Deductive or Inductive Reasoning for Creating a Great Life?
© Leslie Householder
Author of #5 National Best-seller, "The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can"
ThoughtsAlive.com

Do you know the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning? Deductive takes what evidence you have and boils it all down to the most obvious conclusion (from the broad to the specific). Inductive reasoning takes a collection of examples where something worked a certain way, and from the examples, you infer that it is possible for something similar to happen again (from the specific to the broad). One way of thinking causes us to think smaller; the causes us to think more expansively, and the actual results will follow that model. Miracles' happen all the time, and the more you read about them, the more easily you'll believe one can happen for you. That is, if you allow yourself to reason inductively.

Let me give you an example: have you ever come to a challenge where no matter which way you look at it, the solution seems absolutely impossible? In that moment, you are thinking deductively. You are assessing all the data, all of the empirical evidence, and based on those pieces of information, you deduce that the desired outcome cannot work. Most people think that way, and live a life of frustration and stress.

On the other hand, a person who thinks inductively will take note of the existing evidence, but give it no weight. They believe that God has stepped in to help people solve their problems in strange, unexpected ways, many times. Then by inductive reasoning, when facing seemingly impossible odds, they decided that it can happen for him/her as well. Perhaps you've heard it said this way: 'If the dream is big enough, the facts don't count.'

Do you see why it is so important to associate with people who live by faith? People who live, having faith that things will always work out are likely to have plenty of stories to illustrate the effects of that faith. As you hear these stories, you gather a growing pile of evidence to support the fact that there IS a power greater than ourselves which helps us achieve the impossible. You'll begin to believe that it is more common for things to work out in strange, unexpected ways than it is to have things go wrong. You'll even begin to see miracles within the experiences that appear 'wrong'.

The person who chooses to picture themselves in the life they really want, and chooses to count the reasons why they CAN, instead of innumerating all the empirical evidence against them, will expand the life they have until it fits that picture. The person who looks at things as they ARE and pictures their future based on that evidence, will shrink the life they have to fit the only picture they allowed themselves to see. Believe in the impossible, and a remarkable life will be inevitable.