Module 5 – The Power Of Belief

WHAT WE BELIEVE IS BASED ON OUR PAST

What you currently believe about yourself, other people, and the world is based on thoughts from your past.

Beliefs are nothing more than thoughts you’ve thought over and over until they became beliefs. Throughout your life you have learned thoughts and beliefs directly and indirectly, and most of them are now so ingrained that you aren’t even aware of them. You probably even think your beliefs are facts!

Just like a fish is unaware of the water in which it swims, we are often unaware of the thoughts we are thinking.

We must develop the skill of becoming a Watcher.

We have to learn to watch our brain think so we can recognize thoughts and beliefs for what they are – subjective choices and opinions.

Often, we think we are observing facts when we are actually making judgments based on what we have learned in our past.

For example, we will think the thought, “That is a beautiful woman.” We won’t question that as a fact. When we believe our thoughts, we think they are facts. We will think there is something inherently beautiful about that woman – that other people would be crazy (or wrong) if they thought she was not beautiful. The same goes for thoughts like “it’s difficult for me to stop buffering” or “drinking makes things (or me) more fun” or “moderation in all things, including moderation” or “everyone does it and it’s normal.” These beliefs are so deeply ingrained that we don’t see them as beliefs anymore, we mistake them for facts.

HOW TO DISCOVER EXISTING BELIEFS

I want you to identify these beliefs and question them. We don’t often see our beliefs as beliefs, so I want you to evaluate each of your thoughts. It’s
important for you to understand which beliefs are serving you and which are not. Then you can take ownership of your beliefs and choose which you want to get rid of and which you’d like to keep.

A strong indicator of a negative thought is a negative feeling.

You are likely to think that the negative feeling is coming from the world (a circumstance) because you have so often drawn that conclusion. However, feelings always come from thinking. Thoughts that create disempowerment will block new beliefs that generate self empowerment.

ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER, FILL IN THESE BLANKS AND SEE WHAT YOU DISCOVER:

? I don’t like…
? I don’t want…
? That won’t work because…
? I’ve never done it, so…
? It’s his/her fault because…

HOW TO BELIEVE SOMETHING WE DON’T YET BELIEVE

Beliefs are super thoughts. They are thoughts you’ve kept thinking for so long they feel like facts.

Beliefs are not facts. You have a set of beliefs, or a belief system, from these thoughts because you have practiced thinking them over and over, intentionally or not. This doesn’t mean that they are true, it just means that you have decided they are true. If you want to stop believing something, you have to first recognize that it’s a current belief you have chosen and then you must decide to change your mind.

I are not suggesting that facts are not true. Facts are facts whether we believe them or not. The truth, however, is subjective. For example, a rock is a rock. That is a fact. Everyone would agree that an object is a rock, but we can choose our personal, subjective truth about that rock. Do we choose to see it as dangerous or as beautiful?

We can choose either, and both would be true. We get to decide which one we want to believe and focus on.

WHAT WE WANT IS BASED ON OUR FUTURE

Often, we look to our past for validation that we are capable of something.

This only works if we are looking to accomplish something we’ve already accomplished in the past. Imagine if a baby who was learning to walk refused to try because they had never been successful at walking before. With this mindset, the baby would never learn to walk. Fortunately, when we were babies, we didn’t look to our past for evidence that we would be successful or we’d still be crawling!

Somewhere, typically in our early adulthood, we stop focusing on our future and focus instead on our past to help us decide what we’re capable of. We begin choosing thoughts like, “I’ve never done it before, so I’m not sure I can do it” or “I’ve been buffering for a long time; it’s just who I am” or “I’ve never been able to stop buffering before” or “I’ve had a rough day and deserve to {insert buffer}”.

We limit our future potential based on who we’ve been and what we’ve accomplished so far.

Focusing on the future means you will recognize limiting beliefs, let them go, and replace them with beliefs that serve your dreams. It means focusing on the road ahead and getting excited about the future. It means that to create a different future, you have to create something that doesn’t exist in your past.

You must believe something that you don’t currently believe. If you already believed it, you would have created the result you do not yet have.

ASK YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AND ANSWER THEM ON A SHEET OF PAPER:

? In what ways are you past focused?
? How do you let things from your past define or limit you?
? What beliefs do you have that don’t serve you anymore?

WORKSHEETS

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