Your Superpower of Belief

Can you define the concept of belief?

Main Entry: be?lief

Function: noun

1: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is

placed in some person or thing

almost always implies certitude even where there is

no evidence or proof

2: something believed; especially: a tenet or body of tenets held

by a group

3: conviction of the truth of some statement or acceptance of

some reality without direct proof

Belief is a mental state by which the mind assents to propositions,

not by reason of their intrinsic evidence but because

they give you a feeling of certainty.

The following analogy may elucidate this concept.

A belief is like a tabletop with no legs. Initially, details are

provided by an outside source. You elect to regard the premise

of the belief as reasonable and plausible. Once you’ve accepted

the belief, your brain starts to reinforce it as truth – after all,

you don’t want to be considered a fool or liar. Each shred of

evidence you provide adds another leg to your table, and your

faith is intensified and fortified.

For example, consider cars. Are they good or bad?

When people who think cars bad see an accident or a

car break down, their position is reaffirmed and another leg

(proof) is added to their table (belief).

In contrast, when people who think cars are good see an

ambulance or emergency vehicle save a life, their position is

reaffirmed and another leg (proof) is added to their table

(belief).

Even when two people share the same experience, they may

interpret it in vastly different ways. Two people whoosh down a

ski slope. Both of them have pounding hearts and sweaty palms

– evidence, for one, of the thrill of the sport, and, for the other,

of a near-death experience.

The following story is a brilliant illustration of this phenomenon

of there being two ways to look at everything.

A man is on the way home from work after a hectic day at the

office. He fights his way through the jostling crowds and finally

gets on a crowded train. As luck would have it, a father and

several unruly children are sitting across from him. He tries to

ignore them, but they keep invading his personal space. When

one of the children bumps into him, it is the last straw, and he

berates the children’s father for ignoring their rowdiness.

The father whispers an apology, explaining that he and

his children are on their way home from a funeral – that his

wife, their mother, had just been buried. He tells the man that,

considering the situation, he doesn’t want to rebuke them in

public.

This information transforms the complainant. The circumstances

do not change – the kids are still noisy and disruptive

– but he quickly revises his initial belief. He is privy to new

facts, which have drastically altered his impressions.

Another confusing contingency is being faced with

conflicting beliefs. This puts us in a quandary. We don’t know

which way to turn. We stagnate – or, worse, we reach for some

pleasure to numb the pain, virtually sabotaging and incapacitating

ourselves.

A perfect example of this problem is weight loss.

Adolescent girls are inculcated with the idea that Woman =

Thin, a belief that is endorsed by the prevalence and popularity

of emaciated starlets, models, and celebrities.

Consider an adolescent girl, who, a couple of years later, is

married and becomes pregnant. Suddenly she is bombarded by

very different messages: You have to eat well to maintain your

strength. You’re eating for two. Eat so you’ll have the energy to

take care of your family.

Which is it? Woman = Thin or Woman = Eat? Should she

diet? Should she eat?

Instead of trying to balance the two, many women lose

control and alternate between binges of “pigging out” and

(often unhealthy) dieting. But until this young woman decides

what she wants, and not what everyone expects her to do, she

will be pulled to and fro by this quandary.

Her challenge is to reconcile these thoughts that are at war

in her mind – to adopt a lifestyle that will inspire and enlighten,

to learn that it’s not how you balance your diet that’s important

but how you balance your life.

What happens when you say to yourself: “I am a loser”?

Your brain has no evidence to the contrary and accommodates

the thought, proving that everything you do contributes to

your failure as a productive human being. Every step you take,

your subconscious will interpret as a “losing” proposition.

It is critical to adopt positive beliefs. Negativity will limit

your chances of succeeding.

Still skeptical? Consider the following report.

In 1954, a young man made headlines around the world

with one of the landmark events of twentieth-century sports

history. At the time, it was thought to be impossible for a

human being to run a mile in under four minutes. The world

record of 4:01.3 had stood for nine years, and experts regarded

this as an insurmountable limit.

Roger Bannister thought otherwise.

He announced that he’d run a mile in under four minutes. Everyone thought he

was insane – the sports experts, the medical establishment,

everyone! In 1954 he did it. Through perseverance and determination,

the unbelievable became possible.

And within one year, over thirty people broke his impressive

record. When asked how it was possible for so many people

to run that fast so soon, Banister said, “It was never a physical

boundary, only a mental one.”

Prioritize and categorize your beliefs. Keep the ones that

serve you, get rid of the ones that limit you, and make new

ones that will get you where you want to go. Whether you can

or can’t do something depends on your belief in yourself. It’s

all up to you! You have the ability to change beliefs and change

your life.

Consider this beautiful passage written by Walter D. Wintle:

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you want to win, but think you can’t

It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,

For out of the world we find

Success begins with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of mind…

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the one who thinks he can.

To sum it all up: Belief is nothing more than a feeling of

certainty you have about a particular idea. Belief has a major

impact on the achievement of your goals and aspirations. The

fact is, you see the world through your beliefs; they shape your

interpretation of any event, situation, or feeling. The process is

simply holding a belief, a thought you think over and over until

it becomes your reality.

Belief = Behavior = Results

You may be surprised to learn that a tightrope walker, a karate

master who breaks seventeen concrete slabs in a shot, an

Olympic athlete, and a schoolteacher all have the same body

parts, the same hours in a day, and the same access to resources.

The only difference is their beliefs.

You can attain anything you want physically or spiritually

if you develop the same belief system as an individual who has

already attained it.

Remember my example of the two skiers coming down a

ski slope? Both are panting for breath and sweating. Yet one

will say that he’s excited and the other that he’s having a panic

attack. It is their beliefs that give them totally different experiences

– experiences that are based on their interpretation of

what’s happening.