Believe in Yourself - How to Leverage the Power of Belief

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe. -Gail Devers (Olympic Gold Medalist)

Most of you have heard of Ripley's Believe It or Not books and museums; or maybe you've seen the TV show. Ripley's is a collection of crazy and sometimes grotesque images of people doing outrageous things.

Many of the images are really "unbelievable," which explains the greatness of the title. We know they are true, but it's hard to believe that someone would or could actually do those things.

Have you ever had that Believe It or Not feeling yourself, when something happens in your life that seems unbelievable? Maybe it's a divorce or death in the family; or maybe it's losing your job, your house, or something else you didn't see coming. However, the fact that you didn't believe it was possible didn't change the fact that it happened. Believe it or not, it just was.

We cannot control the lives of others, just as we cannot control events such as earthquakes and other natural disasters. We can, however, choose to believe these events are part of a master plan and that there is a greater power at work on our behalf. Or, we can believe the opposite: that the world is out to get us.

We can be positive, trusting beings, or victims.

I personally choose to believe that everything, good and bad, happens for a reason and that my grand plan is unfolding each day of my life, "believe it or not."

If you've ever driven across the country, you know what it's like to be sailing along at the maximum speed limit for long stretches, with little traffic on a well-paved, four-lane highway. Then, suddenly without warning, the detours occur: road construction, a bridge out, a traffic accident....

This is a picture of daily life. Often a detour will lead us away from where we thought we were going-onto a totally new road. Or it will delay our trip because of unforeseen circumstances.

You can either enjoy the ride, potholes and all, or get angry and upset-maybe even feel frustrated enough to turn around and go back.

Fear keeps us from our dreams; faith moves us toward them.

Belief can open doors for you that you might not have even known were there.

• Know what you want and why you want it. - Believe you will then get what you want.

I have to tell you that I've had my share of struggles throughout my life. When I was eighteen years old, I had just begun my test drive and I would encounter many speed bumps along the way. These challenges tested both my goal setting and Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) skills that I'd learned at a very young age, but I also learned about stamina and perseverance. I didn't let anything interfere with my dream.

You Are In Control

Life can take a lot from you, but it can't take away your dreams. You have complete control over your thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

You are the only person who can make you feel depressed or rejected. Only you can tell yourself that you're worthless. You might hear these statements from other people, but you are not those people. Whatever they think, say, or do is their opinion, their statement, their action.

Only you can tell yourself what you want to feel. - If you want to feel powerful, tell yourself you have power. - If you want to feel successful, start acting the way successful people act.

You will have challenges; everyone does. In fact, we create those challenges ourselves in order to meet and surmount them. As mentioned in Proverbs, without grist for the mill, the wheel will not turn! - Believe in yourself and you will be able to keep that wheel turning. - Believe in your dreams and you will find yourself always moving forward.

I want to share with you one of my favorite poems about belief. During my college years, it helped me to believe that I could accomplish whatever I set out to do. Even now as an adult, I still embrace the message this poem delivers.

...Believe in yourself and in your plan;
Say not - I cannot - but, I can.
The prizes of life we fail to winr
Because we doubt the power within
-Author Unknown