“If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it” – Napoleon Hill
Belief is a powerful thing that can work for you or against you. You can reach your wildest dreams if you believe you can, or you can remain stuck in the same old routine feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled if you believe you have no options. It’s hard to believe (no pun intended), it’s as easy as that.
One of the greatest prophets, Edgar Cayce, often said, “Spirit is the life, mind is the builder, and the physical is the result.” These words describe the recipe for the existence of the physical world and how it is created. The mind is the medium of thought and thoughts are things that originate in spirit and in time are formed on the physical plane. You can think of your mind as divided into three levels: a Universal mind that connects you to everyone and everything, a subconscious mind and a conscious mind. Your conscious mind is then divided into a conscious portion and an unconscious portion. All of these “minds” play a role in your belief system and the thoughts you think on a daily basis.
Your subconscious mind is that part of you that has been built over many lifetimes. It contains your personal evolutionary history and is often referred to as the soul. We’re all familiar with the conscious mind as the place where our attention remains most of the time when we’re awake. The unconscious part of the conscious mind is programmed like a computer. It stores memories that we call upon to identify, recognize and categorize events and situations that happen to us or that we encounter. It also stores information that you’ve come in contact with over this lifetime that may or may not serve you well. For example, if you grew up in a family that always struggled with money and you were told that, “Money doesn’t grow on trees. You have to work hard to earn a living. We’re not meant to be rich,” then contained within the unconscious part of your mind are the beliefs that you are destined to struggle when it comes to money. As long as those beliefs are in the unconscious part of your conscious mind they are being impressed on your subconscious and this becomes your reality.
To break this cycle, you must learn to gain access to your subconscious mind and begin to form a partnership between it and your conscious mind in order to change your belief system and reprogram the unconscious mind. Whether you realize it or not, your current reality or situation is determined by how well your subconscious and conscious mind operate together. If you are not where you want to be and intuitively know that you are not where you should be, it is because unconscious thought patterns have brought you here. But if you continue to expect that you won’t ever get what you want and you expect to fail, then more often than not, you will get what you believe to be true.
So, how do we break the pattern and change our belief system? First, identify your limiting beliefs – that voice in your head that tells you you’re not good enough, or you can’t do something or it will never work. Once you are tapped into recognizing when you have these thoughts, interrupt the cycle and replace the negative thought with a positive one. It may seem hard or strange at first, but continue to do so until you begin to hear less of the negative thoughts and you begin to believe the positive affirmation. How many times have we heard people say that if you tell yourself something often enough you will believe it to be true whether it is or not.
Second, allow yourself time to hear what your subconscious or soul is trying to tell you. This can come in the form of meditation, dreaming, identifying coincidences or synchronicities, spending silent time in nature, or participating in an expressive activity that you love. We live in a society that is constantly on the go, pushing us to move and think faster and faster. This is not conducive to checking in and hearing the messages that our soul has for us that are imperative to following our true destiny. Our soul is trying to communicate with us every day to help improve and maintain a solid, positive belief system.
Lastly, begin to surround yourself with people who have established optimistic and affirmative belief systems. Allow this group of fellow travelers on the path to help you. Study their practices and adopt those that feel right to you. As you spend more time with positive, upbeat people, you will begin to notice subtle changes in your own belief system as the collective subconscious mind works as one to uplift the entire group.
Identify a limiting belief and replace it with a positive affirmation. Find 15 minutes to day-dream, meditate or get outside in a quiet place. Find your inspiration to boldly live life and step into the extraordinary person you are becoming.
Dr. Diane Hayden is the owner and publisher of Natural Nutmeg Magazine, Essential Living Maine Magazine and Nutmeg Creative Media. She is a speaker, writer and workshop facilitator. She holds a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Connecticut, a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Maryland and is an Empowerment Life Coach. For 20 years, her work has focused on inspiring individuals to learn about the power of thought and emotion and how it shapes their lives. Her passion centers on helping even just one person navigate the dating scene and find the perfect partner with whom they can share their life.
You can learn more about her online at: https://essentialnaples.com.