Beliefs. We all have them. Tucked away in our subconscious mind, these thousands of phrases are thought over and over until they become the invisible limits and boundaries of our very lives. Moment by moment our belief structure actually drives our decisions, reactions, behaviors, and life choices. Generally this is a very good thing, as healthy, non limiting, rational, supportive, truthful, beliefs help us to respond lovingly to others or go confidently forward and achieve our goals and dreams. Indeed, these positive, healthy beliefs are a real boost to our having positive, healthy, happy, life experiences. However, whenever we hold beliefs that are unhealthy, limiting, irrational, untrue or that just plain don’t serve us, these beliefs become an insurmountable barrier to all those good things we want to be, do, have, or experience in our lives.
We develop the core basis of our belief and perception structure very early, often before we have any access to words, have any clue about what’s real, never mind logical. Additionally, in those early years, most of us function from the perception that the world revolves around us; often believing if something "bad" happens, it is our fault, or it happened because we are intrinsically bad. Some of these unhealthy, erroneous, beliefs develop into Core Issues and other Patterns that repeat over and over in our life experiences.—”No matter what I do, I’m not good enough,” or “If they only knew the real me, they wouldn’t like/love me,” or “I can’t__________.” Other beliefs become all enveloping Black Holes that literally suck the life out of, not only ourselves, but also those dear ones around us. These beliefs take the form of, “No matter what I do “they” just won’t give me the __love/attention/respect/__ I want and need.” And it even feels like “they” are deliberately withholding “it” from us—purposefully.
It is true that our ability to experience all that is good or have what we want in life can seem to be absolutely bound by barriers on all sides—these barriers are our very own belief structures.
Think about it. Is there really anything going on in your life “good” or “bad” that you haven’t spent some significant thought time on, hold beliefs about, or knew in your gut to be “true”, at least from your perspective and history up until now? When something fell apart or went "wrong", didn't you think, "I knew it!" What if what you know and believe to be “true” is only just a belief perspective based on a decision you made, say when you were two years old? What if your reality could be different if only you could choose to believe something else? What if you could come from being or responding differently to circumstances if you choose to believe something different about yourself, others, or life in general? What would your life experience be like then?
OK, so once we understand that our life experiences are limited by these belief barriers, what can we do about it? Given enough time and effort, causal beliefs can be discovered and changed through use of counseling or by deliberately trying to catch and change our thinking, over and over and over. Though this works, it often takes considerable time, effort, and consistency. However, my preference is to utilize empathology tools to easily discover and then more quickly shift these beliefs with customized affirmations combined with other techniques. Additionally, I prefer the use of thought discipline tools to help shift the habits of thought to ones that better serve the clients’ wants, desires, and well being.
So, what if the only thing between you and your having more of what you want out of life is your own belief structure and habits of thought? Why not change that now?
Questions? E-mail Alice at alice@lifeforcenatural.com
When you are ready to make significant changes in your life, email Alice for a personal or telephone appointment. alice@lifeforcenatural.com.
by Alice Buehring, Integrative Therapist
