by Bob Trowbridge

Created on: January 21, 2008

I believe that belief is the foundation of everything that exists and everything we experience. We do not experience life as it is. We do not experience ourselves as we are or others as they are. We experience all of life through our subjective perceptions. Our perceptions of all that exists are mediated by our beliefs.

We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. Everything we perceive and everything we believe fully determines how we experience our life, how we experience our world. What we accomplish or fail to accomplish is determined by our self-image. Our self-image is determined by what we believe about ourselves.

Few people in the world have an accurate image of themselves. Some think too highly of themselves, or cover up low self-esteem with arrogance and boasting. Most think too little of themselves, believing in limitations and weaknesses because someone told them that these limitations and weaknesses were real.

There is a story about the power of belief in limitations. It is the story of British long distance runner Roger Bannister. Bannister was a medical student who was a long distance runner. In 1954, the record for the mile had stood for nine years. This record was over four minutes. For many experts at the time, the holy grail of running the mile under four minutes was considered impossible.

But Roger Bannister was a medical student and he studied the human body. He did not believe that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible. On May 6, 1954, Bannister was the first man to run the mile in under four minutes (3:59.4). What was most remarkable about this accomplishment is that the record did not stand very long. Once the sub-four- minute mile was seen to be possible, his record was broken. Within a very short time, some 16 runners had run the mile in under four minutes.

The four-minute mile was not a barrier to the human body. It was a barrier to the human mind. It was a barrier of belief. Once that belief was shattered by Bannister, many others were able to breach that same barrier. They hadn't become suddenly stronger or trained harder. They simply changed their belief in a limitation that they had previously accepted, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The question for each of us is how many limitations have we accepted based upon what we believe to be true rather than what is actually true? This does not just relate to physical abilities. It relates to abilities of every kind, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual.

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