Magic of Believing

If the mind doesn’t tell the body what to do, it won’t do anything - Hulda Crooks

Age Is Simply A State of Mind

Is is said that age is simply a state of mind.  I remember hearing my mother complain so many times about how she was ‘getting old’  She was in her 60’s at the time.  Her body just didn’t want to work anymore, she said, and on forgetting things she would say that she was ‘losing her mind’.  Yet, I have neighbors across the street in their 80’s that still drive all over the country visiting family and friends.  My mother?  She’s in a nursing home with advanced Dementia.

Is aging simply a belief process? Do we age simply because we think we are supposed to? What if we began a new series of thoughts, ones that say “You’re only as old as you feel?” Can we prolong, or even reverse aging?

A Tale of Two Women

Two women turn seventy years old, but each takes a different meaning from the event. One “knows” that her life is coming to an end. To her, seven decades of living mean that her body must be breaking down and she’d better start winding up her affairs.   I have read where many people live only a short while after retirement.  Their thought process, or belief, is that I’m ‘finally done’.   Sad really, to just ‘give up’ life.  The other woman, Hulda Crooks didn’t give up.  She decided that what a person is capable of  - at any age  - depends upon her belief.  So at 70 yrs old she took up a new hobby - mountain climbing.

Hulda passed away in 1997 at the ripe young age of 101, but during those 30 years, Hulda climbed 14,495 foot Mount Whitney a record 23 times.  She is on record as the oldest person to climb Mt. Whitney. Her last climb on the 11 mile trail to the summit was in 1987, at age 91.

At age 72, Hulda climbed the mountain twice in 2 weeks; the first time with a group of teens, and the second with two of her brothers, then aged 75 and 77.   At age 75 Hulda began back-packing, carrying a 23 pound pack. She hiked the full 212 miles of the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, over 5 summers.

Since age 81, she climbed the 86 highest Southern California mountains in addition to her annual Mt. Whitney climb. And, Hulda also finished the Kiabab Trail down to the Grand Canyon floor twice, as well as being invited, at age 91, to climb 12,389 foot Mt. Fujiyama, Japan’s highest mountain.

It’s Never The Events of our Lives but the Meaning we Attach to Them

Anthony Robbins said in his book Awaken the Giant Within:

You see, it’s never the environment; it’s never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events—how we interpret them—that shapes who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow. Beliefs are what make the difference between a lifetime of joyous contribution and one of misery and devastation. Beliefs are what separate a Mozart from a Manson. Beliefs are what cause some individuals to become heroes, while others “lead lives of quiet desperation.

Hulda Crooks had been featured on many television programs over the years. Camera crews have even climbed Mt. Whitney with her, and she was once interviewed by Johnny Carson.   But she rarely watched the television shows she appeared in.

Hulda believed there was much more important things to do than to sit around watching television.  That’s what old folks do.

Author Gregg Braden, from the documentary “You Can Heal Your Life” says,

We tend to live our lives based on what we believe - about ourselves, our world, our capabilities and our limits.  Where do those beliefs come from?  More often than not they come from what other people have told us, history, science, religion, culture, family……WHAT IF THEY’RE WRONG?

Beliefs are important.    As I have said over and over - by example of the Placebo Effect - if I am depressed and go to my doctor for some Antidepressants - I will feel better - even if I am taking nothing more than a sugar pill.  It is my BELIEF - both in the capability of modern medicine and in my Doctor - that cures me - not the sugar pill.  Conversely, if our Doctor tells us we have Cancer and we only have 3 months to live - chances are we will die within those 3 months.  We BELIEVE our doctors - even if afterwards it is found we never had cancer to begin with.  We live our lives based on our beliefs.

Historically, most things we believed to be true - were wrong.

At one point in time, it was believed that the Earth was motionless and that the Sun and planets revolved around it.  Galileo, with the use of his newly created telescope, discovered this was not the case.  The Catholic Church, which was very powerful and influential in Galileo’s day, strongly supported the theory of a Earth-centered, universe.  After Galileo began publishing papers about his astronomy discoveries and his belief in a Sun-centered, Universe, he was called to Rome to answer charges brought against him by the Inquisition.  Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings. Heresy was a crime for which people were sometimes sentenced to death. Galileo was cleared of charges of heresy, but was told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that Earth moved around the Sun. Galileo continued his study of astronomy and became more and more convinced that all planets revolved around the Sun. In 1632, he published a book that stated, among other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct. Galileo was once again called before the Inquisition and this time was found guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633. Because of his age and poor health, he was allowed to serve his imprisonment under house arrest. Galileo died on January 8, 1642.

Of course now we realize that Galileo was indeed right.  But back in the 17th Century, you either believed what the Church told you, whether they were right or wrong, or you were put to death.

Here’s another example of an incorrect belief.

The Miracle Mile

For many years it was widely believed to be impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes. In fact, it was believed that the four minute mile was a physical barrier that no man could break without causing significant damage to his health. The achievement of a four minute mile seemed beyond human possibility.  Yet on May 6, 1954 Roger Bannister proved them wrong.   During an athletic meeting between the British AAA and Oxford University, Roger crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.  He broke through the “four minute mile” psychological barrier.  This is significant, because once Roger proved it COULD be done, that it was no longer an impossibility, within three years, 16 other runners also cracked the four minute mile.

So what happened to the physical barrier that prevented humans from running the four minute mile? Was there a sudden leap in human evolution? No. It was the change in thinking that made the difference, Bannister had shown that breaking four minute mile was possible. Often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds. Previous runners had been held back by their beliefs and mindsets. When the barrier was broken other runners saw that is was possible and then 16 runners went on to do the same.

Which Beliefs Do You Have?

• Money is so hard to come by…….
• There just aren’t any jobs out there…..
• I just can’t lose weight no matter what I do
• I’ll never find my soul mate……..
• No one will date me - I’m not that attractive……
• I’ll never be rich……
• That’s just a dream - dreams don’t really come true…..
• That’s impossible…..
• I’m such a screw up - I mess everything up….
• I’m not that good….

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Louise Hay sums it up perfectly in her movie,  “You Can Heal Your Life”, when she says:

I think Enlightenment is letting go of all the things we believe that are not benefiting us in life, or are barriers to life - or to the good things in life, and to release them one by one, and to think - I don’t have to believe that anymore.  Or do I want to believe that anymore?  And then making a conscious choice.

 

What you think, and what you believe, is what will come true for you.  Your thoughts create yor life.  It’s that simple.  And when we can get that, we can make enormous changes.

Once upon a time, there were two little rose bushes named Judy and Jim.  These rose bushes were living very comfortably in a nursery, when one day, two people came in and took Judy, claiming they were expert gardeners and knew a great deal about rose bushes - and they did.  They planted Judy in a rich soil with the best combination of sunlight, water, and nourishment.  They kept the weeds and bugs away and handled Judy with kindness.   Judy flourished and grew big and beautiful roses, and if roses could feel - Judy was happy.

Two other people went to the nursery and took Jim, stating they were expert gardeners and knew everything about roses.  But they were really pizza kings from Chicago.  They planted Jim in sandy, salty soil, with too much heat in the day and too much cold in the night.  They watered Jim too much, and then too little, and they did nothing about the weeds and bugs.  In spite of these things, Jim survived but was wilted, stunted, and sorry looking.  Jim looked across the field at Judy and saw her beauty and decided (if a rose bush can decide) that the problem was he was just basically defective and no damn good.

Now, dear reader, if you could talk to a rose bush, I’m confident you would say, “Jim, it’s not you!  The experts were not experts, and it’s your environment that’s the problem.”   But to what purpose?  A little rose bush can’t walk, drive a car, or work.

However, time goes by, and Jim, by hook and by crook, learns to walk, talk, drive a car, and work.  He pulls himself out of the crummy environment and moves to where Judy is:  the rich, fertile, environment. And guess what?  Wrong!  Jim continues to wilt, and grow little, ugly roses.  Jim is so convinced that he’s defective that he decided, “What’s the use?  It wouldn’t do any good to even try.”

Well, what can you expect from a rose bush?

That story came from the book, Monsters and Magical Sticks, by Steven Heller, Ph.D and Terry Lee Steele, copyright 1987.

Lucky Judy.  She had great owners who spared no expense to give her the best soil, water, and nourishment money could buy.  She obviously got lots of care and attention.  Heck she was even hand weeded and debugged.  Wow!  The good life.  Spoiled.  Pampered even.  And she turned out to be so beautiful.

And then there’s poor Jim.  Well meaning owners, but obviously not experts.  Not the greatest soil in the world, but he made do.  Sure, there were plenty of bugs and weeds and even the occasional drought, but he survived didn’t he?  Maybe he’s not the best looking rose in the bunch, but he made it.

The story wants us to feel sorry for Jim, but I actually feel sorry for both of them.

]What happens to Judy when those owners move on?  Is she as tough as Jim?  I doubt it.  He may have had a hard life, but it’s made him stronger.  When I think of Judy I think of Paris Hilton.  Yeah, she’s gorgeous, but is that all she does is look pretty?  Jim’s got it made.  I mean look at him, he learned how to walk, and drive a car, and go to work to get himself out of his bad environment.  Pretty smart for a rose bush.  Jim’s tougher than we think.

Jim only has one problem really.  He compares himself to Judy.  How many of us compare ourselves to the Judy’s in the world.     We know who the Judy’s are.  They play sports, they’re on Tv and in the movies, they sing our favorite songs.  Look how beautiful they are, what a perfect life they have, how rich they are, what I wouldn’t give to be like them….  And like Jim, even if we were to somehow move ourselves to their rich environment,  as long as we think they are better than us,  and keep questioning our own self worth, we too will continue to wilt.

Just because we didn’t turn out to be as perfect as they are, does not mean we are defective, or no damn good.  We just have the same limiting beliefs that Jim did.  The trick is we have to let go of those beliefs.  We are no different from the Judy’s in the world.

In fact - when it comes right down to it - we all came from the same nursery anyway.