Believing in believing

Everything happens for a reason. Everything.

Believing that just may be the secret to living a fulfilled life. Not necessarily knowing what the reasons are, but knowing there is a reason. Not necessarily knowing who or what the reasons are – like an identifiable higher power – but just knowing that there are reasons and accepting that. And accepting responsibility that my actions and thoughts affect what happens, both positively and negatively.

It’s amazing to me how fear can influence beliefs. Religion is the ideal example, but let's even take it on a much more micro level...

For decades, people drank sink water and were fine. Then, I get introduced to filtered water and learn how much healthier that can be for me, and how tap water had all these chemicals in it and how dangerous it is. Well, I’ve drank it for most of my life, as has every other person I know and have yet to hear about a death or debilitating disease caused by drinking tap water. Yet, even though I have thousands of gallons of tap water which have passed through my system over the years in my life, every time I don’t have access to filtered water, there is now a mini bit of hesitation that sets in for me when tap water is my only option to drink, like a brief moment of contemplation that, wait, could this glass of tap water that I’m about to drink at this very moment cause me significant damage?

And I’ll ponder this potential dilemma for a brief period. And this process plays out constantly, whether it be tap water or carrying more than three ounces of shampoo through airport security, in all likelihood, insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

The problem may be that we change our beliefs. We start believing the "hype." Or we simply stop believing. In life, in ourselves, in others. Even though I can consciously realize that simply convincing myself to believe in something will make it actually happen – or at the very least, realize that not believing definitely WILL NOT make it happen, there is something inside of me that holds me back from continuing to believe at all times. I feel I have to try and do internal research to find compelling arguments as to why it’s logical that believing will actually make things happen.

But when things do happen which I don't want, I also have an incredibly difficult time getting over it. I get stuck in the same negative loop and can’t break out of it. Apparently, it can be physiologically explained – according to the book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," the cingulate area of my brain, when it’s affected in some way, can cause that type of thinking.  If a situation doesn’t go according to plan, I’ll stew over it even though there is absolutely nothing I can do about it after the fact. Then I make the situation even worse because of that.

Lately, I've been struggling to unstick myself from the negative loop of concerns that pervade my cingulate area, mainly career and finances. And today, after another "thanks but no thanks" letter, it could be very easy to fall deeper into the vortex. Or I can believe that it wasn't the right opportunity (which it wasn't) and that the right one still exists and is will reveal itself at some point (which it will).

And the simple act of believing this - truly believing it - gets me through another day and keeps me looking forward to what's in store tomorrow.