Chapter 31 Beliefs.
Now you are about to discover something that will empower you, and bring profound and lasting effects on your life. We will be seeing here and in the next 4 chapters, the amazing hidden powers inside us. This matter is giving me such excitement, it is sending goose pimples to my arms! In my experience, the minds magic has astounded me enough. W. Clement Stone proclaimed: „What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. Experts everywhere are preaching: „You are what you think. If they are harping so much, you may say, there must be some truth in it? Believe me, there is enormous truth in it.
For hundreds of years, athletes have tried running a mile in less than 4 minutes, and failed. It was universally accepted as an impossible feat. Then Dr Bannister came along, believed in himself and trained hard to prove others wrong. Sure enough, he finally ran the mile under 4 minutes! Soon, hundreds of people did it. Now, a thousand runners have done it, and the 4-minute mile is history. What happened? One moment, nobody in the whole world could do it, another moment, hundreds can do it. Has the human body changed? No. What has changed? Belief.
Once I curiously attended a hypnosis gathering in Christchurch, New Zealand. I learned that in hypnosis, people could do amazing things. They could also do them in the waking state - if only they believed they could. In other words, hypnosis does not give new strengths, it only reveals the hidden ones. Recently, I read that in a hypnotic trance, a person could develop a blister by touching a piece of ice, simply because he was convinced that it was a piece of hot metal!
In some parts of the world, fire-walking on red-hot coals is a common-place. At Asian religious festivals, entranced mediums pierce their bodies and cut their tongues. They emerged with no pain or injury! In the medical field, the amazing healing effect of the dummy placebo pills is well-proven. Over the years, many medical journals have documented the remarkable recoveries of patients who had a fighting spirit and the determination to get well. Scientists found that the brain actually „talks to the immune system through a family of hormones called thymosins. Stunning isnt it? The lesson here is: Our limitations are self-imposed, and the mind is magical, whatever it can believe, can become reality.
The world has found the great blessing and potency of our beliefs system. Remember Norman Cousins? He employed comedies and laughter and cured his terminal illness. Look at the great Gandhi of India. He wore only a white sarong and slippers, yet he wielded more power than anyone living in his time! Although he had no trappings of dominance, like money or a great army, he had great faith, and he could instil faith in people, and exercise influence over 200 million countrymen at that time. All great achievers and leaders had great faith in themselves and their circumstances. Helen Keller believed she would learn to speak and she did. Columbus set out on voyages to prove the earth was round and he succeeded. Edison and Marconi believed deeply in their prowess and products. The faith of Buddha, Jesus and Prophet Mohammed have moved millions. The same faith empowers monks and nuns to live happily in the confines of convents and monasteries. It motivates numerous handicapped people to finish marathon races, often taking days. These are just a few examples.
I have studied, and read about many successful people. They made great use of their minds and inner resources to achieve fame and fortune. Their outside circumstances were, as usual too varied and complex for a simple or fixed recipe to succeed; only their internal attitude and resourcefulness could seal their victory. Tangible and intangible wealth begins after all, as a state of mind, a condition which manifests in the hearts and minds of the successful. We must have mental prosperity before we can reap physical riches. On the other hand, those who failed had been building limitations, negativism, poverty consciousness and reacting to lifes troubles. They never realised that success and happiness were their birthright. Most people operated well below capacity, they simply lacked faith and confidence in themselves. They have sabotaged their own lives. Sad to say, scientists note that we use less than 10% of our brains potential!
Our beliefs system comprises our values, perceptions, confidence level, deep interests and convictions. It gives us strength and direction in life. It drives our actions; in fact it moves our entire nervous system, and leads to performance and excellence. It has the magical force to create or crush any of our present or future possibilities. When we believe something is true, and embrace it, it tends to materialise, making our dreams come true, and we flourish!
My excellent news for you is that your beliefs are somewhat at your choice and disposal. The following are nice leads to help and strengthen you: 1. Shun negative influences, and weakening and dissipating environments. 2. Emotionalise your thoughts with dreams and burning desire, then translate them
into plans, enthusiasm and actions. 3. Strengthen your knowledge and skills, employ visualisation and affirmation (self-suggestion, to be discussed later), these practices enhance your confidence and self-image, and boost your faith. 4. See yourself as successful, focus on your strengths, and devote yourself to things that you do well. Form supporting relationships. 5. Reinforce yourself with past achievements. Prepare to win again. 6. See and acknowledge no limitation to your power and potentials. 7. With consciousness of your competence, relax periodically to rejuvenate and integrate your positions for further achievements. 8. When beliefs are matured and consolidated, they culminate in a powerful position of faith, with invincible spirit and resolution.
I sympathise with many youngsters, they are often lacking in 2 things, namely, self-confidence and motivation. Confidence can be improved by:
1. Dwelling on strengths instead of weaknesses, and replacing negative thoughts with positive one vigilantly and swiftly.
2. Continuous affirmation and visualisation of one's excellence, progress and accomplishments.
Motivation is simple:
1. Have dreams and burning desire, set goals and get down to work.
2. Action creates motivation. Get cracking and that is it.
3. The habit of doing it now, and not wasting another minute is motivation. So you see, it is easier than you think. You should never see difficulty in anything in the first place, and I will leave with a popular verse here to strengthen you:
"If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you like to win, but you think you can't, it is almost certain you won't." - Anonymous.
"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance." - Bruce Barton.
"Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so is he." - The Bhagavada Gita Book.
"I think it's very much a 'can-do' attitude. I mean, I always feel like there is a solution...it's not always obvious how to get to it, but if you keep searching you can figure it out." - N. Bushnell, electronic-game inventor.
"Faith marches at the head of the army of progress. It is found beside the most refined life, the freest government, the proudest philosophy, the noblest poetry, the purest humanity." - T. Munger.
"Act according to your faith. Everything is possible to the person who believes." Jesus Christ.
"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge." - Napoleon Hill.
"Reason can go only so far, but faith has no limits." - B. Pascal.
"In actual life every great enterprise begins with and takes its first forward step in faith." - Schlegel.
"Profound belief in something allows every individual to find an immense inner force, and to overcome his or her failings." - S. Honda.
"It is the mind that maketh good of ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor." - Edmund Spenser.
"Faith is the force of life." - Count Leo Tolstoy.