What if the most important thing we needed to succeed in life was belief in ourselves? Parse that however you want to. God helps those who help themselves. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. You get what you concentrate on. Or a hard-core Jane Roberts and Seth “You create your own reality.”
Doesn’t matter. Just, what if? What if we always got what we believed in without any doubt?
What if we wanted amazing things in our lives, but never seemed to achieve them? What if we were so used to the challenges and limitations in our lives that we never, ever examined them and just assumed that they would always be there in our way?
What if, when our challenges and limitations never went away, we believed they were the reason we felt we could never fully achieve our dreams? What if it all went around in a circle like a self-fulfilling prophecy?
What if we never realized that self-fulfilling prophecy could work in a positive way, too?
What if we became so completely expert at believing ourselves into failure that we never, ever suspected that we could believe ourselves into success, as well?
What if our fear of failure was nothing more than our belief in our own limitations in disguise? What if on reflection, that explained a lot of our less-than-realized lives that we blame on our families and our perceived faults? What if on reflection that explained a lot of communal suffering in the world, too?
What if Moses, and Jesus, and Mohammed were on target about the importance of faith?
What if the Shema prayer is right? What if God really is all? What if the whole universe is just a symbolic universe of though that lives in God’s mind?
What if we’re not just created in God’s image? What if we’re fundamentally part of God? And if we’re part of God, what if faith in God in a fundamental way includes faith in ourselves?
What if the real miracles happen only when we and Deity are working together?
What if God didn’t care that Moses took partial credit for getting water from a rock? What if God kept Moses out of the promised land simply because after so many years of doubting himself and his abilities before his fellow Israelites, Moses didn’t really believe he deserved to get there?
Walt Disney once said, “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable,” and look how far it got him.
How far do you want to go?
Do you implicitly and unquestionably believe that you will get there? If you said “No” and you’re not there yet, do you really want that to be your final answer? You can live your dreams if you want to. The question is, do you really want to?
May you all allow yourselves to live miraculously in this new year. May you let go of fear, and find the bravery to face into what you think of as your limitations and laugh. May you grow, and learn, and love, and transcend, again, and again, and again. May you come to believe that a life like that is your birthright.
And if you believe God put you here merely to be a leaf in the wind, may you get a second opinion.
Categories: Success
Mike
I’m an #OpenlyAutistic gay, Hispanic, urbanist, Disney World fan, New York native, politically independent, Jewish blogger in Chicago. I believe in social justice, big cities, and public transit. I write words and raise money for nonprofits. I’ve written this blog since 2005. And counting...
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You nailed it! Believe, keep putting one foot in front of the other, believe, and seas will part, believe and life changes, believe and God will send you what you need in often unexpected ways. We are all created by and part of our creator, and God does not make junk.
Although God does allow for pizza rolls. For which I’m grateful!
Some of don’t actually know what we want 🙂
I think you’re more fit for the rabbinate than most rabbis I’ve known. Keep thinking. Keep writing.
Thank you, Diana. I appreciate all your help and support in the past few months. I will keep writing, I promise.
Beautiful teaching. And what a wonderful way to begin the day.
Thank you, Mike!