Beliefs and behaviors

Beliefs and behaviors...are yours compatible? So much has been written these past couple of years about the power of beliefs. Yet, without behaviors to back up beliefs, ideas often remain in the realm of thought, not action.

For example, a person creates a belief such as "I am going to double my income this year." Every morning, s/he stands in front of a mirror and affirms this belief twenty times. Then, s/he goes off to work and doesn't do anything differently than s/he has been doing for the past year. How likely is it that income will increase?

In my experience, not very likely. Don't get me wrong - I am a firm believer in the power of beliefs but only as the first step in achieving goals. Once you have created a belief, such as doubling your income, and you affirm this belief regularly so that your mind is truly focused on doubling your income, you have done the first step to achieving your dreams. But it is only the first step.

What's next? Changing your behaviors to match that belief. For example, if last week, you made ten cold calls, then this week you would need to double that to twenty. If last month, you sold ten books or coached ten clients, then this month you need to double that to twenty. Then your new behaviors are in alignment with your new beliefs and you are on your way to achieving your goals.

The wisdom of wishes

I can remember the joy as a child wishing as I blew out the candles on my birthday cake. I don't remember the wishes....but I do remember how I felt and I loved that feeling. I also smile as I think of one of my mother's favorite sayings "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Obvioulsy, Mom didn't believe in the power of wishing!

I do - and something happened this morning to reconfirm this belief. I start each day with a brief prayer/meditation practice part of which is to write down five things that I will be grateful for this day. As I was flipping through the pages of my journal, I came across a Wish List that I wrote on April 3rd. There were eleven wishes - and, to my amazement, seven of them had come true. These included a grant for a group that I volunteer with, healing for a friend's granddaughter, finding the perfect business coach, and purchasing a particular item (more on this in another post). Of the ones that have not yet come true, all but one are long-term wishes and seem to be on their way to reality.

Somehow, putting my wants out there for the universe to see helped my wishes come true. Many business authors affirm the idea that one must write down goals to achieve them. Maybe this is also true of wishes. I know that I immediately added ten new wishes to my list. I'll let you know in three months how many of these come true!