(First of a series)

How do beliefs affect our lives?

First of all what is a belief? Well, a belief is defined as “something that you hold to be completely true.” For example, if you are 40 years old, that’s a true belief that you are 40 years of age. A person’s beliefs are the unconscious (or subconscious) signs that shape how a person thinks, decides, behaves and acts in different situations.

Our unconscious mind is responsible for creating and enforcing our beliefs. The conscious mind on the other hand, is the armored guard that makes sure that our unconscious beliefs are enforced – until such time that they are changed or transformed at an unconscious level.

How are new beliefs created?

Normally, a belief is formed because of a memorable or emotional experiences good or bad.

Beliefs can be created from the environment we live in, our family, our church, the school we go to. A new belief can also be formed from any form of mental training, such as attending classes or reading books that we like. We unconsciously create powerful beliefs at each stage of our lives, from youth to adulthood.

Young children can have powerful beliefs that can even survive to adulthood. As we mature, we pick up new beliefs from different experiences in our life.

We usually stop believing or get rid of an old belief if a new belief gives us a better benefit or is more advantageous to us.

Ideally, we should be able to pick up new beliefs easily, especially if a belief clearly gives us a better route to achieving our goals. However, our minds are actually built to retain beliefs rather than let them go.

We have a natural tendency to hold on to old beliefs because it is our way of creating equilibrium and permanence in our lives. Unfortunately, this desire to keep old beliefs can sometimes prevent us from improving or progressing in certain aspects of our life.

How are beliefs different from each other?

Beliefs affect our behavior and we have two types of beliefs: empowering beliefs and limiting beliefs.

We use our Empowering beliefs often to accomplish things. For example, if you believed that you were born with a natural writing talent. This belief can help you develop other related beliefs such as “I can write stories that other people want to read.”

This type of positive belief can help you overcome your present limitations by improving your outlook of life. Your empowering beliefs can help you succeed as long as you remain motivated and passionate about your target outcome.

What are limiting beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are just like empowering beliefs: you hold these ideas as true (whether you are consciously aware of them or not) and they guide how you think and take action.

How do you know if a belief is a limiting one?

A limiting belief has the following characteristics:

– Most of the time it is stated in the negative or it has a negative meaning. Limiting beliefs can often be expressed using the words “can’t,” “can’t possibly,” “shouldn’t,” “wouldn’t,” etc. Other times it can express itself as a simple observation such as “I’m horrible at basketball” or “I’m a horrible driver.”

– It holds you back from doing something that you’ve never tried before.

– It revolves around fear, sadness, loss of hope and other negative emotions.

– It can be hard to accept that you’ve got this belief but at the same time, you can’t do anything that contradicts this belief.

– It can make you feel depressed, angry or inadequate when you consciously think about this belief.

Are we naturally pessimistic?

Some experts say that limiting beliefs exist because humans have a naturally pessimistic mindset.

Pessimism, some experts argue, is the reason our ancestors survived predators, natural calamities and food scarcity. Optimists, they say, don’t think of what misfortune could come next, so they don’t survive as well as the pessimists.

A pessimistic mindset might make sense if you are using stone tools and there are large predators that might bite you in the dead of the night. However, modern society has changed so much that a pessimistic mindset produces the opposite effect: instead of enhancing your ability to survive and grow it puts you in a small, imaginary box and traps you there.

Having many limiting beliefs are symptomatic of a negative or pessimistic mindset.

Fortunately, you can change a lifetime of pessimism through neuro-linguistic programming.

By using NLP strategies, you can change your mental map and create a more powerful mind that is focused on creating and implementing the best plans, so you can , start enjoying the outcomes that you have always dreamed of. NLP techniques are scientific based and have proven to be effective. NLP tools moves you from where you are to where you want to be in the shortest amount of time because its focuses you on what you want not what you don’t want. You create changes and positive beliefs at the unconscious level.

We’ll be going deeper into the world of beliefs and values in our next blog post.

For now, try to answer the these questions for yourself and see what you come up with:

1. What are my most powerful beliefs about myself right now?

2. Which of these beliefs empower me and help me grow as a person?

3. Which of these beliefs prevent me from venturing out into the world so I can find out what works and what doesn’t?

4. What should I do about my limiting beliefs?

5. How can I nurture my empowering beliefs?

Make it a great day!

Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on social media.