Believe It's Possible

Jack Canfield's Success Principle #4

(1) We get what we expect.
Jack Canfield tells us today that we get whatever we think about. Consider the power behind that statement.

I meet people frequently who live under what author and inspirational speaker Joyce Meyer calls a lack mentality. You've met these people. They constantly repeat that they don't have enough time, enough money, enough energy, enough intelligence, or enough resources to achieve their dreams. They drive beat-up cars, work in low-paying jobs, hang out with other under-achievers, and suffer from ill health.

As survivors of abuse and trauma, our brains have been wired to expect more of the same terrible treatment we received in the past. This can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.

We can change our future by simply changing how we think. I wrote in a previous post about cognitive restructuring. This is a fancy word for talking yourself into a more positive outlook.

Our psychologist used this with our adopted daughter who had been severely traumatized as a child in Ethiopia. The doctor taught her to repeat, "I am safe. Everything is okay." In time, a little girl paralyzed by fear began to breathe a little easier and look forward to life with better expectations.

(2) You gotta believe.
This is a line made famous by Tug McGraw, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher who struck out a batter to help his team win the 1980 World Series. He had visualized his success so many times throughout his life, that he knew it would come true one day.

Having faith means that we believe so strongly in something that we refuse to think that it won't happen. The Bible is full of examples of people exercising powerful faith. Matthew 9:20-22 reads, Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. Do we have this much faith?

(3) Believe in yourself and go for it.
Tim Ferriss is an athlete who believed so strongly in himself that he won a national Chinese kickboxing championship after just six weeks of training. He had never before played the sport.

I decided in high school that I wanted to graduate a semester early to go to the University of Michigan. My parents had never attended college, and no one prepared me for the fact that Michigan has some of the toughest admission standards on the planet. I applied and had complete faith that I would get in.

Just five days before classes were supposed to start, I still hadn't heard from the university admissions office. I wasn't worried that I hadn't been accepted; I was concerned about my choice of dorms.

I called the dean's office and actually got the man on the phone (a small miracle in and of itself). No one had even reviewed my application yet, but the dean accepted me on the spot, with a warning that I'd better be prepared to work a lot harder than I had in high school. I'm certain that I got in, not because I had the best academic record, but because I was so confident that I would be accepted.

Jesus told his followers, "I tell you the truth, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) Our faith in God and in ourselves must be like that of a child, who does not doubt that God can help him to do anything.

(4) It helps to have someone else believe in you first.
We all need an accountability partner to cheer us on or to chew us out when we lose sight of our dreams. We also have our own built-in partner right in our own bathroom mirrors. Standing in front of the mirror every day and stating our dreams aloud will make them more real to us.

Every morning, I sit in my sauna, look at my reflection in the window, and repeat the prayer of Jabez: Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

God granted my request. I have been relieved of the pain of reflex sympathetic dystrophy that was caused by my auto accident. This is just one of the many miracles that God has given me, because I believe that I can do anything through him.

Today's Challenge
Keep working on your purpose statement and your dream book. Get in front of a mirror and tell yourself exactly how you're going to achieve your dreams.