“If I Couldn’t Fail, I Would …”
How to Change Your Beliefs and Fly!

By Keith Varnum

The way you finish this sentence reflects the amount of joy in your life: “If I couldn’t fail, I would …”  Play. Paint. Travel. Write. Ski?

What are your dreams? As important, what are your beliefs about achieving your dreams?

Beliefs are the most powerful force in the world. What we believe to be true about ourselves manifests in our lives. We pre-pave our life journey with our beliefs.

Believe It, See It

Our beliefs act as filter to sort our perception. The beliefs we hold in mind act as filters through which we perceive and experience the people and events of each day. What we expect to see, we see. What we expect to feel, we feel. These expectation filters let in the experiences that “fit” our expectations (beliefs) … and sort out the events that don’t fit.

When we encounter certain events that we don’t “expect” to occur, we discount, misinterpret or even deny these experiences when they occur.  In the same way, when we believe certain things to be true, we actively look for these events and experiences … and behold, they appear!

People say, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” but as the astute sage Wayne Dyer reminds us, life really works the opposite way: “Believe it—and you will see it!”

We are perceptual beings with different vantage points. And it doesn’t matter how much information is given, we can’t see beyond the limits of where we are standing. We can’t live or see or experience outside of our own individual belief system—our perceptual box or vantage point.

I became acutely aware of this fascinating phenomenon sitting at my family dinner table in my impressionable youth. At every meal, my father the lawyer and my mother the court reporter would discuss in detail the diametrically opposed perceptions of two or more witnesses at a disputed event—whether it be an accident, fight or divorce. Every witness saw what they believed to be the case—and swore in court that their perception was the “factual” reality.

The Good News

The startling news is that there is no “objective” reality. All realities—perceptions—are subjective. The exciting news is that, therefore, we are in charge of our own reality!

So, our current beliefs are already manifesting the reality we’re currently experiencing. We usually want to keep the beliefs that are energizing the realities we like. And we want to change the beliefs that are creating the realities we don’t prefer!

But how do we do that?

More good news! It’s not as hard as many people suggest it is!

Here are some simple yet effective ways to upgrade your life adventure with new, improved beliefs:

1. Find personal direct evidence

There’s no evidence more convincing than personal direct experience:

Review your life looking for personal life examples of when you witnessed firsthand that holding specific beliefs ended up creating specific outcomes.

This examination will demonstrate to you what a powerful and exacting creator you are!

Our ability to pre-pave our journey hit home with me when I noticed an undeniable pattern with two buddies visiting me after college. Both guys were young, healthy, attractive, the same height, weight and race—and recently graduated from the same university. Both were seeking their first job and apartment. Both began their search on the same day. Yet that’s where the similarities ended. Brad found an exciting job and perfect apartment right away. Steve—after several weeks of intensive searching—couldn’t locate a good job or living space, and left Boston to return to his parents’ home.

I ask myself, “What made the difference between my two friends?” Talking to them, I found that from the beginning Brad believed that Boston was a friendly town, full of endless career opportunities and affordable housing. Steve, however, felt that Boston was a snobby, unfriendly place with few job possibilities and even less available apartments. I realized then that their opposite views of Boston created exactly their opposite experiences of Boston. Each day they literally walked into the Boston of their beliefs.

2. Create personal direct evidence

Set up deliberate experiments. One of my favorite games I call, “Dueling Attitudes!”

A. One day when you go shopping at the supermarket, go into the store with the attitude of a fun Vision Quest. That is, decide beforehand that everything you encounter in the store will give you a new experience (vision) of life:

You’ll find a fun food that you’ve never come across before. You’ll have a warm exchange with a type of person you’d usually never talk to. You’ll discover a really good sale or deal on a favorite product.

B. The next day, go to the same store with a very limited attitude (belief). For example, that since it’s the same store you always shop in, there can’t be any new products you don’t know about. Or that the other customers will be solely focused on their shopping and closed to personal interaction. Or that it’s not the time of week for any specials of any kind!

C. Compare your experiences from Day A to Day B. Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll see a recurring pattern of “fulfilled expectations.”

You can play Dueling Attitudes anywhere—in cafes, pubs, bookstores, parks, city streets, your workplace, or with groups and organizations.

3. Watch your language

Our words form our world out in front of us! Our language leads our living!

Unfortunately for the patrons of my old coffee shop in Boston, the most common response to “How ya doin?” was “Same old, same old.” And that’s what they got every day … the same old outcomes!

After many years of major eye problems, I discovered that my whole life I’d been whispering to myself (and to God) “I don’t want to see any more truth!” Sure enough, that’s what I manifested in several challenges to my eyesight—a period of total blindness and two cataracts that had to be surgically removed. Needless to say, once I noticed that I was pre-paring my path with my restrictive words, I quit repeating that request!

Listen to what you say to others—and yourself—about yourself and life. If your declarations are not in your best interest, make a strong verbal rebuttal to that decree! Then decide to make your self-talk aligned with what you want to attract in life.

4. Focus on what you want

Focus solely on what you want—not on how, where, when or through whom it will come. When you talk only about what you want, there’s usually more excitement and conviction—and less resistance—within you, than when you talk about how you’re going to get it. When you pose questions you don’t have answers for—like how, where, when, who—it sets up doubting, conflicting vibrations that get in the way of attracting the desired outcome to you.

 5. Create new beliefs born from excitement

When you feel enthusiasm to create or do something, you’re lined up with basic Creative Life Energy. You’re inspired to take action from that point of alignment with exhilaration. When you don’t feel excited, don’t push yourself. Don’t force it. It’ll take a lot of effort and it won’t be satisfying because your innate excitement isn’t present. But, when you line up with true eagerness, procrastination and struggle go away.

 6. Draw from the vibration of good experiences

Deeply feel the vibration of a time when you were experiencing the happy result of a preferred belief. Ask your intuition to guide you to re-experience a moment this lifetime when you felt alive, loving, healthy or fulfilled. Your belief attracted that real experience then. So, now use that good real-life event to re-create that same outcome and experience in your present world.

 7. Question Authority

You’ve seen the classic bumper sticker: “Challenge Authority!” It’s a classic because it’s on so many cars. It’s on so many cars because so many people know that it expresses very helpful advice:

“Question Beliefs!” … Your own. Your parent’s. Your society’s.

 Ask yourself, “Do I know that this belief is absolutely true?” No.

“What beliefs are absolutely true?” None.

So, since you don’t know for certain that any belief is absolutely true, you might ask:

Does this belief make me happy?

Does this belief create a sustainable lifestyle of well-being?

Does this belief serve me?

8. Choose truths that serve you

Truth is subjective. There are as many truths as there are people creating their truths! There’s a truth of disease. And there’s a truth of wellness. There’s a truth of struggle. And there’s a truth of ease. Which truth serves you?

You can activate either of them within you—and thus make it your truth. Truths are created. They’re not set in stone. They’re set in belief. You’re the creator of your truths—and what you’re living is your truth.

9. Never is never true!

Be careful of the concepts of “never” and “always.” These two words slam the door to fresh options and new possibilities in your life.

In truth, never is never true. Always is not necessarily always true.

So if you want to stay aligned with the infinite variety, mystery and magic of life, purge your vocabulary of the words “never” and “always!”

10. Fully experience every belief

If you fully experience the emotional feeling that goes with every belief, the belief dissolves (releases) and you connect with the intuitive truth behind every belief. This truth you can believe in. This you can take to the bank!

Beneath the surface of every superficial belief is a truth of your own personal direct life experience … your own personal destiny … your own personal decision to be happy and healthy. Go for the gold, Go for the glory. Aim high. Go for the sky!

“In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.”

– John Lilly, pioneer in human consciousness