Creating Healthy Beliefs

Actions speak louder than words, so your belief system is more evident in what you do rather than what you say.

Ultimately, you want to start to identify negative belief systems that may be creating self-doubt which is holding you back and then formulate a strategy to transform them to more positive, productive beliefs. This is no easy task because the range of beliefs a person can have is huge and some beliefs are stronger than others. Also, change is easiest when it's implemented on the subconscious level or as the result of an emotional threshold. At least, that's been my experience.   

The very nature of the word belief tends to imply rigidity about it. A belief, by definition, is the acceptance by the mind that something is true or real and this is anchored by an emotional or spiritual element. If it's one of your beliefs, then that's that. That's the way it is, or, is it? Beliefs can change and they do all the time.   

While I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with him, Winston Churchill once said, "If a person in his 20s is not a liberal, he doesn't have a heart. If a person is in his 40s and not a conservative, he doesn't have a brain." As time goes by, our view of the world changes as do some of our belief systems.   

Your beliefs will change throughout your life, so rather than think of them as rigid and etched in stone, think of them as powerful, but dynamic tools that you use to create the life you want. Some beliefs work even when they are not true. Did you believe in Santa Clause? I did. For about five years, Santa was real and he added to my holiday excitement. I wasn't devastated or betrayed when I discovered that he only existed in our imaginations. It didn't matter to me and I bet it didn't matter to you either.   

An animal trainer will chain a young elephant to tree or post so it will learn that it can't get away. He programs the elephant that escape is futile and the chain will always hold. By the time the elephant is five or six tons and strong enough to easily break the chain, his belief is that there is nothing he can do and he doesn't even try.   

Your beliefs can be as strong and irrational as the elephant's belief about the chain. A colleague of mine tells the story of one of his weight loss clients who was very pretty, but about 75-lbs overweight and full of self-doubt. He regressed her in hypnosis to the first time she felt the feeling that brought her into the office that day. In her hypnotic state, she recalled a terrible incident at age-17 when a friend from school raped her. This was in the 70s and, rather than go to the police her mother simply told her, "That's because you are so pretty." In a misguided way, her mother was trying to make her feel good about herself. The message the girl got was if she remains pretty this might happen again. Overeating was a way to make her self less attractive.   

She developed the belief that "If I am pretty, this may happen again." That is a powerful belief system that can have tremendous negative effects on the quality of her life. This was not even a conscious belief. She was in the office for a weight loss session because she wanted to lose the weight. Still, her subconscious mind held onto that belief and prevented her from succeeding with diets or any other attempts at losing the weight.   Your conscious mind may think you believe a certain way, but your actions tell you more about your true belief systems which are stored in your subconscious mind.   

So what negative beliefs are creating self-doubt for you?