For we live by believing and not by seeing. – The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 7, New Living Testament Translation

I’ve been slowly reading through the book Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, MD, FICS (Fellow of the International College of Surgeons).

I recently read this in Chapter Fourteen – How to Get That Winning Feeling (bold mine):

If there is one simple secret to the operation of your unconscious Creative Mechanism, it is this: call up, capture, evoke the feeling of success. When you feel successful and self-confident, you will act successfully. When the feeling is strong, you can literally do no wrong.

Isn’t that INCREDIBLE?

It is the truth.

When you believe, your mind has the astounding power to make things happen.

So even if your circumstances do not match what you believe, keep envisioning your picture of success.

I know it’s easier said than done.

I remember when I was single and wanted very much to find a good man and get married.

There I was… a single thirtysomething with no romantic prospects on the horizon.

I had absolutely no visual proof or evidence that I was going to get what I wanted.

Some might even say I was hopeless and wasn’t it time to give up on that particular desire?

But I didn’t give up.

In fact, I double-downed, triple-downed, and quadrupled-down on believing.

And the way I did that was by leaning on my faith.

I prayed for my future husband, as though he already existed.

I asked God to bless him during his daily life, in his work and his personal life.

I asked for protection, guidance, encouragement, and for wisdom.

I prayed for his health… mental, emotional, and physical.

And after a short amount of time, I believed this man actually existed. That he wasn’t just a wishful thought on my part.

That he was on this earth somewhere. Living and breathing. Looking forward to the day when we’d finally meet.

A little over a year later, I married the most incredible man I’d ever met.

Now, I tell you this story not to give you a strict recipe for believing.

But to tell you to try, if you’ve not done so already.

The Biblical verse above was originally in Greek. And the Greek word for “faith”—or believe—is pistis.

It means a conviction of the truth of anything, belief. In the New Testament, it’s a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it.

It all starts with your mindset.

And, I need to tell you that the effort of believing without any correlating proof or evidence existing at this time, in reality, is hard.

There will be a battle to acquire this belief.

But it’s a battle well worth waging if you want to see your life change.

Take some time today to find a quiet spot, close your eyes, and breathe intentionally. Calm yourself. Empty out all the worries and frustration of the day.

And then focus on what you want to see happen in your life. Envision your success. Put as many details in that vision as you can. Colors… sights… sounds… textures… smells. Engage all your senses in this exercise.

Then, feel your success.

Imagine vividly how you will feel when:

• A new client says they can’t wait to start a new project with you
• Your boss says it’s time to promote you
• Someone who deeply loves you tells you they want to be with you always
• A room full of V.I.P.s give you a standing ovation after you knock that presentation out of the park
• You check your bank account to see thousands of dollars staring back at you
• The bathroom scale shows you’ve now lost a total of 50 pounds
• The sounds of the crowd cheering as you’re the first to pass the finish line

It most definitely can happen.

But first, you have to believe.