Do you believe in God?  Do you believe that there is no sense in believing in God because it makes no difference in the world we live in?  It really doesn’t matter which of these two you believe, your very belief in that thing (or any other thing you believe) will affect the world around you.

I’m not talking about anything mystical.  I’m not talking about the incredibly popular “Law of Attraction”.  You can, without accepting ANY mysticisim at all, be absolutely certain that what you DO believe affects the world around you, and that the depth of the belief affects how much impact it has on the world outside of you.

I can make that statement with utmost confidence because of how it affects the world around you.  Here it is, in plain language:  Any belief that you hold affects the world around you because it affects the actions you choose to take and your response to circumstances that relate to it.

The depth of your belief plays into this because it affects how strongly your response (or action) is influenced by that belief.  Lightly held beliefs may have very little effect… your belief that blue is the best color is probably lightly held, and won’t really affect much, other than possibly your choice of clothing or decorations.  Your belief in God, or your belief that he either doesn’t exist or is irrelevant, is likely to be much more deeply held, and thus has more power to affect your actions and responses.

Your beliefs regarding money are an easy way to show how beliefs affect the physical world.  If you believe that money is out there for the taking, that all you have to do is reach out and grab it, then you will look for, and find, opportunities to do so, and you will not let a little risk stop you.  If you believe that all you can do is try to save money, because the risk of stepping outside your comfort zone is too great, then you will pass even good opportunities by, if you see them at all, with your focus being so directed on how to save money instead of how to make more.

All of your beliefs affect you in the same way, though most are not so easily visible.  They also affect the world around you when other people observe you acting upon them, especially if you have children or younger siblings.  When they see you act on your belief, they may very well pick up on that belief, since they look at you as an authority, a way to learn how they should be dealing with the world.

Other people may react negatively, especially if they hold conflicting beliefs.  As evidence, witness the conflicts between people who believe in different religions, or the conflict between people who believe in God and those who do not.  While the first is more likely, according to history, to result in physical violence, the latter is, as far as I can tell, at least as likely to start violent arguments in the modern world (at least in the United States, which, though I have lived in two other countries, is still by far my strongest basis for understanding the modern world).

People who react to your beliefs, either positively or negatively, can affect you and the world around you.  They may be your future boss (or client), or they may turn someone else against you.  They may, at the extremes, be the person you marry at the positive extreme , or choose to kill you because of your beliefs.   While either of these two are, as stated extremes, and unlikely to happen in practice, there are a range of lesser possibilities that become more and more likely as they go down the scale.

So… even your belief that beliefs can’t affect the real world affects the real world.  And there’s nothing mystical about it.

You might want to look at evaluating your beliefs and deciding which ones to keep as is, which ones to alter, and which ones to remove.  If you are interested, I have written a series of articles that may help:

• Learn To See Your Own Rose-Colored Glasses
• Learn To See Your Own Rose-Colored Glasses Part 2
• Learn To See Your Own Rose-Colored Glasses Part 3
• Learn To See Your Own Rose-Colored Glasses Part 4