Beliefs Are A Choice!

Here it starts just suppose that even this one was a choice. You could go through your life knowing that what you believe is what you believe and you can’t change it or you could stop for a moment and have a quiet think.

Suppose you believe something to be true that holds you back everyday. It stops you being , having or even doing what you would like to or perhaps even prevents you from doing some of what you need to.

Most of the beliefs we hold are not certainties, not 100% guaranteed facts. We don’t often see them as choices. Choices we may have made unconsciously , automatically or even to fit in with others.  One option that makes sense is to think about our beliefs as a position we take based on our experience, education or even our instructions from others. Some who are well meaning and maybe some that were not. Some that recognised our full potential and some that did not.

Why we think the way we do and where all these rules, beliefs and opinions have come form is an interesting subject. A subject we can get lost in if we are not careful. A much cleaner approach is to ask questions like:

What must I believe to be true to act like this?

If I didn’t believe this what else could I do?

Beliefs are just opinions?

This really means the things we call beliefs are simply opinions that we have built up over time or opinions been brought up to accept as true. These opinions / beliefs are just part of our view on how the world works.  The purpose of this framework of beliefs and the rules for thought and action that follow them is to help us survive and thrive, to get better results.

If only a few of these beliefs or opinions are fact, if few are absolute certainties (like maybe gravity?) that we could always rely on and if they control so much of what we think what we do and how we consider we could go about things then its obvious they are worth critical scrutiny.

There are some things, like the sun coming up or our expectations of gravity that thankfully seem to be solid and reliable but so many of the beliefs we hold are not so certain.

Beliefs affect everything

Our beliefs determine what we experience, how we analyse it and what options we think we have and then what we choose to do (or not do) about it.

One belief is being addressed here – some people believe they cannot change what they believe. Others believe they are worth looking at , scrutinising carefully before we just run with the automated responses a given belief generates.

One belief we have come to accept as true is that we could all choose to change your beliefs. It happens with time naturally few of us believe what we did 20 years ago.

If you accept that you could change your beliefs its reasonably easy to test the results out in practise.   Pull the new belief on like a pair of new trousers and simply operate for a while as though this new belief is true and see what happens ….

It’s what we ask you to do on this site:

Perhaps you hold (or held ?) the belief your Monkey is an uncontrollable nuisance, try on the belief that he or she is trying to help and use expectation effect to notice the ‘new’ behaviours that show you the results. Most who do this see the new belief is now just as accurate as the old and they are overrun with examples of Monkey help they simply didn’t see before.

Perhaps you believed your beliefs were sacrosanct unchangeable? That you could not change them ?

Maybe that’s true but you could easily act as thought you believed something else and see if you get better results?

If you are in a situation you don’t enjoy; it could be a bad relationship, a bad job, a bad state of health, then the first question is do you believe things could be better for you?

Many of our delegates had never thought about this. When they did they found that they had accepted the idea that things could not be different that they couldn’t make a change that would matter. They went about any changes half heartedly already knowing they would not work. Looking back they could see  how these beliefs just got stronger.

Imagine you are in a relationship that is not good for you. You may even have trouble allowing yourself to think this ?

Why do you stay ?

Do you believe its the only one you could have ?

That any other relationship would be just as bad?

Time spent looking at our beliefs can be an eye opening experience and opens the way to try on a new more empowering belief for size and just see what happens

You don’t have to believe in the power of kindness to try it out for a week and see what changes.

You don’t have to believe in the opportunity for you to be thinner but you could stop eating between 1700  and 0900 the next morning and walk for 20 minutes each night just before going to bed. You know it won’t work but if you did it and you measured the results for a month you might just see your belief begin to crack.

Extending your fasting period and a 20 minute walk is fine for most of us. But don’t take advice here for your new you campaign. Read some of the these books or any of the hundreds available.

Just make sure you pick something simple easy and do it for 30 days measure your results and see what this does for your certainty about your immovable belief. Anything too sexy, controversial or complicated will fire your monkey up and you will get lost in detail.

Start with things you can measure easily.

Spend less deliberately and prove to yourself you can be richer in one month. Eat less walk more

From little acorns mighty oaks can grow. If you are unfortunate to believe you can’t do anything or its just not possible for you picking something small, proving to yourself that you can and following through will transform your world.

Other Limiting Beliefs

What else do you currently believe that you could see now as a choice if you wanted to?

What beliefs do you hold  that  prevent you from being or doing anything you might want to?

Perhaps its time for a belief audit?

When you act in a way that surprises you or a way that doesn’t give you best results its worth asking yourself what it is you must believe to be true for you to act like that, to say that to think that ……..

Beliefs and Monkeys?

If beliefs are a choice and here we believe this is true then you could change them if they don’t serve you well.

Why would you choose to hang onto any beliefs that hold you back, that prevent you from being happy?

We ask you to believe your Monkey is a helper who can really help if the set up is done right we ask you to try the idea on for size to give up any previous belief and act as though the new belief were true and see what happens?

You can do this with any belief that holds you back.

The key question is why would you loyally stick to a belief that doesn’t serve you ?

Sam Berns says it better than anyone here’s his TED Talk

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