A Life of Abundance: Do You Believe in It?

A Life of Abundance: Do You Believe in It?

What you believe in will determine the actions you take and the consequences you expect - and will most likely get - from those actions. It follows then, that the beliefs you hold are pivotal in determining whether a life of abundance is attainable for you.One of the people I respect and admire greatly once looked me in the face and told me he believed that the concept of man made global warming was a total myth.I was shocked!The man is intelligent, well travelled and well read. How, I reasoned, could he possibly dismiss the fact that we humans are responsible for the climate change tragedy that is slowly unfolding?Rather than fight my corner I chose to move the conversation on and later reflect on why he and I - apparently sharing many similar values - could hold such radically different beliefs.This little event served to spark in me something of a fascination with beliefs and a growing recognition of how they constitute very powerful forces of action, indecisiveness or inaction.Beliefs can be likened to 'mental maps' that govern our lives, emotions, health, skills and everyday experiences.So how do they develop?For one thing, we are born without beliefs (though some may wish to argue that we may carry forward beliefs from past lives!)The beliefs you have today developed over time, starting with simple thoughts that were shaped and developed through your experiences, what you were taught, the environment you were exposed to and your imagination or creative thinking processes.If you've ever rolled a snowball downhill you'll know how it tends to pick up more snow and get steadily bigger. In a similar way, when you latch on to a thought or an idea that resonates with you, you tend to look for supporting proof - or confirmation - for the idea.Such is human nature that you will tend to latch on far more enthusiastically to anything that will affirm and validate your idea than you will to anything that invalidates or detracts from it.As a result, your idea gains in substance and credibility until what started out as a simple thought suddenly becomes entrenched as a full-blown belief.As I said before, beliefs are powerful things. When you believe strongly in something you will be inclined to defend that something against criticism from others, because the belief is no longer just an idea or concept - it is now part and parcel of what you stand for.This is all very well and good IF these beliefs serve your best interests.And herein lies the problem. Very often our beliefs are in conflict with the kind of lives we desire for ourselves.Let me offer a purely fictional example to illustrate this:Tom is a highly talented violinist who lives and breathes classical music and whose deepest desire is to play for the London Symphony Orchestra one day.Unfortunately, when Tom enters his teenage years, his peers at school start to tease him about being a musician. One day, Dan, someone Tom had always thought of as a good friend, carelessly offers the view that playing the violin is a sign of an effeminate character. This weighs heavily on Tom's mind, despite the best efforts of his parents and teachers to try to dispel this as utter nonsense.Some while later, Tom stumbles across some dodgy research on the internet that claims that females are more attracted to orchestral music because of their genetic make-up. Tom links this piece of information with the poorly chosen comment from his 'friend' - and the idea of male musicians being effeminate gains strength in his mind.Another year goes by and Tom, who now boasts a beautiful girlfriend, invites the girl out for dinner. She tells him how much she appreciates his love for the violin and his dream to play for an internationally acclaimed orchestra, saying that she finds him far more attractive than all those 'normal macho males' she meets.The comment, though sincere and well intended, has the effect of affirming and validating Tom's previous thoughts to the point where Tom becomes convinced that he is effeminate!The effect is disastrous for both his musical career and his social life as he becomes reclusive and despondent, not wanting the outside world to be exposed to his love for the violin and his supposed effeminacy.In the example above, it's clear that Tom's belief contains no basis for truth whatsoever - yet it is very real for him and has a profoundly negative effect on his life, his happiness and his ability to reach for his dream.A belief that acts as an obstacle to achieving what you truly desire in life is called a 'limiting belief' - because it restricts you, holds you back or limits you.Now, think about the concept of living a life of abundance. What are the first thoughts that come into your head?Are they restrictive in nature? Perhaps thoughts like:"It's all very well but this is a tough, dog-eat-dog world." Or... "I'm just not good enough." Or... "You need to have money to make money." Or... "I don't deserve that."If so, then you have limiting beliefs around living abundantly.Now - I have some good news!A limiting belief can be banished just as easily as it can take root!You simply need to be clear on what it is that underpins your limiting belief, then spend a little time 'shaking those foundations' until the belief collapses. Admittedly this will often require a little help or external support.Back to our story about Tom...Tom's parents, wanting to do the best for him, hire a life coach! Tom, feeling frustrated and confused, willingly accepts the offer of help - and very soon he is a changed young man.His coach shakes and eventually destroys the foundations for Tom's belief, first by questioning Tom on how he arrived at the conclusions that have bolstered his belief and then by using evidence from Tom's life and experiences to categorically disprove it.The process continues with the coach helping Tom to replace the discredited belief with a new, accurate and wonderfully empowering belief about himself, his manliness and his terrific musical talents.So, yes, for those of you who were worried, the story has a happy ending!I hope that by now you can see how easy it is to allow limiting beliefs to develop and grow, at the expense of more positive, empowering beliefs.I'm going to end off by offering you a quote from Sanaya Roman, that I think sums up the message I have attempted to get over:"If any area of your life is not working, one of your beliefs in that area needs to be changed."

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