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February, 2005

B is for Belief

Belief

  1. The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another: My belief in you is as strong as ever.
  2. Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something: His explanation of what happened defies belief.
  3. Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

I'm not talking about religion or faith, when I say "belief." I'm talking about the second definition on the right: "mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something."

For me, the "something" I'm talking about is self. Yes, belief in self.

As a continuing student of my own nature and the natures of others, one thing I've seen all too often is our conditioned tendency to lack of belief. We've all known someone who achieved something noteworthy. More often than not, it can be said of that person "they believed they could do it" or "they believed it would happen." Then we shake our heads or roll our eyes and say "I wish I could do something like that."

The only thing stopping us is our lack of belief: belief in ourselves, belief in our capabilities, and belief in our ability to survive failure. Of course, sometimes the thing that's stopping us is belief.

Sometimes, Blind Spots are created rather than evolved.

That key phrase I've mentioned before — "Anyone could do it." — sometimes is the source and sometimes the symptom of a lack of belief. The lack of belief may be a lack of belief in your own ability. The lack of belief may be a lack of belief in the value of whatever "it" is. The lack of belief may be a lack of belief in your ability to survive failure, setback, disappointment, or discouragement.

And when you suffer from that lack of belief, you may be inclined to push whatever "it" is into a nice, safe Blind Spot. After all, if "anyone could do it," then there's no pressure on you to do something with "it."

And then the thought that "anyone could do it" becomes a firmly held belief and excuses you from doing something.

As friends of mine in network marketing frequently say, "you don't have to be good at it, you just have to be at it!"

Take a look at your beliefs. Then take a look at your lack of belief. Challenge yourself, every day, when it comes to your beliefs, your dreams, and your goals.

Are you getting in your own way? Are you giving yourself excuses?

Belief is powerful. Charge your batteries and achieve your dreams.


I wanted to try something new this time. I invited article submissions to complement my writing in this newsletter. Here's the first one I've chosen to include. I'd love to hear from you as to whether you like this idea - including other people's writing - or not.

...Steven


Motivation: The Mistakes Men Make about Women

by Bob Smallwood

Men often assume that the things that motivate them will motivate women just as effectively. They don’t. Not only does a woman have a different view of the world, she has a measurably different brain that works in a different way.

Not so many years ago, saying that men's and women’s brains are different was non-PC. Radical feminists maintained that all differences were the result of early conditioning. Fortunately, the differences in structure and activity have now been proven by solid science.

read the rest of the article


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Wishing you health, wealth, and happiness,

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