So many of us go through life feeling like we don’t have anything to offer the world. We see people who are successful and think that they are blessed in some way; in some way that we aren’t. We tell ourselves that they had a break, that they had the gift, that they somehow are better than we are. We beat ourselves up because of it.

The reality is that we are all worthy. We are worthy because we are here. Period. We all have gifts. We may not know what they are at the moment, but I promise that you have a gift. What stops us from realizing that is that we believe we don’t. We believe that we aren’t worthy. And although beliefs feel like the truth, they are not. They are just thoughts we think over and over again. And the more we think them, the more we gather evidence to support them.

Each belief we hold, effects the energy we put out in the world. It effects our experiences. It is like putting on sunglasses and seeing the world through lenses of that belief. What we believe, we project onto the world around us, and everything that supports that belief is highlighted above of an entire range of possible experiences. So what we believe dictates what experience.

For instance, if you believe that no one likes you, you’ll gather evidence that no one likes you by putting out the energy and expectation that people don’t like you and don’t want to talk with you. And then you’ll feel badly and maybe stay home. Then when the phone doesn’t ring or you have no plans for the weekend, you’ll see these things as evidence that no one likes you. On the other hand, if this same person had a belief that she’s likable, she’d go through the world looking for and seeing evidence of people liking her. She would assume that if the phone didn’t ring, that her friends were busy instead of ignoring her.

Examining and choosing your beliefs is critical to a happy life. We can change our beliefs by choosing to see the world in another way. By choosing to try on the opposite of what we currently believe. We can look for one or more examples of people who already have what we want to believe and imagine walking in their shoes to experiencing what it would feel like to have that belief.