# Belief? How powerful it can be!



## still learning (Mar 4, 2006)

Hello, Just want to share a short story I just read.

A Japanese General was about to attack an army almost three times his size and his soldiers knew this. The General went to the shine to pray.

When he came back he told his soldiers " the priest said to flip a coin and if it heads we will win". The General flip the coin and it was heads....all his soldiers give a big yell and went into battle and WON!

Later the General's aid came to his tent and examine the coin " it had two heads...one on each side!

The General look at him and said "UM" was it the belief of winning is why we won?

The power of belief's can do many things of "greatness".

Always believe you are a winner.....and do the things to get there!

Drug users...are losers and do not believe in themselves....think about it?

Always be a good and honest person...you life will always be in the winning ways of life.........Aloha

Please share one of your stories that happen to you?


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## tsdclaflin (Mar 4, 2006)

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you are probably right.


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## MA-Caver (Mar 4, 2006)

"Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can." ~ Bruce Lee

Belief is a major driving force in our lives. We believe that we will lose our homes if we do not make mortage/rent payments ... thus we go to work each day to earn the amount needed to stay there. Same with eating, we believe we will experience a painful sensation in our stomachs if we do not eat... thus we do. People have been known to walk across live coals barefooted  and come out unscathed because they believe the fire will not harm them. 
We train ourselves in Martial Arts for our own reasons because we believe in the reasons that we trained for them in the first place. Even if they (the reasons) changed over the years the belief system is still there. The belief may have changed but the *system* of belief is still there. A pattern of thoughts and ideas that guide us in our actions. 
We believe someone/something because we know the facts. We also believe out of faith. Faith that someone is telling us the truth. When our (instructors) tell us that we will be able to flip someone 3 times our size/weight, or that we will be able to break 4 boards, or that we will be faster, stronger, better persons after training long and hard in whatever art that we chosen... we believe it because we see the man/woman in front of us and say to ourselves it must be true. We watch them accomplish those feats and thus we believe that we too can do those things. 

We also want to believe, because we are basing our expectations on hope and our desires. When we lose that, the loss of that belief can be devastating indeed. A person losing belief in themselves can end up on the streets after losing everything they've worked so hard and long for. People have committed suicide because they lost beliefs in whatever. 
You ask how powerful it can be. Look around you, talk to people and ask them. Their answers should be of no surprise. 

As for myself... When I first started practising Martial Arts I got my butt whupped and sometimes badly. Then I met a man who taught me that I needed to learn to believe in myself before I learned anything of throws, punches, kicks, locks and so forth. It took a while, but after that... I rarely lost a fight (this is in my _younger_ years...  ). Thus, believing in oneself is tantamount to anything. Positive or negative beliefs...  it will work.


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## still learning (Mar 5, 2006)

Hello, For many of us when we first started....seeing ourselves as Black Belts seems so far away, and many other people thought it was too hard to achieve. 

Once you get there...you realize anyone can earn one too...time,hardwork at it, ...persevance... loving it, and belieiving!

My Shotokan Sensi said "I taught Karate for over 20 years..but only a few achieve Black Belt from me"....Today I do Kempo-Karate and will be testing for my Third-degree in about a few more years.

I have a friend who lives on Island of Oahu, and visit us a couple times a year to go Ulua fishing (over ten pounds is call Ulua-Hawaiian name, and under ten pounds -Papio). He always catch at least one, except for once, and could not believe he got no strikes? His belief was so strong many times he was the only one to catch Ulua's. He biggest with us was 99lbs.

Want a parking space at mall/shopping center...see yourself in your mind getting your flavoriate parking space, see a car leaving as you arrive...If your belief is totally 100% and beyond...you will achieve it.......Don't ask why it works...but it does! ..............Aloha


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## Xue Sheng (Mar 5, 2006)

tsdclaflin said:
			
		

> Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you are probably right.


 
Agreed, but didn't Henry Ford say this?


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## bushidomartialarts (Mar 7, 2006)

Brian Tracy:  There is a 1 to 1 ratio between our beliefs and our perceptions.

So for the late night philosophical meandering:

We've all experienced that a change in our expectations will reap a change in our realities.

Is this because it keys us to look for certain stimuli and opportunities, which we then use to meet our expectations?  Or is it because we physically alter our reality through the force of our wills?

And is that question relevant?

J


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## Hand Sword (Mar 29, 2006)

It's relevant. I think maybe it's a little bit of both.


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## SFC JeffJ (Mar 29, 2006)

I know that I would have never made it through SFAS if I hadn't gone in KNOWING that I would make it and be selected.


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## Hand Sword (Mar 30, 2006)

The power of positve thinking!


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## DavidCC (Mar 30, 2006)

bushidomartialarts said:
			
		

> Brian Tracy: There is a 1 to 1 ratio between our beliefs and our perceptions.


 
Until you add faith to the equation, which is belief in something you cannot perceive.


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## OnlyAnEgg (Mar 30, 2006)

I certainly have perceptions of a Higher Power (in my case, God).  Not having corporeal proof of His existance, yet believeing nonetheless, is faith.

I think the phrases 'believing in myself' and 'having faith in myself' are often used interchangeably; though, there is a difference.  I have a car that needs fixed.  I've fixed another car like it with the same problem before; therefor, I believe I can fix my current car.  Alternately, I have worked on a variety of cars before and know a few things.  A car that I need to work on is different from any other car I worked on; but, as I have done much repairs to cars in general, I have faith (in myself) that I can repair this different one.

To the topic at hand, believing in yourself, having faith in yourself is paramount to any level of success.


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## Koryuhoka (Apr 7, 2006)

Not MA related but I read a book titled _the Biology of Belief, _by Bruce H. Lipton. It was a truly "mind opening" read. It explains the connection between the mind and the body down to the cellular level. 
I found it fascinating. 

K.


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## Brandon Fisher (Apr 15, 2006)

I have a strong faith in believing in success.  You can make things happen if you believe it.


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## Henderson (Apr 15, 2006)

Xue Sheng said:
			
		

> Agreed, but didn't Henry Ford say this?


 
Yes, this quote is most attributed to Henry Ford.  Nice!:ultracool


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## ManOfVirtues (May 2, 2006)

Its ironic how Quantum Physics, and faith both play so strongly on belief. Almost the mantality of a three year old (if I cant see you, you cant see me).

There are stories of soldiers being shot several times, not realizing they had been hit continued on with the fire fight, many times fighting hand to hand and not even phased by thier injuries. After the fight someone says OMG youve been hit. The soldier realizes what has happened and dies right then and there. 


Maybe it was the adrenilin, maybe it was somthing else. The mind controls the body, and that is what we have to remember.


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## Jenna (May 2, 2006)

Interesting ideas and opinions! I like to imagine theres more to belief than Henry Fords Whether you think you can, or think you cant... In my mind, if I believe to the extent where I start to feel I KNOW something will happen, then I become convinced of it and am rarely disappointed. In that respect, I choose to believe in something thats out of my understanding but exists nonetheless.

I love gut feelings, intuition, call it what you will. I think theyre a gift we all possess in ourselves but dont always recognise them or sometimes do and yet consciously suppress them. The downfall of our left-hemispheres is that theyre just too damn clever and dominant and wont let the right-brain have a turn. I care not whether there is a spoon, unless theres ice-cream too... Book them and they will come; go with the flow, believe, and it will happen.

Now... I believe someones gonna ply me with chocolate. *chants* AOUMMMMM 

Yr most obdt hmble svt,
Jenna


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## bobster_ice (May 2, 2006)

If you believe you can do something it increases the chance of you doing it.


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