That’s a question I ask myself A LOT. What would I need to believe to create the reality I want to see?
Because your thoughts and beliefs create your reality.
So if you want to achieve something or have something show up in your life, you need to be directing your thoughts and beliefs toward that goal or that thing. And the more you do that, the more your brain will accept it as real until one day it actually will become real.
You’ll be able to see it, hear it, touch it, maybe even taste it and smell it (depending on what it is). It will have manifested in your life.
The more you give your time to directing your thoughts and beliefs, and focusing on the things you want to create, the easier and faster you’ll see these things show up.
This whole ‘thoughts become things’ may seem crazy when you first hear it. It’s contradictory to everything you’ve been told about life and how the world works.
But even as contradictory as it sounds… there’s this weird feeling in you that, it may actually be true. Because when you hear it, your ears and your brain perks up. It resonates with you.
Or it might scare the fuck out of you.
Because the idea that you’re in control of what shows up in reality and that your beliefs and thoughts create the reality that you see around you… that puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.
You have to actually take control of yourself and your life.
The whole ‘thoughts become things’ scares me at times, too. But I’ve practiced it enough now to know that it actually DOES work. And it’s INSANE at times when stuff shows up in your life after you’ve thought about it.
And the Universe is always giving you little signs and signals to tell you that what you’ve been thinking about and focusing on is showing up. I see signs of my dream life ALL the time.
Lately I’ve been writing in my journal that my novels get turned into movies. This is my ultimate dream for my fiction—to turn my novels and my stories into movies on the big screen, with big-name actors and actresses. And of course, I get to help with the screenplay and have a cameo in the movies 🙂
Now no one would know that I’ve been writing about this in my journal unless I told them, right? (I haven’t told anyone until right now.) And yet the other day, a girl in my free Facebook group posted the craziest message… she had a dream that she was on the movie set for my novel, SoundCheck.
HOW CRAZY IS THAT??!!
OK, maybe that’s too woo-woo for you and you’ll brush it off as coincidence or random. It’s totally fine if you want to do that.
But here’s what I know: coincidence doesn’t exist. It’s not random when things happen that you’d usually call a coincidence.
It’s a sign, a signal from the Universe that what you’re asking for is unfolding. All you have to do to continue seeing signs and signals, is to KEEP GOING.
So I ask myself all the time what beliefs (and thoughts) I’d need to have to see what I’m asking for show up in my life.
When I look at this novel-to-movie dream, some of the limiting beliefs that pop up for me are:
- No one I know has ever done this
- What makes me think my stories are good enough to be on the big screen?
- Being a Hollywood screenwriter is a pipe dream
- There’s too much competition for me to achieve this dream
- Millions of other novelists have this exact same dream—to see their novels as movies on the big screen—what makes me think I’ll be one of the novelists who actually does it?
YUCK!
Thoughts and beliefs like that are NOT going to help me achieve my goal of having my novels turned into movies.
That’s why I have to ask myself what I’d need to believe in order to create what I want to see, so I can dig out those limiting, negative beliefs and thoughts that are going to hold me back.
When I think about the beliefs I’d need to have to align with my novel-to-movie goal, I think of:
- Nicholas Sparks, Sophie Kinsella, JoJo Moyes, Stephenie Meyer, Kathryn Stockett… just a small handful of novelists who have seen their novels turned into movies. If it can happen for them, it can happen for me.
- I know my genre and I know my readers and I know my stories would make awesome chick flicks
- You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to… even this
- There’s no such thing as competition because no one else can ever be me
- Shared dreams are powerful connectors between writers, and it motivates and inspires them to know what’s possible for one writer is possible for another
BOOM!
Beliefs and thoughts like that are much more likely to get me to my end result of seeing my novels turned into movies.
And that’s why I spend time each day creating and crafting my reality, exactly as I want to see it. First by writing about it in my journal as if it’s already my real life; and then visualizing it and feeling as if it’s already real; then going into my day acting like it’s already real and taking action in alignment with the belief that it’s real.
I taught a workshop locally last weekend all about my Bestselling Author Mindset Formula, and after I explained my daily mindset practice to the group, one man raised his hand and said that what I’m doing is a self-hypnosis exercise that focuses your brain.
And that’s really what writing your reality and crafting your thoughts and beliefs is. It’s reprogramming (or self-hypnotizing) your mental computer to focus on, think about and believe what YOU want it to.
Not what society has told you to think and believe. Not what you were taught to think and believe. Not what you see other people thinking and believing.
But what YOU want to think and believe.
That’s what matters. That’s the only thing that matters. Yes, action is involved too. You’re not gonna create your dream life sitting on the couch watching Netflix. You have to take daily actions that align with your goals.
But you knew that already.
What’s hard is getting yourself to take the actions and take them daily and consistently, like you know you need to be. And that’s where the beliefs come in.
Because when you believe something is already true, you’re much more likely to take action and do the work. When you believe it’s possible for you to have, do and be something, you’ll turn off the Netflix and get to it.
But when you have beliefs and thoughts that contradict the goal you have, that’s when you’ll use Netflix (and procrastination, and binge-eating, and wasting time on Facebook) as a way of sticking your head in the sand and avoiding the work.
Which is why you’ve gotta get your mind to your goal before your life will get there. Beliefs create thoughts which create actions which create results.
Want to hear the best part?
You can get wherever you want to go in your writing life, by starting right where you are right now. And by consciously deciding that you will direct your thoughts and beliefs toward the outcomes and results you want to see in your life.
I really challenge you to take this one on. To spend 5-10 minutes a day consciously directing your thoughts and beliefs to where you want to go. Do it first thing in the morning if you’re able to. (Here’s a book and journal that can help you do this.)
Direct your thoughts and beliefs every day for the next 90 days. Report back.
Expect miracles.
Share With Us
What old belief(s) are you going to let go of? Create a new belief(s) and share it in the comments.
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