With Core Beliefs
What do you believe about your life? Most of us have beliefs that limit our growth and as we all know you are what you believe. Phrases like "the way to succeed is to work hard" or "the early bird catches the worm” are not necessarily so.
Some people have beliefs about themselves and their lives that empower them in ways you cannot imagine.
My friend had a belief about money that always amazed me until I began to understand how powerful beliefs can be. Believe and you shall receive.
He was not a wealthy man. In fact, most of his life he struggled to make a living. He believed that there would always be enough money to get by. "I don't know how," he would say, "but the money will come from somewhere." Many times I have seen him down to his last few cents and then he would suddenly get a windfall, it was always a surprise. He never planned or outlined where the money would come from. He would get a surprise check, he would strike up a business deal or something else would happen. It truly never failed! It was never a large amount of money but it was just "enough to get by." Wherever the money came from it was his manifestation of his belief that there would always be enough money to get by.
My friend actually limited himself with this belief. If he had believed there would always be an abundance of money he would have had more than "enough money to get by." Why do "the rich get richer?" They believe or know that (believing in something is knows it to be true) they are entitled to increased wealth. A person, who believes he to be poor, remains poor.
All the personal development books I have read and the tapes I have listened convey the one fundamental truth that “like attracts like.”They say it differently, but that "truth" is contained in each and every one of them.
In many of them, Jesus is quoted as saying, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is , you are what you beliefs", If you believe others are entitled to wealth and happiness, but you are not, you are absolutely right! If you believe you are entitled to wealth and happiness, you are absolutely right! I think it is a trick, to see if we are paying attention. … and never give up hope God’s Soothing Mercy: truly no one despairs of God’s Soothing Mercy, except those who have no faith.” (Quran: 12:87)
Whatever you believe will be made real in your life, I guarantee it! Believe and you shall receive, beliefs about money and happiness are part of a network of beliefs called core beliefs. We all have them, no one is immune. Core beliefs are developed throughout our lives and are reflective of everything we have heard, seen, done or thought. Core beliefs work through our subconscious and conscious minds and they determine the way we perceive reality.
As you were growing up if someone in your family called you stupid on a consistent basis when you became an adult one core belief you have about yourself could be that you are stupid. If you were encouraged to achieve in school and if you were rewarded with positive "strokes" for achieving you grew up believing you could achieve and today you have no problem with learning.
Strokes are the encouragement, compliments and other rewards people give you for accomplishing something or for behaving in a certain way. It is called respondent learning, a nice way to say conditioning and we are all victims of it.
We all have a variety of core beliefs. Some are positive and empowering beliefs while others are negative and limiting beliefs.
Positive core beliefs include; there are great opportunities for success in life, I'm good looking, I'm intelligent or I'm rich.
It should be easy to see how a deep inner knowledge of these things would have a positive influence on your life. On the other hand, negative beliefs like: only rich, white people succeed, I'm ugly, I'm stupid or I'm poor, would tend to inhibit any success you are striving for. Your core beliefs are an accumulation of things you have learned throughout your life.
Everything your parents, teachers, brothers and sisters, friends or enemies have said to you or did to you, influence your core beliefs. Even the things you have thought have had an influence on what you believe about yourself and the reality of your life.
Core beliefs are a pyramid of all the things you have heard, seen or thought. Every day, in fact every minute, you are reinforcing or weakening your core beliefs. It is an on-going process. Every time you look into a mirror and say to yourself "I'm good looking" you are influencing your core belief about your appearance and not always for the good.
If you have a deep core belief that you are not attractive you may have taken some unconscious steps to insure that you are not very attractive. If this is the case, just looking into a mirror and say "I'm good looking," is not enough to have any effect and may even reinforce your belief in your poor appearance. However, if you changed some things for the better such as adopting a different hairstyle, dressing more carefully or changing the makeup you are using, (anything you perceive as an improvement in your appearance) then the affirmation in front of the mirror would have a positive influence on your core belief.
Simple rules you learned as a child such as waste not, want not, you must eat everything on your plate or it is wrong to snitch on a friend, help to form your core beliefs. Maybe you are still hurting emotionally over some incident from your childhood. Maybe you ran from a bully when you were thirteen and now you believe you are a coward. Maybe your grandmother told you that you would go to hell if you told a lie, usually after you told a lie.
Maybe some kid called you fatso. These things, and more, could have a negative influence on your core beliefs. Comments that are very casual in nature can have devastating effects on your core beliefs.
Alli K., not his real name, is a man I worked with many years ago. Alli loved fast, classy cars and this love turned into a desire to own a business that bought, sold and repaired exotic automobiles. Alli did not spend his time just dreaming, he took action. He attended evening classes on business and financing. He consciously worked toward his goal every day.
Somewhere Alli learned about "core beliefs." One day Alli and I and a few of our co-workers were standing around joking and playing some type of game like pitching pennies. When it was Alli's turn he lost to me. I said, "Alli, you're a loser." Alli challenged me instantly. He turned to face me and said, very loudly, "I am not a loser! Take it back, now!" I hesitated, both surprised at his outburst and unsure of how to handle this confrontation. He repeated, "Now!" I said, "Okay, I'm sorry." But that was not what Alli wanted. He said, "Say I am not a loser!" At this point I realized what was going on. I looked him in the eyes and said, "Alli, you are not a loser." Alli understood how allowing me to get away with this statement, as casual as it was, would have a negative influence on his core beliefs about him and could threaten his chosen destiny.
This story is true. Today, Alli owns a successful business that buys, sells and repairs exotic automobiles. His business is a showplace for our hometown. My point is that you do not have to accept any negative comments from other people. You can challenge people who talk negatively to you and you can challenge your own negative thoughts.
You can direct your environment around you to treat you the way you want to be treated. I have had many People who suffer from a low self-esteem caused by negative core beliefs. These people had decided to do something to improve their life, or to fulfill a dream, but could not succeed because no one had ever given them permission to succeed at anything.
Let me say, you have my permission to succeed at anything you want! You can succeed at almost anything if you want to. I know I limited you by saying "almost anything," but I do not believe I can honestly say it any other way as I say°-beliefs and you shall received.
What you are trying to be needs to be possible. For example, if you have lost an arm in an automobile accident it is not likely you will ever win an Olympic Gold Medal in Gymnastics. You might, however, win a Gold Medal in the Special Olympics. The point is to keep your goals attainable. Let me qualify that statement. If you truly believe you can achieve it, go for it!
Sometimes we want to do things just for the pleasure of doing them. Being the absolute best at something is not always the point. Sometimes we need to do something just to be able to do it; participating in some activity that interests us without regard to whether we are the best or even able to do it well. That is okay! Obviously, if we could store only positive core beliefs in our subconscious we would have no trouble with any aspect of our lives.
The problem is, we all have negative core beliefs and these are limiting our success in everything we do. Core beliefs even influence the choices we make about what we will try to do. If you read this material carefully and do the exercises, I know it will have a positive influence on your life. However, many of you will have to "do combat" with negative beliefs before you will even be willing to try.
Identifying these negative core beliefs is the best thing you can do for yourself. If you get nothing else from this program of personal growth and development, I hope you learn to identify and undermine these life crippling beliefs. I do not believe we can completely eliminate any core belief, but I do believe we can weaken some and reinforce others until the positive beliefs outweigh the negative beliefs. Failure is an opportunity for a new beginning!
Opportunity: you always miss' 100% of the shots you don't take."
Persistence: now that we are exhausted of all possibilities...let's get started."
'There is never a crowd on the extra mile."
Life is great - don't miss it!
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