Belief systems – our internal sign-posts
Belief systems - those more or less glaring signposts in our mind
Belief systems. We all have them – internalized and squirrelled away in the depths of our minds. They have been built and reinforced by a multitude of influences: experience, what we’ve been taught, value systems…
In themselves, they are an amazing thing: shortcuts imprinted in our minds and brain that function as signposts. They guide our behaviour and our reactions much better and easier than conscious thought. (If you want to read more on our brain’s tendency to bypass tiring conscious decisions, I recommend this blog post here.)
Now the tricky thing is that like their real-life counterparts, those signposts aren’t always trustworthy. Some have been there for ages, and since then, no-one has ever checked their validity. Some are brand-new and shiny, and still seem to lead us in circles. Some just plain lead us into nowhere while others are actually quite good and point out amazing short-cuts to success. Some are glaring trespassing warnings when the danger is long past.
So – how do we sort them out? Because it seems that we need to sort them to harvest the useful ones, and get rid of the rest.
I like to start with the four questions by Byron Katie, to be found in “The Work”: Is it true? – Can you absolutely know that it’s true? – How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? – Who would you be without that thought?
Stay a bit with those questions, and don’t dismiss them too quickly. I especially like to reinforce the first two with a slightly skeptical “Really?”
Also helpful is asking yourself: do I know other people without that thought? Do they survive? How so?
All this is to both feel into those beliefs and rationally question them. Usually, the supportive parts of your belief system do survive those questions. The unsupportive ones get weeded out rather quickly.
Oh look, see that pile of beliefs there? Great!
Want to continue? Maybe find out if you can actually turn around the ones that you already marked for deletion?
Good for you! And yes. I do have a few tipps and tricks up my sleeve for that. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, why don’t you join our mini-challenge to develop your very own positive beliefs and affirmations? Sign up to my newsletter and receive six daily challenge emails as a thank you!
Here’s more on the “how to”…
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