Of all the mind power secrets known to man, belief is by far the most the most powerful of them all. The power of belief is essential to the achievement of your goals, your dreams and your aspirations in life. How can you expect to accomplish anything if you don’t have an internal belief that you are capable of accomplishing the task in question? The power of belief is reflected in the statement by Henry Ford, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

Napoleon Hill is an American author widely recognized as the founder of personal success literature. One of his most famous quotes, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” sets forth two fundamentals necessary for achievement in any area. The first requirement is the ability to conceive. This is not such a difficult task for most people. If you can dream, if you can use your imagination, you can conceive. Conception is a product of the conscious mind.

The second part of the equation is where people have more difficulty. Belief is deeply rooted in the subconscious mind. The thoughts and principles which help to compose your belief system have been planted and growing in your subconscious mind since infancy. The person whose childhood was filled with supportive, positive and self-empowering beliefs will be miles ahead of the one whose only exposure was to negativity, criticism and ridicule.

You can conceive in your conscious mind that you are strong, independent and prosperous, but if you don’t believe in your subconscious mind that you are capable or worthy of these goals, you will never achieve them. You must believe first in your worthiness to receive, then in your ability to attain.

The Bible also references the importance of belief. In Mark 11:24 Jesus said “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Belief is fundamental.

So what is belief, really? Belief is simply a thought that is accepted as a truth by your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. Thoughts are processed first on the conscious level. In fact, your conscious mind will act as a filter or layer or protection for your subconscious mind. This is the reason why beliefs can be so difficult to access and change.

Is it possible to dis-empower, strengthen or even change one’s beliefs? Absolutely! This is where mind power secrets come into play. Since beliefs are seated on the subconscious level, you can learn to use mind power secrets to engage the subconscious mind through repetitive affirmations, meditation, hypnosis and various other methods.

The power of belief can be your strongest ally, or you greatest foe. Henry Ford had another powerful quote: “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” What do you believe is possible for you?

Belief becomes powerful once your subconscious mind accepts that belief as truth. Saying with your lips and with your conscious mind “I believe I can…” one or two times will not change much. Incorporating that statement into an affirmation that you repeat daily, several times per day, will effect changes in your life.

You may be asking yourself, “what are affirmations and what if anything does it have to do with mind power, or me?” Affirmations are statements which through frequent repetition influence the thinking and beliefs of the subconscious mind. Generally, affirmations are thought of in the context of being positive, but to have a clear understanding of the power of affirmations you must realize that negative affirmations can also exist, and their presence in your subconscious mind can be the source of many problems in your life.

From birth up to the time we are about six years old, our parents are the primary sculptor of our subconscious minds. If your parents constantly criticized, ridiculed and belittled you, then there is a significant chance that you deal with issues of doubt and self-worth in your life. On the other hand if you had parents that were encouraging you and praising your efforts, you likely carry an air of self-confidence and positive beliefs in your everyday life.

It is my hope that you experienced a positive childhood at home, but oftentimes other people can speak negative things into our lives. Teachers, classmates, siblings or other family members and even strangers can plant negative thoughts and images into your psyche. They become lodged there and without intervention of some sort, like a seed that is planted, it takes root and grows in your mind. Each time you attempt to step out and do something new and allow the negative thoughts to hinder you, that negative belief is strengthened and soon becomes your “truth.”

The good news is by learning to use positive affirmations, those negative beliefs can be overwritten thanks to the power of your mind. Just as a re-writable compact disc can be written over with new material leaving the old material no longer accessible, likewise the negative information stored in your subconscious can be written over with new positive information that will serve you well.

Positive affirmations are statements that you repeat to yourself which plant positive ideas and suggestions into your brain. The repetitive process enables the subconscious mind to absorb these statements at its own pace and with time will come to accept these new positive beliefs as truth, replacing the negative self-defeating thoughts that keep you from achieving your goals. This transformation can occur much more quickly than you might think.

Affirmations are powerful tools for change, yet they are often an overlooked resource. Understand that affirmations are even more powerful when you create them for yourself. In this way they are personal to you and your circumstances.

As you learn to incorporate affirmations into your life you will realize that it is more than just word repetition. It will make you aware of your words and your thoughts as you go about your day and soon you will find yourself choosing to think only positive thoughts. You will then be well on the way to unleashing the power of your mind.

Affirmations are simple statements you repeat to yourself to insert positive ideas and suggestions into your mind. It is a form of constructive self talk. Are you using positive affirmations to help you reach your goals?