When you want to make a change you sometimes have to believe something new without any evidence it is possible. What a fantastic skill to develop – the ability to believe you can do something you have never done before.
Kids do this all the time – they haven’t yet learned how to be afraid to explore and experiment. Toddlers are not afraid to do stuff and fail. They do not understand the meaning of failure. They just figure something else out.
How different would your life be if you didn’t understand the meaning of failure and you just figured something else out? Well worth pondering.
What is a belief anyway? It’s a thought; a thought that you have repeated to yourself so many times you believe it.
And if you believe the thought (that is, you have the belief), then you will create the result you are after. The problem is, the belief needs to be present before you can create the results of that belief.
It’s the great belief paradox. You must create the belief before you can create the evidence to support the belief.
So how do you believe in yourself without any evidence to support whatever it is you want to believe? You create belief in your mind, in your imagination.
Imagine it and create it. To paraphrase Tom Bileu (host, Impact Theory podcast) – as long as it doesn’t defy the laws of physics, go for it.
Create a very clear thought and hold that thought in your mind. Then repeat that clear message to yourself often. Then do the toddler thing – experiment, explore. Do something, take action. See if that action works. If it doesn’t, do something else. If it works, keep on keeping on. There is no fail.
You may have heard the phrase “Know thyself” – attributed to Socrates, one of the great Greek philosophical thinkers that planted the seeds of stoicism (more on stoicism some other blog).
But what if ‘know thyself’ is just the beginning? Add on ‘imagine thyself.’ Sure it’s important to know thyself, but to imagine thyself? So much more powerful.
Imagine thyself and create belief in yourself to support that belief. Okay so I am at the beginning of an impossible journey challenge – to become an endurance cycle-tourist (more on that as my challenge progresses). Here is the problem, I’m over 60y, I have shoulder, wrist, hand and knee problems and I’m afraid to cycle outside. Umm… bit of a problem huh?
So step one of creating belief is to imagine it. Create it in your mind’s eye as vividly as possible. The sweat dripping off your nose, heavy breathing, burning in your quads, a sore butt, the breeze through your hemet, the pride you feel in overcoming the challenge of a summit, rewarded with the incredible view. Friendships forged in the shared struggle. Feel the pride. Feel the reward.
Now, borrow that imagined feeling and use it today to fuel your desire to become the woman you need to become to actually feel that feeling and train to become an endurance cyclist tourist (however I decide to define it for myself).
So fun to try right?
Every belief starts out as a thought. Grab that thought, give it meaning. And then you can, make it a reality… The great belief paradox – the belief before evidence.
Live Life, Love Life, Always
Dr Karen
Life coaching helps you redesign your future, reclaim your enthusiasm and recharge your energy for life. What are you waiting for? Let’s chat.
