Our core beliefs impact our health and every aspect of our lives, consciously and unconsciously. Henry Ford was right when he said, “If you believe you can or if you believe you can’t …you’re right.”
At a recent lecture, the presenter provided two sets of plastic filters, one red and one green. The participants were asked to pick one color and observe the image on the screen. Those attendees wearing the red “belief” filters saw an inviting picture of a cottage labeled “House of Love,” flowers, a sunny sky and the message: “I live in Love.”
Those wearing the green filters saw a threatening dark sky, bats, snakes, a ghost hovering outside a dark, gloomy house and the words: “I live in fear.”
The lecturer then instructed them to change to the other color and note what they saw. The point of the exercise was to show them that they have the power to choose what they want to see. Every minute, we choose how we see life. You can be happy by deciding to be glad or you can be sad by deciding to be mad. You always have to power to choose your experience. Today, I choose Joy and Love. How about you?
Your beliefs act like filters, changing how you see the world, and your biology adapts to those beliefs. Consider the people who walk across coals without getting burned. If they wobble in the steadfastness of their belief that they can do it, they wind up with burned feet. I had the opportunity to walk on hot coals. By following the directions and by using my power of belief, I not only successfully walked the bed of hot coals but my feet were freezing cold when I was done. I did it again a year later and the experience was easier and flowed with my beliefs so much so that it felt natural! Fire-walking changed my life forever. Many of my inhibitions and unwarranted fears were gone, simply gone the first time I walked the coals.
You have the choice to filter your life with rose-colored beliefs that will help your body grow and heal or you can use a dark filter that turns everything black and makes your body/mind more susceptible to dis-ease. You can choose to see a world full of love and your body will respond by growing in health. If you choose to believe that you live in a dark world full of fear, your body’s health will be compromised as you physiologically close yourself down in a protection response.
When we fully recognize that our beliefs are this powerful, we hold the key to freedom. While we cannot readily change the codes of our genetic blueprints, we can change our minds and, in the process, switch the blueprints used to express our genetic potential.
Learning how to harness your mind to promote growth is the secret of life. Of course the secret of life is not a secret at all. Teachers like Buddha and Jesus have been telling us the same story for millennia. Now science is pointing in the same direction. It is not our genes but our beliefs that control our lives.
Living in love and living in fear create opposite effects in the body, emotions and the mind. There is nothing wrong with going through life wearing the proverbial rose-colored glasses. In fact, those rose-colored glasses are necessary for your cells to thrive. Positive thoughts and beliefs are a biological mandate for a happy, successful and healthy life.
In the words of Mahatma Gandhi:
Your beliefs become your thoughts;
Your thoughts become your words;
Your words become your actions;
Your actions become your habits;
Your habits become your values;
Your values become your destiny.
So I ask you, are your beliefs and thoughts serving you and working in alignment for your health and happiness?
Excellent article – blog. These concepts that are so critically important for the individual as well as the society are clearly identified and concise. My hope is that more people will recognize and take to heart their own responsibility for self-awareness, which can be brought to the forefront through examination of their belief systems. Hooray! It is a pleasure to read such a well-done article.