What things do you ‘know’ to be true in your life. This will mean something different for everyone, some people have religious beliefs, some just have beliefs about themselves that they may have held for years, but are these beliefs healthy, or are they holding you back?
For some people, who are so engrained in their belief that they are unable to see beyond it, this post will not help or mean much, if so, skip to the next post.
Why should you question your beliefs?
Do your beliefs actually make you a better person and push you to achieve in your life, or do they limit you and hold you back?
What we choose to think about regularly, shapes our thoughts, emotions and our entire lives, so it’s so important to be careful what we think about. Our minds have the power to do great things, however our beliefs about things are much like a prism.
A prism through which we see the world.
Almost like a pair of glasses, which allow us to see things which support our beliefs, and miss out or ignore things which do not. It’s very easy to become subjective about a certain belief, meaning to ignore the facts, to ignore the evidence and just believe it simply because you believe it.
For hundreds of years, people thought the earth was flat, and it was only when someone traveled around the world and said ‘actually, it’s spherical’ that people started to change their minds. It’s an interesting thing, when people believe things simply because they don’t know any other way, or they haven’t fully explored alternatives, looked at all of the facts, and not just the ones that support their thoughts.
Some beliefs are very unhealthy and can become a self fulfilling prophecy. This means that by believing something, you make small changes in your life in order to make it true. Let’s look at an example. Let’s suppose you think you’re bad at social interaction, shy, and you don’t think you’re interesting.
Because you believe that, probably for no good reason, you’re likely to see the world through that belief. You’ll notice the times when you have an awkward situation, and forget the times when you’re had a really good conversation.
You ignore the facts and fail to see things objectively, because the truth is that you can change your beliefs at any time, and it’s a good thing to question your beliefs and make sure they’re worth maintaining.
Here are just a few beliefs which hold you back. Remember, You can change these, and make them go away.
- Belief that you’re not capable of doing something
- Fear or something
- Thinking that you can’t improve yourself
- Thinking that you’ll ‘never be happy’
And so on.
Question Your Beliefs!
Consider questioning what you believe and asking whether it’s genuine or just a way of coping with something else.
Maybe the belief was just planted within you in a certain situation. Often times, people adopt beliefs either because the people around them at the time make them think something, like hanging out with the wrong group of friends; you suggest the idea that you want to start a business, but they shoot you down for various reasons. Maybe because they themselves don’t know how to do it.
And you adopt that belief, simply because you let the thought enter your mind and it took hold. Thoughts are the most resistant parasite in the world, when an idea takes hold of your mind it’s almost impossible to remove, unless you really focus on your thoughts.
Let yourself be the master of the thoughts you have. Control what you focus on, and see what ‘is’. Become objective, and see things as they are, not through the prism of a limiting belief. This is one of the 11 Skills People Should All Have.