Beliefs
Basically, a belief is an assumption about ourselves, other people or contexts. These assumptions are based on life experiences, opinions of important reference persons, news or they come from the cultural context.
This is not fundamentally bad, we humans actually need it to find our way in the world and to filter the information we receive. Without beliefs, we would simply be overwhelmed by the abundance of perceptions because we would have to re-evaluate all information from scratch again and again.
Beliefs work in the subconscious and filter all our perceptions even before we become aware of them. In this way, we already make assumptions before we have consciously dealt with a topic.
Everyone does that, has to do that to be able to function.
As long as the result of this filter is positive for us, nothing needs to be changed. It becomes difficult with blocking beliefs that prevent us from making the necessary changes to ourselves and our behavior.
Why don’t I know anything about it?
The really nasty thing about beliefs is that you know nothing about them. Blocking beliefs are like programs on your computer that you have neither installed nor want to have there. They are on and working in the background without you noticing them.
At the end of the day, the whole operating system does nothing else, but the blocking beliefs are the parts of the software that keep giving undesirable results or crashing the computer altogether.
This can be malware, but also programs that originally did something useful but are no longer suitable for today’s use. Because they are outdated or you now have completely different goals.
This is how beliefs work. You didn’t consciously acquire them, but unconsciously adopted them. In childhood or even before you were born, from your ancestral line.
And since then they’ve been working inside you without you realizing it, they automatically start up again and again and practically trip you up.
What do beliefs do
They ensure that you react to certain questions, tasks and problems in the same unproductive way over and over again, as if automatically. Life has a task for you and you keep delivering the same, completely undesirable result. You can’t seem to help yourself.
Or someone says something and you fly off the handle. Over and over again. Without you being able to prevent it at that moment.
You want to get ahead professionally, but no matter how you do it, you always end up at the bottom. And looking back, you can’t find any reason for it.
Or you only ever get as far as a certain point professionally/financially and then you inevitably fail. Without you being able to find the reason for it.
Blocking beliefs seem to confirm themselves over and over again. They ensure that we make decisions during change processes that lead to failure and then confirm this with a resounding “I told you so”, “it always goes wrong”.
Examples of blocking beliefs
There are an extremely large number of them and they often exist several times in different gradations and nuances. Also in several levels one behind the other. And they are often much more subtle than the examples I list below. Therefore, this should only serve as food for thought and illustrate the sheer number and variety of possible blocking beliefs.
It has always been like this
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
An Indian knows no pain
All or nothing
It is more blessed to give than to receive
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
No pain, no gain
Life is not a bed of roses
Idleness is the beginning of all vices
That should have been started a long time ago
You just have to get through it
Order is a must
A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do
Everything was better in the old days
I don’t want to get rich, but …
All that glitters is not gold
First work, then pleasure
You’re still too young for that
You get nothing for free in life
That has never worked for me
Love hurts
That’s way too dangerous
There must be a catch
The good Lord sees everything
Money corrupts character
I’m too old for this crap
Money makes the world go round
Today is not my day
You don’t understand that yet
Better poor and happy than rich and sick
One does not talk about money
One must suffer to be beautiful
There is truth behind some of these beliefs, not all of them are completely wrong or always blocking. The important thing here is to deal with it consciously. You can also consciously use a belief that you are aware of.
How do I resolve something like this
Basically, it sounds easy: you have to become aware of them. A belief can only work if it does so in secret. If you are aware of it, you can consciously take countermeasures. Because you can also consciously change conscious thoughts. But you don’t know anything about the unconscious thoughts …
In practice, it is not quite so easy to track them down; toxic beliefs are often intertwined on several levels and of course you first have to realize that there is one behind them at all. If you could recognize them so easily, you wouldn’t have any.
We absorb many of them with our mother’s milk, so to speak. If everyone around you is convinced of a certain fact, follows a certain pattern of thought and behavior, then you won’t even think to question it. Especially if they are your parents.
For example, if you are born into a family that has been making ends meet for generations through hard work and a lot of sweat, you will initially adopt the underlying beliefs. And then think and act just like your family. With exactly the same result.
If you live in an academic family or in a very wealthy business family, you will automatically adopt completely different patterns. And don’t question them for a long time because they are normal for you.
As long as things are going well for you, this is not necessary. That only comes when you realize that you are not 100% in your life. When you realize that you are living the life that others have set for you. Or when you realize that you are living patterns that are harming you, making you ill or simply don’t suit you (anymore).
Then you should look for patterns that you might be following even though they don’t make sense to you. The best way to do this is with outside help, because we don’t see the issues ourselves, we have so-called “blind spots”.
On this path you will realize that some of your thought patterns are so old that we have to track them down deep in your ancestral line and release them. Others are more recent, but just as persistent.
It’s a process that takes time, but it’s worth it. Because with every blocking belief that you uncover, you come one step closer to yourself and your life.
You virtually remove all the unwanted programs from your operating system and leave only those that you want and can consciously control.
Any questions? Get in touch via email: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com
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