They believe I can do it, so why don’t I?

It doesn’t matter who “they” are or what “it” is…the key is that second part: “why don’t I?”

As the new year rapidly approaches (in a matter of hours), this is a question I ask myself, particularly as it pertains to aspects of myself that I want to expand and/or stories about myself that I want to rewrite. Growing up, my mom told me on a daily basis: “You can do anything you put your mind to!” Somewhere along the way, in the midst of life and raising young humans and moving countries and all the other daily things that occur in adulthood, remembering that I can do anything I put my mind to fades and gets lost in the shuffle.

This time last year, I was preparing to undertake this new-to-me course on Cognitive-Behavioral Hypnotherapy. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d gotten myself into, if I’m being completely honest, yet I can say that it reminded me of a lot of things from my long ago journey in academia and I pieced together a lot of things from academia and my intuitive work. The science shows it, my intuition knows it, and my mother was right every single time she uttered the words: “You can do anything you put your mind to!”

Our brains are powerful, powerful tools that we can train. Think about it: when was the last time you talked to yourself? That’s training your brain! When was the last time you said an affirmation? That’s training your brain! When was the last time you sat and imagined how a situation would play out? That’s also training your brain! The issue then becomes are we training our brains in helpful, effective ways or are we training them in ways that make us feel and behave worse?

Furthermore, each of those training methods – self-talk, affirmations, and imagining situations – are forms of self-hypnosis, an evidence-based tool that we can use to relax, to guide and rehearse our thoughts and behavior, and to generally feel more confident and less stressed as we interact with ourselves and the world.

As we enter this new year, this new cycle of our lives, ask yourself if you believe you can do the things you want. If that answer is no, then think about how you can train your brain to help you achieve those goals. If the answer is yes, then great! Keep going! Use your brain to your advantage in either case. You can achieve your goals; I believe in you (and I’m working on believing in myself, too). (Currently channeling Elsa’s “Show Yourself” from Frozen II — go check out those lyrics!)