Beliefs begin as ideas born from interpretations of experience. Sometimes you are the source of the interpretation, while other times the source is some entity outside yourself. From a practical standpoint, your beliefs are either the result of direct experience or were modeled from external sources.
Beliefs Acquired through Direct Experience:
This equals that. As a child you touched a hot stove. Your thought process probably went something like this: “Stoves burn. Listen to mom and stay away”. This is a very simple example of a belief acquired from direct experience. In NLP, we call these associations “anchors”. Your brain anchors the experience of touching a hot stove with pain, so the next time you think about putting your fingers up there you associate touching the stove top with that awful burning sensation you had. Associations that we make from direct experience aren’t always valid and can at times hold us back. We acquire many beliefs as the result of direct experience, and sometimes we make broad generalizations from what are really isolated events. Sometimes this is very helpful as in the case of the hot stove, and other times it is not.
Another way of acquiring beliefs through direct experience is through repeated exposure to what we deem to be related events. We naturally build associations between various elements of our experience. Over time our associations become generalized assumptions, and each new brick of evidence that supports a given assumption gets added to the foundation of a potential new belief until we put enough bricks in place to form a new belief structure based upon our interpretations of experience.
Beliefs Modeled from External Sources:
Parents, schools, religious institutions, friends, peer groups, cultures, governments, and even office environments all provide us models of their versions of “appropriate” behaviors. The closer and more trusted the relationship you have with any of these external sources, the more likely you are to adopt at least a portion of their beliefs. It’s human nature. And the stronger the level of trust you place in an external source, the less likely you are to examine for yourself the validly of any belief obtained primarily through that source.
Eye Opening?
So now that you’re aware that most of what you believe to be true is either the result of your direct experience (which can be dated, inaccurate or limited in scope), or modeled from other people that you had some level of exposure to, how do you know if the beliefs that you currently hold are the best ones to have at this point in your life? What if you were exposed to a different set of experiences? What if you grew up in an entirely different social structure? Would every belief you currently have remain the same?
Validity of Current Beliefs:
From the context of self improvement and personal growth, it really doesn’t matter if any of the beliefs you hold are “true” or not. It really doesn’t. What matters more is if the beliefs you currently hold serve you best given what it is that you choose to accomplish in your life. If a particular set of beliefs serve you well in guiding you towards your life purpose, hold on to them. If they make you happy, successful, and rich without hurting anybody else, you’re probably on the right track. The key idea to remember is that beliefs can be flexible. They aren’t written in stone (unless you believe them to be…interesting huh?)
Beliefs can and do change over time. Our beliefs serve us best when they match up with our desired outcomes in life. We have the freedom to change our beliefs simply by giving ourselves permission do so. Examining our beliefs and replacing the ones that no longer serve us is a matter of choice.
In my next post, we’ll look at identifying limiting beliefs that hold you back from success and how to overcome them.
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