5 Empowering Beliefs
By Danek S. Kaus

We all have beliefs, beliefs about abilities, our health, our chances for success and even beliefs about the nature of the universe.

For centuries we have been taught that our beliefs shape our lives. If this is true, then it is obvious that some beliefs will serve us better than others. Some will lead to success while others will drive you down to into failure.

With that in mind, here are some beliefs that author and success coach Michelle Armstrong suggests can help empower you to create the life you want.

1. Everything happens for a reason. “When we seek out the cause behind everything that happens in our lives, we become more resourceful and instinctive in managing and dealing with everything that occurs,” Armstrong says.

When Armstrong flew from her native Australia to what would be her new home in the Los Angeles area, she spent 14 grueling hours in flight. The hotel had lost her reservation and they wouldn’t have a room for her for several hours. To kill time, someone recommended she visit a restaurant in nearby Hermosa Beach. She accidentally ended up in Redondo Beach. Since she couldn’t find the restaurant, she went into a bar. She sat down at the bar and had a conversation with the man next to her. He later became her husband.

2. You always have infinite choices. “If you’re driving on the freeway and someone cuts you off you have choices. You can blow them a kiss or give them the bird. You can replay the incident over in your head and fester about it for weeks or you could ignore it and forget about it,” Armstrong says.

3. Personal responsibility is power. Armstrong says there are two kinds of people -- those who believe they are responsible for everything in their lives and those believe they have no control over their lives. Those who believe they have no power operate as victims. “They can’t create the results they want because they are not responsible for anything,” Armstrong says. “Those who believe they are responsible have the power to change their lives. Even those who don’t believe but act as if they do, still have the power to create change.”

4. Your unconscious mind holds the key. “If you choose to believe you know everything about yourself, you will never reach your full potential,” Armstrong says. “You need to pay attention to unconscious activity.”

One way to do this is to create a “shadow self,” one who is constantly monitoring what is going on in your life by asking yourself, “What am I feeling in this moment? How am I creating what I am feeling?”

Once you are aware of what you are feeling and how you created that feeling, you must make a conscious effort to change the feeling. For example, if you continually react badly to criticism, you can catch yourself in the moment. Decide how you would like to react instead. You might decide that you need to be treated with respect and then communicate that to the other person instead of getting outraged or depressed.

5. You get what you focus on. As an exercise, look around the room and notice everything that is brown. Do this now. Okay? Now, without looking around the room again, close your eyes and try to remember every green object in the room. Not so easy, huh? Life works this way. “If you focus on poverty, on what you don’t have, that is what you will create,” Armstrong says. “If you focus on abundance, that is what you will create.”

Michelle Armstrong is the author of “Manage Your Mind: Master Your Life.” To learn more about her coaching, visit www.armstrongmethod.com and www.LiveYourAuthenticSelf.com