The Power of Believing

What is it that you believe in? Like TRULYY believe in? Is it God? Or Love? Maybe it's Hope. Or Democracy. How about the Environment? Or Dreams? Maybe it's Peace. Or Believing.

That's right. I said believing in believing. Bewildered?? I was. Now you might be thinking, well what the hell does that mean? Who believes in believing? Ah-hem. I do.

Everyone has something they believe in, whether it's their faith, or their company, or in themselves. It's important to believe. Why? Well because it keeps us grounded. It let's us know that there's something more than ourselves. Subconsciously, believing allows us to have a sense of everlastingness or immortality. Believing, allows us to expect. And expectations lead to.... disappointments? Yes, sometimes, when they aren't fulfilled. But when they are, expectations give us a sense of pride and satisfaction that can not be found anywhere else in the world.

Believing is what creates leaders. Leaders are the people in this world who have the greatest sense of belief. The belief can be in religion, if we are discussing religious leaders, such as the Dalai Lama, whose beliefs inspire, affect, and impact. The belief can be in politics, in democracy, or patriotism. These are the leaders who lead countries, revolutions, and armies. Or the belief can simply be in family. These leaders we tend to take for granted, our parents, grandparents, siblings. It's easy to forget the ones who are closest to our heart and have the greatest impact in our lives.

Do I consider myself a leader? Yes. What do I believe in (other than believing of course!)? Now that's a question that requires a lot self-reflection. Since I first and foremost (for now at least) consider myself a leader in AIESEC, I believe in the AIESEC Mission, "peace and fulfillment of humankind's potential". Without this belief, I don't think I would be passionate about this organization, and if I wasn't passionate about it, I wouldn't be the President. Because if I don't believe in it, how can I ever expect anyone else in my Local Committee to?

Beliefs are hard to come by, once you believe in something, it's hard to let it go. A personal example of this is my constant internal fight with my belief in religion, or God, or some sort of higher power. Scientifically thinking, it doesn't make sense to believe in it. But when it comes down to it, believing in God is something I've grown up with, I don't think I'll ever 100% give up believing in that.

I also believe in the environment. I believe we, as humans, as consumers, as wasters, as abusers, and exploiters owe everything we have to the Earth, to what it's provided us with. We should be careful to use our resources wisely. Every action that we take today impacts the future generations. Remember that and you'll never think twice about recycling.

Lastly, I believe in humanity. I believe that there is always some good in every person. Sure people make mistakes, and some people do bad things. But Dale Carnegie made this clear as to why people do this. It is so they get a feeling of importance and because to them, they believe their actions were justified. If we didn't believe in humanity, we would never have leaders such as Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela. If we didn't believe in humanity, let's be honest, the Cold War would have become the 'Let's end all Life on Earth War'. Whew! Glad that never happened!

So, why is it that I believe in believing? Well, to me it seems that people are the happiest when their beliefs comes true. With the upcoming Holidays in mind, when a child who believes in Santa wakes up on Christmas morning to presents under the tree is absolutely elated. Because he/she gets a new toy? Sure, that's part of it, but mainly because his/her belief wasn't broken. At the end of the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness', Will Smith's character is happy not only because he obtained a stable job, but because he believed in his ability to obtain it.

Maybe that's the secret to happiness, believing in something, anything. Believe that tomorrow will always come, believe in your dreams, believe in yourself, but most of all, believe in mankind. True happiness comes from the heart, believe with your heart and impossible is nothing.