“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right”. Henry Ford
Beliefs are simply a collection of words that started as an idea. Over time, we allow the idea to feel certain and that certainty is what creates the belief. For example, if a child has the idea thats/he can’t draw or speak languages and
starts to think this is true of his/her ability, the child will believe it because of the certainty attached to the idea. Alternatively, if a child is told that she/he is capable and that they can do anything, then that child is going to grow up
believing that they can.
Another way to think of this is from an often-cited example:Think of an idea like a tabletop with no legs. The tabletop doesn’t have any legs to support it to stand up on its own. Add legs underneath the tabletop, and the idea becomes
a belief. It has something certain supporting it. In order to believe something you have to have experiences and evidence to back up the idea. These are the legs that make your tabletop solid. This is what makes you certain about
your beliefs.
Is there something that you have believed about your abilities ever since you were a child? Well, your unconscious mind has taken those words and over time attached a feeling of certainty to it to it. Before you know it, you start to believe it and act it out in your daily life as if it is true. The beliefs you create inform the habits you will have, and the actions that you will take. A belief is therefore a thought that you continually think over and over and over again
and our outer world shows us what we believe to be true in our minds. So, are you thinking empowering thoughts over and over again or are you thinking limiting thoughts over and over again?
We can choose to loosen up limiting beliefs, or take away the legs if we want to. Then, and add doubt so you can decide if its better to believe something else instead such ‘I can draw’, ‘I can speak languages’, ‘I can do well at interviews’ and ‘I can get a job’. We can choose which beliefs we want to own and which ones we don’t want to have. Your mind wants to prove to you what you believe with certainty. What you believe is what you will see showing up in your life. If you are not happy with what’s showing up, take proactive steps to start finding alternatives . . .
Read the instructions below and then close our eyes for a quick mini visualisation (a deceptively simple and highly effective technique):
-Do you have a belief that is stopping you from doing or achieving something you want? (ie losing weight, being lovable, finding customers, finding a job etc)
-Can you find an alternative, empowering belief instead and give it the same level of certainty?
-Close your eyes, think of the empowering belief you want, then visualise in that moment
1 . how you will look,
2. what you will feel,
3. what you will hear,
4. welcome any other sensations (taste, touch .. ) around your internal
representation.
5.Amp it up, step into it and make it brighter, full of energy and increase the
volume and anything else that you want to add to it so you can really get into
this new empowering belief . . . see what happens during the visualisation and
what happens in your life!
I value being true to myself and being allowed to have my own views and opinions. It would be hypocritical for me to then take away anyone else’s right to own their own beliefs. However, many people have views and opinions which are limiting, disempowering, and dis-enabling. We often don’t realise that we take on other peoples beliefs, opinions and values; it’s an unconscious process. Being aware (being conscious) of when we are taking on someone else’s set of beliefs gives us the choice to go with it (because of it’s benefits such as it feels good, it’s a belief that will help us, it’s different to other beliefs etc etc. . . ), or to respectfully allow them the right to their own beliefs.
When I first started questioning and challenging my own beliefs years ago, I realised that many of them were not my own; they were my parents, or from the culture, religion, or I had read these beliefs in magazines, books, online etc.
Some were empowering, many weren’t. Discovering the choice to decide for myself was empowering in itself and a choice that is too precious to give away.
Over a period of time, our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us change. Different experiences, new people coming into our lives, new relationships starting/ending, new careers and workplaces etc all contribute to how we perceive the world.As our beliefs, values and opinions change, so do our daily experiences, interactions with people and the meanings of our life that we create. When we can flow with these belief changes, we create personal breakthroughs and become the person we were always meant to be. To change your beliefs, change your language.
Some empowering beliefs are:
-Everything happens for a reason and with a purpose to aid my personal growth
-I have the skills that you need to achieve every single thing you want and deserve.
-I can do it.
-There is always a solution to every problem.
-Failure is only feedback
To change your beliefs, change your language. When you consciously choose beliefs that enable you, empower you and help you to be more of the person you are, your life changes in unimaginable and quite magical ways!
What did you used to believe about yourself and you now realise is untrue?
What would you like to believe about yourself? What beliefs are you ready to loosen up and let go of?