Believe. But HOW???

Believe

Why is it so hard for us to believe? I mean really. I was talking to a friend about this the other day when she asked me if I taught my kids to believe in Santa and other fairy-tales. I said no. But mostly because I wasn’t raised believing in them, so it was natural for me not to teach that to my children.

But then I got to thinking, as human beings it’s as if we are trained and genetically coded NOT to believe.

In anything!


Picture a little child, 1 or 2 years old.  The parent is standing waist deep in a swimming pool and the child is standing crying on the ledge of the pool, knees shaking, their chubby arms wrapped around their trembling little bodies in a self protective hug. They are being asked by the one person they love most in the world, whom they adore and who has never in past experience dropped or hurt them, to jump. They are terrified. They don't instinctively believe that they won't drown. They are skeptical that their parent will be able to catch and protect them.


They eventually act on faith and jump.  After that first time, when the parent catches them as promised, they slowly begin to trust and believe that they will be caught. Until one day they run for the pool, parent in hot pursuit. Mommy and daddy trying to explain that they need to be in the pool first. So over time, and with experience they learn to trust and believe in something that seemed ridiculous the first time.


I think the same is true, but in the reverse way when we teach our children about things that we know are nothing more than lies. We get them to believe, we get them excited, and then we let them down. This teaches them to NOT have faith or believe in “magic” and the unseen.

Just Believe

 It’s not just magic, or fairy-tales though. It’s even believing in a higher power or God. That can be a struggle which adults fight against their entire life. So, could it be that when we are taught as small children to really truly believe in something like say Santa, only to find out you have been duped and that magic does not exist, that you lose the ability to believe with that type of innocence again?


I believe it goes deeper than that because doubt, and fear, and intellectual analysis all get in the way of belief and that is universal across the world. Cultures that don’t hold beliefs in Santa and Snow White struggle with the same issues.


But why? 

Why do we as parents teach our children not to believe in magic? 

Because WE don’t? 

Because we never experienced it? 

We have no concrete data points (like the child who is caught, builds up concrete data points which build his faith and belief). 


Because we believe (subconsciously or not) that…. disappointment is eminent. 

I’m here to tell you in no uncertain terms that, even if you don’t realize it; that is probably your genetic make-up to. And if that is your belief, that will be your result.

Let me say that again, just in case you’re speed reading. If in your heart of hearts, that deep of deepest place in your core being, you BELIEVE that life will disappoint you. 


IT WILL. 

Period. 

In every area. 


If you’re afraid to jump off that cliff with no shoot into the obis of believing in something you cannot see, have no proof to back up, and no logical reason to trust, then that fear will prevent you from jumping. But what faith and belief does is provide the shoot after you jump.

JUMP.

It just shows up. 


It’s a nice, buff, air-force captain, who hurls toward the earth next to you, and says “miss you’re looking a hot-mess about now, would you like me to get you outa here?” Okay so maybe that’s a bit extreme, but I swear, that’s how it happens in my experience. 


I wonder if it is easier for me to believe having not grownup believing in fairy-tales thus not being disappointed in the reality that they are a shame. I did grow up believing in God and seeing miracles happen daily, so maybe that’s where some of the ability to have unconditional belief comes from. I have witnessed miracles. I was raised by a mother that believed strongly in miracles and they were a part of my childhood.


So I learned at a young age; you ask, you believe, you receive.


Regardless of upbringing I truly believe that anyone can do this. Anyone can find their place of unconditional faith. To get the results you want, and to watch your life begin to change, you need to just jump off the cliff. 

Fear is there, it’s impossible to always avoid it, but if we train our minds to think beyond it, and to power through those thoughts then belief begins to be more powerful than fear.  

And that’s when the magic begins…when you what??? Say it with me…BELIEVE.

The faith of a child, the Bible says. So that’s it just KNOW without question that those experiences are on their way and that at some point in your life, probably when you least expect it, there they will be.  


Have fun!! 

Check out my Believe board on Pinterest

BELIEVE!!

~Read Belief 101 for tips on how to teach yourself to believe


~Written by Sarah Centrella for Thoughts.Stories.Life.
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