Changing your belief could be easy as changing one word
False beliefs hold us back and limit our lives. Some are easy to change. Others may need effort and tears. Are you ready for that?
False beliefs hold us back and limit our lives. Some are easy to change. Others may need effort and tears. Are you ready for that?
Our beliefs are very much like subscriptions. We pay belief and receive content or comfort that supports that belief. Beliefs change through circumstances and time.
Beliefs also exist at varying depths of conscious or unconscious awareness, from assumptions to core belief systems and these can be hard to challenge, especially when we don’t even know where to start.
But the nice thing about Beliefs is that they are ours to change, should we choose.
“There are no jobs!” he blurted. “The market is down! There’s nothing out there.”
Change one word, change your world.
There was once a man, a friend of mine, who worked for a company but he needed a raise. He was barely making ends meet each month. Sometimes he was in the red and digging deeper into debt, spending money he did not have. He went to his boss who agreed to plead his case with the relevant decision makers - those fingers tiny in comfort but mighty on the purse-strings.
I believed he deserved the raise; and I encouraged him to find another job if the raise did not come through. He was taken aback, aghast.
“There are no jobs!” he blurted. “The market is down! There’s nothing out there.” And many of his colleagues shared his view.
But the purse did not open. His raise was not approved and he was left in his dilemma.
Two weeks later he found another job.
What happened?
What happened between his impassioned statement that there were no jobs, and then finding a job two weeks later?
He cancelled his subscription. He broke through a false belief. Now, he prospers.
Fair enough, you could argue it was an assumption he broke through, but I’m including assumptions under beliefs too.
When you like a channel on YouTube, you subscribe. When you have interest in animals you subscribe to animal pages or magazines. When you are planning a wedding you may subscribe to bridal publications.
A subscription involves an exchange. You might pay money to receive exclusive content. At other times you might simply pay your e-mail address in exchange for a free download.
There’s an exchange, a this for that, a quid pro quo.
It was out of desperation that my friend changed his belief. I doubt he did it consciously, but he went from believing “there are no jobs out there,” to believing that “there must be jobs out there.”
He changed one word in a sentence.
Just one word.
He changed one word and changed his world.
The nature of beliefs.
A belief is something we accept to be true, even if we don’t have any proof. That’s what makes them question-able. That’s what makes them changeable.
Beliefs change through circumstance and time.
Consider the field of epigenetics and the phenomenal work done by Dr Bruce Lipton.
Prior to 1980 everybody believed that genetics played a major role in whether you would inherit a condition or disease from a parent. After Dr Lipton’s work in epigenetics that belief was challenged. Now your genetics are also subject to the environment in which they find themselves. Now that belief on genetics is no longer absolute.
I love this quote:
“A thousand years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, they knew the Earth was flat. Fifteen minutes ago, you knew we humans were alone on it. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.” – Agent K, Men in Black (MIB).
Beliefs are deeply personal, stemming from what we were taught in our early years, and tying in closely with our value system and identity. Changing a belief might mean changing your identity and that can be really hard.
In my earlier blog on alchemy and personal transformation, I expand on how painful it can be; and that it sometimes comes at a cost.
Above, I mentioned that beliefs are what we accept even if we don’t have any proof. Beliefs are what we tell ourselves to be true. The human brain, your phenomenal brain, responds to what you tell it; it learns by repetition. By repeating something over and over in the back of your mind you’re constantly informing and programming your brain to believe that what you are saying is true.
And because a belief is something we accept to be true in the absence of proof to the contrary, a belief can be a lie. In this vlog, I explain why it’s a good idea to tell ourselves a better lie. Better still, it’s possible.
The best thing about our beliefs is that they are ours to change. We have the power to do that.
The best thing about our beliefs is that they are ours to change. We have the power to do that.
Go ahead. Try it on your tongue. I’m sure it doesn’t taste as bitter as “I’m not enough.”
False beliefs hold you back.
I found a wonderful article on 7 false beliefs that hold you back.
You may think you’re not enough but to somebody who loves you, you may be the whole world. What if you stopped telling yourself you’re not enough, changed it to, “I always embrace opportunities to improve”?
Go ahead. Try it on your tongue. I’m sure it doesn’t taste as bitter as “I’m not enough.”
False beliefs do hold us back, but they don’t have to.
What happens if you don’t change your beliefs?
You become obsolete, get left behind; or you may find society intolerable.
Note that its not impossible to be a contributing member of society and function quite well when holding on to old beliefs and patterns, but sooner or later, those who don’t upgrade feel it on some level.
Beliefs are like software to a point. They have to be updated. If they’re not updated your computer won’t function as well, at best; and won’t be able to keep up with the changing world at worst.
It will be discarded and a new one will be procured.
In “Interview with the Vampire” the vampire Armand attempts to steal Louis for himself in the hope that Louis can bring him into “the new world.”
Ultimately this failed because nobody can change your beliefs. Only you can. That’s why they’re ours to change.
Nobody can change your beliefs.
Only you can.
That’s why they’re ours to change.
It all starts with taking ownership of our beliefs when we realise that our beliefs are ours to change.
How to challenge your beliefs.
Start small. If you break a plate, don’t say how clumsy you are. Tell yourself a better lie by telling yourself how nimble your fingers are becoming. Talk yourself into becoming rather than reinforcing an old way of being.
When you feel like you’ve failed at something, tell yourself you’ve learned another lesson. Edison found hundreds of ways how not to make a light bulb; which leads me to:
Persist. Wallowing in an old belief serves nobody.
Keep at it. It’s more about how many times you get up than how many times you fall.
Write a list starting with “I believe…” Then interrogate each one. Is that true? Is that true for me? Why? When did I form this belief? Is my belief based on my own experience? Is there evidence to refute my belief.
How would I feel if I flipped this belief on its head?
Conclusion.
Changing our beliefs is not an option if we want to shed some shackles or break through blocks.
There are many ways to do that, but it all starts with taking ownership of our beliefs when we realise that our beliefs are ours to change.
But false or outdated beliefs do not serve us.
If you’re struggling with making progress in your life, with anything from anxiety to self-sabotage to depression, it might be that you’re holding on to a deep core belief about yourself.
And if you’d like to change that, I can help.
Book an appointment.
