Belief and the people we hang out with.

As I am reading the Power of Habit again, I can’t help but reflect on the ways that I have changed over the course of my life. And how it has been the beliefs that I cultivated and the people that I was with to do that.

Belief is something that is scientifically unsound. After all, belief, faith are hardly measurable.

And yet to be able to do something that has never happened before, we need to have faith and belief that it can and will happen. Otherwise it won’t.

And here’s why.

The human brain works on predicting the future. Think about how you might select a life partner.

The question that is asked of you is, “Can you imagine a life with this person?”

Based on that answer you decide whether you want to stay with that person or not. And mostly, it could be a good indicator of the future. Because that future will be based on the person’s past achievements.

But what about miracles? What about situations when people change? For instance, what about the Pygmalion Effect.

Here is where belief and faith come in.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, those who make real changes to their lives are the ones who truly embrace God (as they understand him/her to be). Why is this important?

Because if the brain was to predict future outcomes based on the past, we are only going to see the results based on the past.

But with faith, with belief, actions can take place that are different from the ones that our brains tell us to take.

For instance, if you are suffering from depression, then the habit pattern of the brain is to find the depressive stuff in each scenario. Depressed people are extremely cynical and have highly negative views of the world.

And yet doing something like gratitude journaling can lead to changes in outlook, and even recovery from depression. How?

By having faith in taking action that the brain doesn’t suggest, but you still push it to take. That way you begin to experience something that the brain had never expected you could!

When trying something new in life, there is an opportunity to experience something never experienced before. Something your brain has absolutely no idea about. The outcomes are a big question mark.

Here is where faith and belief in the people around us can lead to amazing results. If the people around us partake in habits we don’t, and we believe them and just follow along, then we can also stand to experience similar gains.

Faith in a higher being like God (however you imagine it), can also lead to a belief that the life you have lived doesn’t have to be the predictor of the life that awaits you.

This is not very quantifiable. Which is why the scientific community frowns upon this. But they cannot deny the results, and increasingly the studies conducted by scientific organisations show how people who really have faith and belief are able to accomplish tasks that were out of their reach before.

So why am I talking about this?

Because no matter where you are in life, you can change. If you have someone in your life who believes in you, you can change. You can lead the life you have envisioned for yourself.

It will involve work and taking action that you are not comfortable with just yet. But if you truly believe that change is possible, if you believe that it is bound to happen…then it will.

There have been numerous cases of addicts, alcoholics, who have never touched a single drop of alcohol or consumed drugs or smoked a single cigarette once they really, truly understood the consequences of their actions. And in those desperate moments, when they turned their faith to a higher power, or a friend or an institution that would help them do the same, they showed amazing results.

A lot of successful people too have massive faith in god and/or the people around them. Someone who guided them in times of distress.

I would urge you to find that for your own self. Maybe a parent believes in you. Maybe a friend. Maybe you believe in something.

You have got to go out and chase it. Believe. It’s quite scientific now.