Do you think people resist change? … Most people answer with an emphatic: “Yes.” I don’t think people resist change at all. To which you might respond: “Well if people don’t resist change, why do most people not change when given reason to change?”

By Adrienne Carlson. One of the buzzwords we hear being bandied about regularly today is personal development. We’re all being told that we must do more to develop ourselves and become better people in the process, both professionally and personally. But the question is, are we really developing personally because of all the activities we undertake?

We can do more good with joy than we could ever do with pain. We are here to tap our own magnificent innate powers, shine, boogie, rock on and show each other what’s possible in this lifetime. Of course there is suffering and pain in the world. But these are the places where we, the members of humanity, haven’t gotten it right yet. Why would we make these the standard of reality, if it’s not a reality we wish to create?

If you are ‘into’ personal development you may find a bewildering array of techniques with increasing fancy names like the “the abundant mind-power cosmic manifestation secret playkit thingie” (my apologies if there actually IS something called that!). They all promise to access something ‘hidden’ about human nature.  It’s easy to forget that sometimes the basics of ‘common sense’ work just as well. Perhaps sometimes we try to be too sophisticated. People haven’t really changed over the centuries so this is why great books like the bible still contain timeless wisdom. But our society is built upon the ‘upgrade’ mentality – that for something to be valuable it must be new and better than before. This is not always true!

Some people are convinced we create our own reality by focusing on what we desire with strong emotion. Others are just as convinced that that idea is New Age nonsense. But regardless of which position is valid, it is unquestionably true that we literally create new possibilities in our lives—a brand new reality—by eliminating limiting beliefs. Let me give you an example. Assume you had the beliefs: I’m not lovable. Relationships don’t work.

Perseverance is about as important to achievement as gasoline is to driving a car. Sure, there will be times when you feel like you're spinning your wheels, but you'll always get out of the rut with genuine perseverance. Without it, you won't even be able to start your engine. The opposite of perseverance is procrastination.

We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy our ambitions. Fear can destroy fortunes. Fear can destroy relationships.

Many teenagers assume that they have reached the pinnacle of growth upon their high school graduation; they have determined that they no longer have to answer to anyone as they are now 18 with a high school diploma.  Obvious to the parents, their child still has years of growing up to do, and no years are as vital as those spent in college.

It took Shelly and me weeks of going over the notes I took on the plane to figure out the formula for eliminating beliefs.  Then, using the process we formulated, I eliminated a bunch of negative limiting beliefs. The beliefs I eliminated enabled me to look at my then desperate financial situation as an opportunity rather than a problem, and then find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.

Although most therapists would agree that behavior change usually is difficult and does not happen overnight, I disagree with that assessment. About sixteen years ago I developed the first in a series of interventions that literally do produce rapid and permanent change.  The primary one, the Decision Maker® Belief Process (DMBP), eliminates the beliefs that cause our behavioral and emotional patterns. The DMBP and other interventions are based on a single axiom that is grounded in everyday experience:  Events have no inherent meaning. There are three corollary distinctions that arise from that axiom: There is no meaning in the world.  All meaning is in our minds.  All beliefs are merely the meaning we assign to what we observe.