Several years ago, I received a new hair dryer with a special “ionizing” feature. This option releases negative ions, which break down the water molecules on your wet hair so they can be absorbed into your follicles, leaving one with super-moisturized locks that feel silky and look healthier. And, oh, I felt wonderful! My hair was better than it ever had been – cooperative, shiny, and stylish.
Two weeks after receiving the hair dryer, I was examining it and realized I had not even turned on the ionizing feature! How could this be? I had certainly felt a noticeable difference in my appearance since buying this new gadget.
Then, I remembered Dr. Wayne Dyer’s book, YOU’LL SEE IT WHEN YOU BELIEVE IT, a detailed account of how to change not only the way you perceive reality, but reality itself. Dr. Dyer’s assertion that “Thoughts are the ways in which we can make virtually anything happen” had become my reality. I believed that my hair dryer was making something special out of my hair, and so that is what I experienced.
There is such power in what we believe about ourselves and what is possible. When working with clients, I often have them write “I am” statements related to the goals they are working toward. For example, there is much more energy and intentionality in saying “I am a brilliant children’s author” than in saying “I will be a brilliant children’s author.” Change begins with one’s belief in the ability to make it so. Transformation begins with one’s belief that it is so.
In her blog, “THE SCIENCE OF WHAT WE BELIEVE BECOMES OUR REALITY“, Georgianna Donadio reminds us of a quote from James Allen:
“Mind is the Master Power that molds and makes, and we are mind. And ever more we take the tool of thought, and shaping what we will, bring forth a thousand joys, or a thousand ills. We think in secret, and it comes to pass, environment, is but our looking glass.”
Donadio also cites an article from HARVARD MAGAZINE in which the placebo effect proved that “patients’ perceptions matter, and the ways physicians frame perceptions can have significant effects on their patients’ health.”
In coaching, just as our positive beliefs about ourselves enhance our ability to create the best in ourselves, our negative beliefs about ourselves create our negative experiences. If you believe you don’t deserve it, you won’t get what you deserve. It you believe you are a failure, so you may be.
Coaching Questions: What is it you are wishing for right now and what are the beliefs you have about your ability to achieve it? What is the one “I am” statement you could adopt that could transform your life?