How does willpower play into the ability to change our destiny or beliefs?

Willpower alone is of little help in many situations dependent on well-entrenched trauma memories and associated negative beliefs registered with emotional negativity in the bargain. Because the trauma was quite hurtful, willing oneself to soldier on despite the wounding may work up to a point, but that only proves that the body is still working, but it will not be forced to go through the motions without an inner consequence of suffering and pain, because the mind will bring that to the awareness of the person regardless of their willpower to ignore it. As such, the strength of one's willpower is overrated as a solution for suffering. But we must also acknowledge a quite important principle here, that setting one's mind to working at changing something is often a key necessity to overcome prior difficulties, especially when these are deeply entrenched and guarded by a person's negative beliefs in their personal weakness, inability to succeed, not being lovable, and so on. If you believe your failures define who you are, you may never get anywhere, and not even the divine can change you for the better. When you embrace too many self-condemning beliefs of worthlessness, summoning willpower is often the best one can do to begin a shift energetically, in deciding to move beyond complacency and resignation that has, essentially, created a state of helplessness that can be suffocating and interminable. This may even be resistant to divine healing, at least for a considerable period of time, because the power of the mind to choose a dark fate must be honored, and it will take quite a long period of deep healing to undo what led to that dark self-condemnation. If someone sees a ray of hope, perhaps an offering from the higher self, that one can do better, one can have more than they think if they reach for it, and this inspires the person to set their mind to trying once again, and then re-engage with life in some way, that extra willpower might save the day by opening the door a bit to let healing love come in and carry them the rest of the distance. So willpower alone cannot accomplish deep healing, but there is always a part needed from the person, themselves, to enable divine healing to be fully effective. That can be simply allowing a role for the divine in things, in the outcome to better a person's life, but is another way of looking at the reality that in all things, with a person's life, what is ideal is to have a partnership with the divine. So each of the partners plays a role and are often working together in common cause to help the person advance and move forward in productive ways.