Achieve Your Goals By The Awesome Power of Belief

When I was about twelve, I had an operation on a toe. It was wrapped up with a surgical bandage and I went home. I was soon in great pain. The local doctor said I was making a fuss and should leave the bandage alone.

After more days of pain, my mother lost her belief in the doctor's expertise and started to believe me. She knew I seldom made a fuss. She cut the bandage open and the pain immediately disappeared.

However, my toe was now black. I had gangrene.

I could have lost my leg and possibly my life if my mother had continued to believe the doctor. I ended up losing half the toe and spent my entire summer holiday in hospital having penicillin injections every four hours.

A mistaken belief in the doctor's knowledge had caused me huge risk and pain. I never forgot that lesson. Our beliefs and the beliefs of others can influence our lives for good or bad, for pain or pleasure, for life or death.

However, the remedy was found with other doctors in the hospital who used advances in medicine to save my life and my leg. Without the discovery of penicillin many lives, possibly including mine, would have been lost.

We can believe the experts most of the time but not always. Belief in what we experience ourselves is just as important.

Medical history is filled with true stories of people who refused to believe the diagnosis of the medical experts. Some found out that the experts were right but others found out they were wrong and made remarkable recoveries in line with their own beliefs.

Bev Kearney, the track and field coach for the University of Texas, had a horrendous car crash. The doctors predicted pain and complications but Bev did not plan on getting worse.

She planned on getting better and focused on the fact that she would walk again. She even refused to get into a wheel chair until she was told it was to take her to rehab.

She explained how she built up her belief that she would recover from the crash:

"It's all about what you allow into your mind and I only allowed the positive in and kept the negative out."

Her belief that the impossible could become possible and her expulsion of doubt from her mind helped her to achieve her goals.

One commentator summed up her situation well:

"They thought I would be paralyzed," Kearney said of the aftermath of a tragic automobile accident that claimed the lives of two close friends. Yet guided by her sheer determination - some would describe it as stubbornness - Kearney not only proved her doctors wrong, but became an even stronger inspiration to others, both on and off the track."

Many of us have been programmed from childhood to believe what others say about us rather than what we have actually found out or believe about ourselves. We can, of course, program our own minds with false beliefs about our own abilities.

Sometimes other people are right about their assessment of our abilities. You only have to watch the X Factor or some other competition where hundreds of people appear on the show thinking they have talents which they clearly do not have.

The panel of judges are often rude. They laugh during the auditions and their comments can be unnecessarily harsh.

They should at least credit the competitors with having the courage to test out their beliefs about their talents. The only way you can find out if you have an ability is to have a real go at doing whatever it is you think you might be good at.

One competitor who has a brilliant voice only entered the X factor because she found a completed application form filled in by her father as she went through his papers after his death. She might well have missed out on a life changing audition if she had not been influenced by her father's faith in her abilities.

William Shakespeare summed it up well as usual:

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

A modern writer (I'm sorry I have mislaid his name) has put it like this:

"The simple fact is that if you don't believe that you'll get that new car or new house, or burn that flab off of your body, or whatever it is that you want to do or get, it WON'T happen. You have to BELIEVE with all of your heart that what you want will materialize in your life."

We only attempt what we believe we have some chance of achieving and it helps if others have belief in us as well.

If, for example, we want to make money on the internet, we are hardly likely to go to the trouble of learning how to use html, php, cascading style sheets, autoresponders, landing pages, sales pages etc. if we think we have only a small chance of making a profit.

The biggest problem in the way of our success is our own belief about what is possible for us. We need to believe we have as much chance as any one else of making thousands on the net. We are no different and can achieve great things too. We, too, could be standing on that seminar platform saying how much money we have made!

The awesome power of belief is evident in every field of life. The following story shows the power of belief in battle even if the belief is based on a falsehood:

A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the number of men the opposition commanded. He knew that he would win, but his soldiers were in doubt.

On the way he stopped at a Shinto shrine and told his men: "After I visit the shrine I will toss a coin. If heads comes, we will win; if tails, we will lose. Destiny holds us in her hand."

Nobunaga entered the shrine and offered a silent prayer. He came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared. His soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their battle easily.

"No one can change the hand of destiny," his attendant told him after the battle.

"Indeed not," said Nobunaga, showing a coin which had been doubled, with heads facing either way.

Belief rules in one sport after another.

The soccer season has just started in the UK. Tottenham Hotspur lost their first two games. Doom and gloom reigned. Many were sure the manager would be sacked.

However, everything changed when Spurs won their third game easily against Derby.

One fan commented wisely:

"Sometimes they don't play as well as they can because they don't believe in themselves."

Many fans can handle defeat so long as they see that the players are trying hard to win:

"As a supporter, you want to see the players have a real go."

However, you are unlikely to 'have a real go' unless you believe there is some chance that you will win.

All religions stress the power of belief. Jesus taught that you could move mountains (do great things) with just a small amount of belief.

They also believe in the importance of moral laws which can change our lives for the better. Christians believe that we should love our neighbours as ourselves.

Zoroastrians believe that three ideas should guide their lives: have good thoughts, say good words and do good deeds. Most religions have similar moral laws or guides at the core of their beliefs.

To sum up:

Our beliefs and the beliefs of others can influence our lives for good or bad, for pain or pleasure, for life or death.

We can believe the experts most of the time but need to believe in our own experience as well.

Like Bev Kearney, start believing that the impossible is possible and exclude doubt from your mind by focusing on how it will feel to achieve your dream.

Find out if you have an ability by having a real go at doing whatever it is you think you might be good at.

Don't let your doubts lose you the rewards that you might win if you only tried.

The biggest problem in the way of our success is our own belief about what is possible for us.

Even a false belief that you will succeed can bring you victory.

You can move mountains with just a small amount of belief.

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