Different events that you experience in your life become evidence of the beliefs that you have about yourself. Some people choose to focus on the negative events that they have experienced.
Examples of negative events that may have happened in your life include;
- The time you failed the test.
- That relationship that did not work out.
- That job you lost.
When you choose to focus on negative events, they become evidence of the negative beliefs that you have. You could say that you are not smart enough, no one wants to be in a relationship with you, or that you are just not good enough to maintain a job. Instead of focusing on those negative events in your life, focus on positive events that become evidence for constructive beliefs about yourself.
Examples include;
- That time you got a promotion at work.
- That trip you went on with friends.
Based on those two events, you could conclude that you are successful and that you have friends that think you are fun. Whenever you are going through everyday life, you must focus on the positive events that have happened no matter how small they might be. Mr. Robert Criner once told me “Whatever you focus on, it will expand.” This means that we can expand the evidence for positive or negative beliefs by simply thinking about certain events repeatedly.
I was 9 years old and I could not read. I remember how stupid I felt and I would use my lack of literacy as evidence for why I felt like I could not succeed in school. A very short time later, I learned how to read. I read 55 books from the Animorphs series within 3 months. I used that positive experience to confront the idea of me being stupid or dumb. Knowing that I was a powerful reader motivated me to start writing.
Next time you are criticizing yourself, just kick in one of your positive experiences that is evidence of how awesome, intelligent and beautiful you really are.
Terrance Thomas
