You are what you believe.

I’ve been thinking about beliefs lately — particularly beliefs I have about myself, what I am capable of, what I can or cannot do. And so I’ve been challenging myself just a little bit to try and overcome some of my beliefs that aren't really working for me anymore. Yesterday was a big day for getting over some long-held beliefs about what I can’t do. Starting in the morning, when I lifted the hood on my sons car and replaced his headlight bulbs. I have no doubt some of you are laughing at this. But for me  mechanical work on car (okay, they are lightbulbs, and I know that isn’t technically mechanical) isn’t something I “can do”. Or so I thought. With a little bit of belief in myself, and a search on YouTube for how to do it, I had successfully changed both the bulbs on the car in about 20 minutes. To some people - especially those who are mechanically inclined, you may be thinking “are you kidding? All you did was change a lightbulb on a car”. But to me, anything that has to do with lifting the hood of a car requires a mechanic, or at least my husband.

My belief about not being mechanically inclined is similar to what I hear a lot from people who are interested in animal communication. It’s not that they don’t think it’s possible to communicate with animals, they believe that some people can, just not them. I love helping people realize that  just like changing a lightbulb, with some guidance and a little effort, we can all communicate with animals.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon when I had the pleasure of doing a reading party for a group of women who gathered at a dog training facility they all belong to. Reading parties are a lot of fun, both for me and for those who attend. I do a 20-minute session with each person (privately) to give them a taste of what an animal intuitive reading is all about. Generally, people who attend readings parties are there for an introduction and don’t have a lot of experience with energy work or intuitive readings. 

So before I begin the private readings, I do a little exercise to get everyones energy settled down and open up them up to help me connect with them. And we talk about belief. I ask people if they believe it is possible that we are all energetically connected and that we are all intuitive and can connect with our animals and each other. This question specifically came up from one of the women last night — how do you know if you are someone who can intuitively connect with animals? My answer is, it’s not “if”. We all can intuitively connect, with animals and with each other. We are all born with this ability (and I do believe it is an ability, not a gift). But we are taught from a young age to turn off our senses, to not listen to those little voices. With some work though, you can open yourself back up if you want to.

In addition to the group readings I do, where I get the people a little more involved with learning about energy and such than I would in a private reading, I am also the Community Manager for a wonderful group of people looking to practice and expand on their intuitive abilities. The group is called “Be Open” (www.beopenconnect.com), and we do a lot of practices and hold webinars where members can learn and ask questions and… express their doubts. We all have doubts. At first, it’s “I don't think I can I do this”, which morphs into “I think I’m making this up”, then “what if I say it and it’s wrong”, to “I get stuff, but not as much as others”. The doubt we put on ourselves is amazing. I was definitely a doubter in the beginning, and I still have moments of “I think I’m making this up” (because sometimes the information that comes in seems so random, it’s hard not to think that).

From the beginning yesterday was a day of overcoming doubts, and I am looking forward to challenging other long held negative beliefs about what I’m capable of. How about you? Is there something that you’ve doubted you can do, but really want to? There is a world of support (and how-to videos on the web!) to help us accomplish most anything we set our mind to, as long as we believe we can.