Believe Me

The human brain is pre-programmed to some degree. 
But it is also capable of change

So you have a dream. It could be to get 100 per cent in your exam, to travel the world, break the record for eating rosogullas, buy a cottage in the countryside, any dream.

You will never be short of naysayers. It’s too difficult for you, they will say. Don’t waste your time trying, they will tell you. They may even say your dream is impossible.

Don’t listen to them.

Let’s go back some 60 years or so. In the 1950s, many scientists declared that it was physically impossible to run the mile in less than four minutes. No one ever has, they said, and no one ever will.
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister proved them all wrong by running the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

And in that same year, 37 more athletes broke that misplaced belief and the four-minute barrier. The next year, 300 more did so.

Once someone had proved they could accomplish the impossible, others discovered they could too.
Or take the classic story of the frog who lives in a shallow well. It believes that any body of water larger than its well cannot exist. It looks up at the night sky and sees the moon shining only for it. It thinks it owns that piece of the night sky. Its ‘universe’ is confined to the well. It does not even know that it is living in a well.

DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF
What we expect, what we imagine and what we believe creates our own individual world.

We need to hold beliefs about how the world works throughout our entire life; the brain requires them in order for us to survive. To give you a simple example, we need to expect that others will be nice to us we are nice to them. It helps us to be nice to other people.

However, a belief is an assumed truth. Its intensity could go from an opinion to an unshakeable conviction, but when we ‘believe’ something, we do not question that belief.
Why do we believe what we believe?

Our beliefs begin to develop the moment we are born; to some degree we are pre-programmed to believe in certain ways. However, these ways are shaped by everything we think, feel, and experience over our lifetime.

And sometimes, our beliefs begin limiting us. Everyday examples include:

•  I’m sure I won’t succeed at this particular job, so there’s no point even trying.
•  I know I’m right, so why waste my time listening to any other viewpoints.
•  That person doesn’t like me, so I’m sure he will be mean to me.
  

Because our beliefs are so important to our survival, we have a tendency to hold them very strongly, even when presented with opposing opinions or facts.

But the brain is also capable of changing beliefs if we are open to new ideas and respect other’s beliefs.

Widening our perspective is therefore crucial to our own growth. Looking beyond our confines and understanding the larger world is key to expanding our worldview, and breaking free of the limitations of our thinking mind, and our conditioning.

One of the most effective exercises to this purpose is to ‘think different’. For example, you know a tomato is red. Now, in your mind’s eye ‘see’ a blue tomato or a fluorescent purple one. Do this for at least five different items or situations every day for the next 21 days‚ like imagining your motorbike skiing across the water to avoid road traffic.

After a hundred such ‘sightings’, your brain will become more receptive to beliefs other than yours and make you a more enlightened individual.

This is a basic creative visualisation technique that will not only train you to be more tolerant and respectful of contrary beliefs, it is an excellent exercise in developing your own brain and becoming more creative as well.

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Thought for the Week

“If you think you can do a thing or, 
think you can’t do a thing, you’re right”
Henry Ford
(Founder of Ford Motor Company)
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First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times