Our beliefs shape our individual world – they provide a framework for our daily lives and make us feel safe. We have GLOBAL or COMMON beliefs which other people share e.g. the world is round. These COMMON beliefs are based on EVIDENCE or EXPERIENCE. We used to believe that the world was flat until scientists proved otherwise.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts; Your thoughts become your words; Your words become your actions; Your actions become your habits; Your habits become your character; Your character becomes your destiny” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
We also have our own PERSONAL or CORE BELIEFS, some of which are positive and others negative or indeed false.
NEGATIVE beliefs about ourselves can trigger fears and become self fulfilling prophecies. E.g. if you believe that no one will love you, then this belief will affect relationships resulting in lack of trust and probable relationship breakdown.
Beliefs have the power to: – Create (Empowering) or Destroy (Limiting)Most of us have inherited beliefs from childhood and accept them as gospel, forgetting that it is only one perspective or interpretation
Beliefs can be changed by circumstances e.g. loss of faith in God after personal tragedy, or by evidence – No one believed (except him) that Roger Bannister could run a mile in less than 4 minutes in 1954, (until he did it!) we used to believe that the world was flat, in Victorian times, no one believed that cars would replace horses, TV was thought to be a five minute wonder and for many of us, who would have believed that we would be able to carry a telephone in our pocket?
“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” Mary Kay Ash
Do you remember learning to ride a bike, the alphabet, nursery rhymes or your times tables? – You probably learned them painfully and quite slowly with lots of practice and repetition but I have no doubt that should you be called upon to recite your tables – you could do it without difficulty. This is your subconscious at work! It has stored this information for you until it is needed and will respond accordingly. It will transfer back into your conscious mind, on demand – ready for use!
The mind is made up of the CONSCIOUS and the SUBCONSCIOUS and everything that we see, hear, do or think is stored in the subconscious, which is non judgemental but very accepting. It cannot tell the difference between positive or negative messages but will re-enforce whatever it receives.
The subconscious controls and cares for all our automatic bodily functions whether we are awake or asleep. Imagine trying to consciously remember to breathe all the time! We would all die at a very young age! However as we develop we learn and practice behaviour patterns – how to eat, how to walk, talk, read and write etc until we are good enough not to have to “think” about them anymore. This is when the messages are transferred from the conscious to the subconscious where they are stored until we need them.
This process determines how we see the world and establishes our behaviour patterns, attitudes, values and beliefs, which make us feel secure and safe because they provide a framework for us that “works”
Sadly the negative patterns of behaviour (habits) or messages we receive are also stored eg “I’m not good enough for him/her, that job. I am ugly/fat/unattractive, I am not clever enough etc” Fears and phobias are also built in this way and the more you say negative things to yourself, the more you will believe them! (Remember, a belief is only a thought that has become a habit and thoughts can be changed)
If you think of your brain as being a computer that has saved all your files, you know that in order to change them, you need to reopen them, alter or update them and return them to your filing system. If a file serves no purpose at all then you delete it!
