The Strategy That Changed Everything: D.A.R.E. to Believe Better
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Patricia (Trish) Heitz
Fifteen years ago, I was told I could never be cured from kidney cancer. Those words landed like a death sentence, but they also became my turning point. Prior to that diagnosis, I had lived in a persona I created out of survival; a version of myself designed to be accepted, loved, and seen as brilliant. But behind that mask, I fought a constant battle between truth and illusion. The harder I tried to become who I thought I should be, the more I only deepened my self-loathing, because somewhere inside, I knew I was living a lie.
When I was diagnosed, I began to study the mind-body connection and learned how negative beliefs are stored in the body, slowly breaking it down from the inside out. That realization changed everything. I understood that healing required more than medicine, it required true healing. I realized I had to discover, and align with who I authentically was. What I discovered was life-altering: my authentic self was already brilliant, lovable, and enough.
From that moment on, I stopped fighting with a persona and started listening to my body. By recognizing my survival pattern, I could then focus on understanding when, where and why I had stopped thriving. I began mapping the process that would become the foundation of my life’s work: the D.A.R.E. Your Beliefs™ Method.
D.A.R.E. stands for Discover, Assess, Recreate, and Expand, step-by-step system to uncover unconscious limiting beliefs, trace where they came from, replace them with ones that align with your truth and then continually expand on these new beliefs. As I worked through it myself, I discovered how beliefs of unworthiness and shame had created emotional stress that manifested as illness. When I began healing those beliefs, my body followed. Fifteen years later, my doctor told me the words I never thought I’d hear: You are cured.
That moment of freedom ignited a new purpose. I wrote Daydreams Come True—Self-Coaching Workbook to share the process that had saved my life. When readers began reaching out, asking how to apply the work, I knew my next step was to become a Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach. Transitioning from an executive spa trainer to a belief and wellness coach wasn’t just a career shift, it became my purpose, my calling.
Since then, I’ve guided countless women through this same journey of belief transformation. From a client in deep depression, unable to imagine a future, who uncovered the false belief that she wasn’t safe to be her authentic self, was then able to heal and release this belief, watching her energy and hope return, to another woman physically ill and emotionally depleted. Where she had spent years living for approval, maintaining a polished image that masked her pain. She was able to discover the breast implants she’d gotten years earlier to feel “enough” after divorce, directly conflicted with who she authentically was. Intuitively, she felt compelled to remove them. Testing later revealed mold had formed inside. Once the implants were removed, her health improved dramatically, and she described feeling “free for the first time.” Today, she’s living authentically and thriving from a place of truth, not performance.
These experiences, and my own, taught me that true transformation begins when we stop fixing symptoms and start healing beliefs.
As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to create from what we think people want and gerrymander our offerings to that. But what people truly crave, whether in health, business, or life, is relief from pain/need and a path to thriving. When your work is rooted in purpose and authenticity, success becomes a natural outcome.
The strategy that changed everything for me wasn’t a business tactic, it was daring to live my truth and listening to my authentic self. My advice to anyone ready to level up: listen to what life is trying to show you through your challenges. They’re not obstacles; they’re invitations. When you align with who you authentically are, you don’t just build a business, you build a life that heals, inspires, and thrives.
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