Power of Self-Belief

The self-image is the key player in our thoughts. To understand its importance we need to turn Descartes’ maxim “I think, therefore I am” back-to-front into: I AM WHAT I THINK.

Whatever we think we are, we are. Our self-talk creates our self-image. This is because our thoughts are always directed to proving what we want to believe. So, if we think we are stupid at maths, our thoughts will automatically seek evidence that proves it and ignore evidence to the contrary. Similarly, if we think we are quite clever at maths, we will seek evidence to prove it. So, the key to releasing the poftential of our thinking is to build a confident self-image – self-belief – in which our thinking is a partner in describing who we see ourselves to be.

Self-Belief: Dumbo and the Magic Feather

In 1941, Walt Disney taught old and young alike about the magic of self-belief in his adaptation of a Helen Aberson story called, “Dumbo”.

If you don’t know the story, Dumbo is a young elephant born in a circus with very large ears. Because of his ears, he is taunted by the other animals and ends up an outcast with only a mouse called Timothy as his friend.

Timothy decides to make Dumbo happy again. One night, after drinking too much, the two friends find themselves in a tree and Timothy concludes that Dumbo only got there by using his big ears to fly. Timothy persuades Dumbo to repeat this trick but when Dumbo doesn’t think he can, Timothy has to use a “magic feather” to make him believe that he can ly. With feather in place, Dumbo no longer doubts what Timothy tells him and uses his ears to ly in spectacular fashion through the sky.

Back at the circus, Dumbo has to perform a diving stunt from a high pyramid of other elephants into a small pool of water. Timothy tells him he doesn’t have to worry because he can ly and puts the magic feather into his trunk. But on the way down, Dumbo loses the feather and panics. Timothy desperately, frantically, tells him: “Dumbo! C’mon, ly! Open them ears! The magic feather was just a gag! You can ly! Honest, you can! Hey, open ’me up! Hurry! Please!”