The power of belief

The mind is so powerful. Henry Ford once said, “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.” So often we are riddled with the belief that we can’t risk, that we can’t be vulnerable, and so we walk around with ourselves and in our relationships with all our armor on. Change almost never comes without risk. in fact one can never underestimate the power of belief in recovery.

Do we have within us the natural capacities to face and overcome our stress, anxiety, depression, addiction and even trauma? Absolutely, I’ve seen it over and over again. Even after we believe in ourselves and find success, is it possible to lose that belief and struggle again. Definitely, but it’s important to keep learning how to come back to that belief. Do we have the power of belief in recovery to change our lives and stop acting out on additive behaviour for good?

“Taking responsibility for your beliefs and judgments gives you the power to change them.” ~Byron Katie

Over time, our life experiences form the basis for a well-organized and relatively stable set of beliefs and expectations. These may include beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. These beliefs and expectations operate to influence our behavior. This happens without our full knowledge and awareness of them. In fact, these beliefs are powerful enough to distort how we perceive ourselves and other people.

The self-fulfilling prophesy can serve to maintain someone’s addiction. This is particularly true if they do not believe that recovery is possible. If I expect that I will fail, this expectation forms a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will not put forth any effort to recover. What’s the point? My lack of effort dooms any feeble recovery attempt I make. This further solidifies my inaccurate beliefs about the core, potent power of belief in recovery. I had false expectations. Therefore, when strong cravings arise, I won’t make any effort to cope with them. I might think to myself, “I can’t stop anyway, what’s the point?”

Steven Slate of NYC, puts his story of practical belief this way: “I took it for granted that I would always have a painful overpowering desire for heavy drug and alcohol use. I could fight it, or give in. I repeatedly gave up the fight and gave in to the desire. But then I found a new approach. After years of being taught how to fight the desire, and years of failure, I found a way to change my desire. I learned to accept my substance use habits as a simple pursuit of happiness activity (rather than as a compulsion). I learned that I was desiring it and doing it because I believed it was my best shot at feeling good. I learned that I could re-examine that belief once I acknowledged and accepted it. I know this might be scary to people who’ve been taught that such habits have nothing to do with choice, but think about it—everything you do is because you believe you’ll benefit from it in some way.”