BELIEFS AND HOW THEY IMPACT OUR REALITY

HOW ARE BELIEFS FORMED?
As established beliefs are the very foundation of our behavior and are formed through various experiences and interactions we have. As the mind develops and processes information it builds our beliefs systems. Typically the highest influence on our beliefs is through our interactions with our core relationships, namely our interactions with our mother / primary caregiver and father / secondary caregiver. Certain beliefs are passed down from generation to generation as part of family traditions, values etc. Another manner in which beliefs are formed is through relationships with a broader community or peer group. Personally, the most important aspect of these interactions is the impact they have on your belief about yourself, how you perceive yourself. The image of oneself is what drives us throughout our lives. Beliefs about oneself act as filters and influence the choices we make as well as the behaviors we portray. More often than not we act without even knowing the influence the belief set that is leading us to take action. Beliefs can be broadly classified into 2 types – Internal – Self Beliefs or our inner state and Outer / external beliefs – Our perception of the world and its realities.

HOW DO BELEIFS IMPACT OUR REALITY?
The primary focus of this article is to talk about Self Beliefs, make you aware of their existence and give you the opportunity to evaluate your behavior and identify the current beliefs you are working with.
Let’s look at a few examples of the beliefs that many of us work with on a daily basis. Each of us at some point has come across that one person who believes that their life is too hard – everyone else has it easy. They repeat this constantly and have downloaded this belief system into their minds and irrespective of whether their life is genuinely hard or easy they truly believe that their life is hard. Does this mean that their life will always be perceived as hard by them? Not necessarily, but they have to be willing to identify this belief and make a concerted effort to change. Another example of belief we see a lot is in sports. Whether in individual or team sports, if an unlikely result occurs and someone / team who was not expected to win does, then 9 out of 10 times you will see that they assign the reason for winning to believing in themselves. You will hear “the team won because they started believing that they could win”. This one sentence illustrates the sheer power of belief and how it can result in changed behavior, performance and sharper skill sets.
Beliefs tend to persist, so if you reinforce a belief about yourself it slowly but surely becomes your reality. What you choose to tell yourself on a daily basis is a large contributor to how your circumstances change.
CAN BELIEFS BE CHANGED? HOW DO I DO IT?
Self-limiting beliefs are beliefs which do not serve you; in fact they hinder your growth as an individual and act as obstacles to your success. The question is can these beliefs really be changed and the answer is a resounding Yes. They can and must be changed to ensure you live up to your true potential.
1) The first step to changing existing beliefs is becoming cognizant of the fact that they exist. Look at your actions, your thoughts, ask yourself what is the reason you make certain choices. As you start to evaluate this you will start to identify and understand the beliefs you are working with.
2) The second step is to question and challenge the beliefs you identify. Are they really true? Do they affect the way you function; do they serve you or hold you back? When were they formed? Do you need to hold on to them? You may not get answers to all these questions but you will get a broader understanding, enough to take the next step. Some individuals do find challenging their beliefs an uncomfortable process and there are various NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) tools and techniques which can facilitate this process and make it simpler to deal with.
3) The third step to changing your beliefs is to take action towards countering the impact of the belief. If your belief is “I always fail at everything I do” then this can be replaced with a different belief which you yourself can download, “I am successful at everything I do”. For this new belief to grow you must use the “Law of repetition” and ensure that you nurture it so that it becomes a part of your being. You can choose to say it to yourself at the start and end of every day, you could choose to write it multiple times during the day reinforcing the message to yourself. There are many ways of reinforcing the message to yourself and it depends on what you are comfortable with. NLP also offers some great models to apply to reinforce the suggestion and help it grow within you.
As you start to follow this simple process you will start to experience a behavioral shift in yourself and will start functioning with the new belief system that “You are successful at everything you do” – now how fantastic would that be?
Remember you have nurtured beliefs which haven’t served you before, so it is definitely possible to nurture positive and empowering beliefs. There are many ways to do it – the most important thing is to realize this, get into action and start working on it.