The power of belief

If you fully understood the power of belief, you would do your best to never believe another negative thought about yourself or your capabilities. Often, what we believe to be true or to be possible for ourselves becomes our reality. If we don’t believe something is possible for us, we tend to dismiss any opportunities that might presents themselves that contradict our limiting belief system.

For example, if we don’t believe that we are attractive enough, we may ignore any opportunities to go out on a date with someone we perceive to be ‘out of our league’. We tell ourselves statements in line with our limited beliefs. We aren’t good enough, we would be rejected or we would just look foolish. The result is that the belief grows stronger because we don’t test out whether what we believe is reasonable and realistic. Of course, there are a few other factors that influence outcomes such as fearful thinking and so on, but our beliefs form the foundation of what can be possible for us in this life. This is the power of belief.

Research has shown repeatedly that our beliefs affect everything from our financial status to our health. Did you know that if you see stress as a positive experience (see it as your body being ready to take on a challenge rather than something that is toxic for your body), you a less likely to be affected by the negative effects of stress? (Watch the TED talk by Kelly McGonigal on “How to make stress your friend”).

Here is another example of the power of belief: There was a story of a man wrongly diagnosed with cancer. He ended up dying and when they performed an autopsy, the coroner found that he had no cancer at all. In fact he had been wrongly diagnosed and never ever had cancer but because he believed he had cancer, he died early. This story is anecdotal but it does not surprise me in the least.