You know that saying, "I'll believe it when I see it"? What if that was backwards, and the real truth is that "you'll see it when you believe it"?

Let's explore the concept of looking at the world and the events in our lives in this new way and how it can make a huge impact on the experiences we have and the results we get in our lives.

Years ago I was listening to an audio interview of Dr. Wayne Dyer by one of my personal empowerment mentors, Tony Robbins. The title of the interview was, "You'll See It When You Believe It."

It was a very interesting concept; one which I had never considered before, but really made me change the way I thought about so much from that point. And as I continued my self-improvement studies (before I even knew that this was to become my life's work), I was exposed to more and more material and teachers who shared this same concept in different ways.

I learned early on in my training as a hypnotherapist that "the law of the mind is the law of belief." This means that what the mind can conceive and—with emotion—believe, it can and will achieve. This can either serve to help or hinder us. If the beliefs we hold are in alignment with what we want to create in our lives, then we will be experiencing results that we are happy with. However, if our beliefs are not in alignment with what we want to create, then we will experience frustration and dissatisfaction.

The subconscious mind does not know the difference between what we imagine vividly (with feeling) and what we experience in physicality. The same neurons fire, the same chemicals are produced, and the same experience is created. Therefore, we can scare ourselves to death (literally) simply by believing something to the extreme that stresses the body so much that the heart stops. Likewise, we can believe so strongly that we can heal ourselves that we activate the immune response in our body and change the structure of what was once killing us. These are not just old wives' tales. There are research studies proving this all the time. There's even a whole new field of research and study called psychoneuroimmunology that surrounds this whole concept.

The thing about our beliefs is that they cause us to either bring about, or "see," things in our environment or experiences that prove our beliefs as true. We do this by either becoming focused on what matches our belief or by distorting our perception in a way that matches the belief. And the brain can do some pretty amazing contortionist acts to bend things to match our beliefs.

Have you ever experienced a situation and then someone else who was part of the experience shared their interpretation of the experience in a way that was so far from your interpretation—even to the point of being convoluted to you—that you were wondering how they could have possibly come to that conclusion? That's because your belief systems were so different, often in a very dysfunctional and destructive way.

So how can you tell if your beliefs are helping or hurting you? Take a look at the various areas of your life.

* What is working for you? Where are you fulfilled? This is a sign that you have supporting beliefs
   in these areas. Keep believing and keep creating those results.
* What is not working for you? Where are you dissatisfied? There are most likely some limiting or
   self-sabotaging beliefs that are filtering your ability to create better filters, actions, and outcomes.

How can you change limiting beliefs? The first thing is to discover them, then replace them.

1. For each of the unfulfilled areas or goals, ask yourself what your ideas or beliefs are regarding that issue. You might find yourself with some dialog you heard your parents or other influential people in your life commonly use. For example, if you don't have financial fulfillment, perhaps some beliefs are:
   "Money doesn't grow on trees."
   "Money is the root of all evil."
   "Money ruins friendships."
   "If you have a lot of money, people will always try to take advantage of you."
   "Rich people are snobs/mean/selfish."
   "Money is hard to come by."
Dig deep and write down the good, the bad and the ugly that comes to mind.

2. Write a new statement for each, which supports more of what you want to believe and create (usually the OPPOSITE statement is good).

3. Post these new affirmations where you can see and read them at least twice a day. And when you do, allow yourself to imagine and see/feel what it would be like to hold that belief. Yes, it might be hard to do at first (after all, if you believed it, you wouldn't have to do this exercise), but just pretend for a while ("fake it 'til you make it").

If you do this consistently, with feeling, you should soon find yourself changing the experiences you're having in these areas. If not, it may be helpful to work with a professional who can use energy clearing and subconscious repatterning techniques with you to change some deep-rooted or unconscious beliefs that are resistant to changing on this conscious level.

I'd be happy to talk with you more about this topic and any struggles you may be having in changing limiting beliefs that are stopping you from having the life that you deserve. Contact me for a free consultation to learn more. Or at least start by grabbing some FREE goodies on my website at www.hypnocoachlisa.com.

Live fully!

p.s.—for those of you who were interested in seeing me holding a baby pelican, here is a picture.