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Page 1 of 2 “Your belief system is the foundation from which all your thoughts, feelings and actions stem.”
Now that you've identified who you want to be, and what you want to do and have, let's look at the obstacles you perceive to be in your way of accomplishing those things. I'm here to tell you, although it may appear as if the roadblocks are real, tangible things (time, availability, money, ability, etc), most of the problem is an issue of perception and belief. Nine times out of ten, it has to do with fear. Where there's fear, there's stagnation. Somehow when you transform your beliefs, what was once an obstacle, becomes doable. New beliefs can allow you to see your way around or through the obstacle.
Beliefs
Beliefs are any ideas you think are true about yourself, others, and life. Many of the beliefs you hold today, are the result of a) what your parents/guardians believed, b) what your friends believed and/or c) what you've been told is true by a perceived authority.
Unfortunately, some of those beliefs are not helping you in your life. What if you looked at yourself as the accumulation of all the beliefs you’ve been exposed to and took on as our own. And what if you made a vow to rebuild yourself with new more useful beliefs? What belief system would you build?
Would it be one that supported your desires and wants? One that gave you the greatest freedom? Encouraged happiness? Some beliefs are counter-productive to what you say you want. Wouldn't it be nice to identify those beliefs? Examine them for validity? There are so many self-defeating beliefs but here are just a few I've identified in myself and others. Do you believe any of the following?
Self Defeating Beliefs
- I don't have time to do what I want.
- I can't change. This is just the way I am.
- I'd be selfish if I focused on my desires.
- I have to be realistic. People who are optimistic aren't realistic.
- I have to have [love, sex, new car, money, etc] to be happy.
- No pain, no gain.
- You have to do some things in this life you don't want to do.
- You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
- If my happiness was a priority, I'd be inconsiderate of others.
- It's a dog-eat-dog world out there.
Changing Your Beliefs
So far this site has mainly engaged you at the reading level. Changing the beliefs that are causing you pain is where the rubber really hits the road. If you are serious about wanting to turn your life around, you're going to have to go beyond simply reading. You will not experience any lasting change reading about ideas. Oh, I'm all for ideas. I love to read too. But real change doesn't happen until it's personal.
I don't know if you're like me, but I have read a lot of books, attended a lot of programs, listened to umpteen tapes and talked about personal growth an awful lot. But none of this really made any huge difference in how I felt, what I did, or helped me get what I wanted, at least in the long term.
"If you see a difference between where you are and where you want to be - consciously change - your thoughts, words, and actions to match your grandest vision.
This might require tremendous mental and physical effort. It will entail constant, moment-to-moment monitoring of your every thought, word, and deed. It will involve continued choice-making - consciously. This whole process is a massive move to consciousness. What you will find out if you undertake this challenge is that you've spent half your life unconscious. That is to say, unaware on a conscious level of what you are choosing in the way of thoughts, words, and deeds until you experience the aftermath of them. Then, when you experience these results, you deny that your thoughts, words, and deeds had anything to do with them."
- excerpt from "Conversations with God"
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