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The Amazing Power of Belief


Have you ever seen elephants tethered by a thin rope attached to a small peg and wondered how something the elephants could easily break free of manages to hold them?

This is because when they are just calves they had a strong rope or chain attached to a large peg that they have no chance of escaping from. Whenever they try to move beyond the length of the chain or break free they only hurt themselves, so before too long they don't even try any more. They now believe that they can't escape from anything they are tied to.

Similar behaviour has been seen in experiments with fish. A large, predatory fish is placed in a tank within a larger tank and many small fish that it normally eats are placed in the outer tank. The large fish can see them but every time it tries to get to them inevitably just hits the glass. It tries for some time but eventually gives up altogether. Even when the inner tank is removed and the small fish swim directly around it, the large fish no longer even tries to eat them. It either no longer even sees them, or it no longer consider them to be potential food, to the point where it will die unless fed other food.

These are examples of the power of conditioning, and believe it or not, we can be just as susceptible to conditioning as the fish or even the mighty elephant. Sure, we are more intelligent than animals, and would be unlikely to fall for the above examples, but than doesn't mean we aren't affected by conditioning.

Some people have highly protective parents who from an early age sheltered them from the outside world and made most of their plans and decisions for them. Perhaps they sometimes rebelled and followed a course against the will of their parents and things didn't work out, or they may have been caught and punished. Such people may well grow up to be easily influenced by other people and to be more comfortable 'going with the flow' and following other people rather than leading. They can become accustomed to not taking the initiative and would prefer not have to make their own decisions.

I have a friend who I consider to be one of the best and most naturally talented writers I've ever read, who makes his living almost exclusively from his writing abilities. He's an excellent all round communicator. I was amazed to recently learn that for much of his life he believed he was a hopeless writer and would go out of his way to avoid writing anything. It seems that at an early age he was told by a teacher that his writing was terrible. Although he now thinks the teacher actually meant the quality of his handwriting rather than the content or his writing ability, this was enough for him to believe he couldn't write and subsequently just got by at school and avoided writing for many years.

Years later he was obliged to write a report at work. Despite his initial fears and much procrastination, he found that when we finally started, he not only enjoyed it, but found it came quite easily. His boss was also impressed with the end result, finding it much better than the average dry report he was usually presented with. This did wonders for my friend's confidence and he kept on writing. He's now written several successful books and publishes a regular newsletter to thousands of subscribers using a long dormant natural talent he was convinced he didn't have.

It's not only parents, teachers and other authority figures that can cause negative conditioning – we can very easily do it to ourselves. I'm sure we've all tried something once or maybe a few times that didn't work out, and we've believed ever since that we just can't do that thing.

Now, this may be all very well if you had no interest in, say, knitting or flower arranging, and only went along to the classes and tried it to keep a friend happy. But what about if you're stopping yourself from doing something you're interested in and are sure you'll enjoy because you've convinced yourself you can't do it?

Our beliefs have a major influence our actions and the choices and decisions we make. And ultimately, how our lives turn out.

Our beliefs can empower us - or hold us back and have negative effects on us in many different ways.

They can certainly stop us from living fulfilling lives. They can even stop us from even believing we are entitled to anything more than an average life. Even if we are setting goals, making plans and taking action, self limiting beliefs can sabotage our success without us even being aware it's happening.

Overcoming conditioned beliefs can improve our lives enormously and it can be done. Just being aware of the impact negative beliefs can have on us is an important step.

The most important thing about beliefs is that whatever you believe about yourself, you are almost certainly right. If you believe deep down that you can't do something, even if it's something you really want to do, you are almost certainly right and success is unlikely. However, if you genuinely believe you can do something, no matter how difficult it may be, or how many people tell you that you can't do it, you are also right. The power of believe really is that strong.

About The Author Garry Zancanaro is the creator of http://www.SuperSuccessLibrary.com a collection of outstanding and life changing Success and Personal Development Resources, and the founder of http://www.SelfImprovementDirectory.com where you can claim a FREE copy of THINK AND GROW RICH.

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