- Published on
Beliefs Hold the Key
5 min read
- Authors
- Name
- Greg Yung
Belief Series
- Beliefs Hold the Key
- Own Your Beliefs!
- To Be Successful, Have Successful Beliefs
Table of Contents
How many times did you fall before you discovered gravity can be painful? It probably didn’t take long before you believed the bigger the fall, the bigger the hurt.
How many burning stoves did you have to touch before believing that ‘red’ means hot? Probably not more than one.
Perhaps some of you ran with scissors, licked frozen poles, or ate dirt before realizing the consequences? Hope not.
Experience is but one way we form our beliefs in life that shape our reality, the world we see.
What is a Belief?
This sounds like a simple or even silly question, but often enough, people only give attention to the larger beliefs that carry significance in their society. Examples include religion, political affiliation, same-sex marriage (or marriage in general), money, alcohol, drugs, or if the Chicago Cubs are truly cursed or not. (Update: Apparently not.)
Breaking it down, a belief is a thought repeated over and over and held to be true.
Beliefs are thoughts we have developed an emotional attachment to, and thus, affects how we live our lives and our perception of reality. Our beliefs are the filter we see the world through.
Beliefs shape our current reality and define who we are, AND who we are going to become.
We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are. Our beliefs run deep. They define how we see the world, how it works, and our place in it. Beliefs shape how our experience with others, our relationships, and how we fit into these relationships. And of course, beliefs hold how we see and feel about ourselves.
Beliefs Hold The Key
Do you believe people are inherently good or evil? Are people typically open and kind or closed and cold? The answers to these questions help determine how you approach, interact with, and accept people.
Do you believe people see you as unattractive, unintelligent, weak, etc.? These beliefs affect your confidence, social interactions, and the personality you portray.
Do you believe you are knowledgeable and contain value? Do you believe you are a slow learner because you were held back in the 3rd grade? Do you believe that you weren’t born gifted at mathematics or to be a creative artist?
When we create beliefs we define our expectations, perspectives, and our actions that follow. If I tell myself “I can’t learn a new language, my mind doesn’t work that way.“, I am already giving myself an excuse for failure and choosing to accept failure as a matter of inevitability.
Sure, people have different aptitudes in different areas but having a negative or limiting belief before you even begin, is like driving on the freeway in first gear. You need to remove the resistance by allowing yourself to freely shift gears.
The heart and body feel what the mind believes. (And by ‘heart’, I, of course, mean the emotional side of your brain.) ;)
How Your Beliefs Shape Us
Our beliefs impact our subconscious the most – because we don’t just think about beliefs, we feel beliefs. This is incredibly powerful because it allows us to act or react autonomously, instinctively, and this can lead to empowering or disempowering actions.
The brain is a powerhouse and it wants to turn your beliefs into reality. If you believe you can’t reach your ideal state of fitness and health, do you think you’ll feel inspired to frequent the gym and change your eating habits? Your beliefs have the ability to invigorate passion that minimize your reliance on self-discipline; you will want to, need to, and be motivated to make these changes.
This is just an easy example to use but applies to every area of your life. If you don’t believe you are good enough to be a manager, you’ll probably be too nervous to pass the interview. Don’t believe you can run a marathon? Why bother trying.
Your brain is the cockpit, your rational brain is the pilot, and the control panel is your emotions giving you feedback. Your goal should be to create the best damn auto-pilot you can. Do this by developing beliefs that are beneficial to your success so you can enjoy the flight.
How to Take Off
Taking off implies a powerful belief in oneself that you can be the person you want to be, achieve what you want to achieve, and understand that you possess value to share with the world.
Somewhere along the way, we discover a weakness, we fail, or perhaps make mistakes that permit an opening for us to believe negatively about ourselves. We are our own biggest critic. Negative experiences can be flipped on there head by reflecting and taking away new learnings.
If you see something you want to change (or fix), then start by believing you can. There is nothing more limiting to 'taking off' than the limitation you put on yourself by the friction-inducing beliefs you subscribe to.
More on beliefs coming soon..