So, What DO You Believe..?

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many, or merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with your experience, then accept it, and live up to it.
~Buddha

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
~Soren Kierkegaard

Our beliefs are absolutely critical in our lives.

Not what we think we believe, or what we would like to believe, or what we think we should believe ... but what we REALLY (even subconsciously) believe.

What do we really believe ... about ourselves, about others, about our world...?

Gregg Braden shares,

Early in life we develop our core beliefs - basic ideas that we accept about ourselves, other people, and our world. They can either be positive or negative, life affirming or life denying. childhood experiences are often where our core beliefs begin. After repeatedly learning that we don't deserve this or that early in life, for example, we may develop a core belief that we aren't worthy of receiving. Because such perceptions are often subconscious, it's not unusual to discover that they weave their way throughout our lives in unexpected ways. so an unconscious core belief that we aren't worthy of receiving may play out as a lifetime of lack that shows up in love, money and success ... and even life itself.

Now, the cool thing is that a belief is just a thought that we keep thinking ... and even if it's subconscious, we can become aware of it, and even change it ... sometimes all it takes is for just one person to do something different ... in the presence of others, to go against status quo ... and when others witness a limit being broken, they can then hold the new possibility in their own minds ... and change their own beliefs.

But in order to do that, we often have to face one of our own most basic of fears: rejection.

Across cultures and societies, creation stories state that to become individuals in this world, we must "break away" from a greater collective family. At the same time, one of the deepest universal fears is just that: being separated and alone. For many people, it's their yearning to "hold on" to their families, their relationships, and memories of their past experiences that create the conditions that lead to their greatest suffering. If we can find a way to appreciate the moments we share with those we love, as well as feel good about our time together when it ends, then we will have taken a giant step toward our greatest healing.

At some point, we have to break away from the core beliefs that were put upon us by our families of origin ... in order to live long, healthy, fulfilling lives, we have to heal the limiting beliefs that lies at the core of our deepest hurts.

Let's look at how our deepest beliefs can affect our relationships. Answer the following questions for yourself:

Is it hard for you to love yourself first?

Do you feel it is unsafe to share your love with others fully and fearlessly?

Do the relationships that you invite into your life leave you feeling empty and searching for more?

If you answered any of them affirmatively, then it's likely that you experience hurt, disappointment, suffering, and betrayal. So, what unconscious belief could be in operation?

Here's what Gregg Braden says about that:

As diverse as your life has been, and as varied as all of your experiences may appear, there's nothing that's happened that wasn't shaped through the eyes of this single belief. Without exception, all of your love and each of your fears; all of the chances in life that you've had the confidence to take and all of the ones that you were afraid because you might fail; the health, vitality and youth of your body, the way you age; and the success or failure of every relationship that you'll ever have with another person, yourself, your world and the entire universe ... all of these things, and more, boil down to what you claim in a single belief.

And you can uncover what that belief is for yourself by answering a single question -- the Great Question -- below. The way that you do so reveals the truth of a powerful subconscious belief that lies at the heart of your existence. The question is this:

Do you believe that there is one source for everything that happens in this world, or do you believe that there are two opposite and opposing forces - good and evil - one that "likes" you, and one that doesn't?

Honest confession time here, folks. I would say that I consciously believe in one source -- a good source. HowEVER, the evidence of my own current sense of hurt, disappointment, suffering, and betrayal, tells me that I MUST, unconsciously, believe in the duality of two opposing forces.

Not fun to face, but good to know.

If I believe, at the core of my being, that life is a precious and rare gift ... to be treasured, cherished and freely explored with abandon ... then the world looks like, and is experienced like, a fabulous place in which to do that very exploring. I would feel safe in such a free exploration.

However, if I believe, at the very core of my being, that this is a dangerous world, then that belief will be embodied in my every day life ... showing up in my life path, my career, my relationships, and in the health of my body. And even when new opportunities are presented to me, I'll feel unable, unworthy, and afraid to accept them. I won't be able to take the necessary risks, I won't feel worthy of love that brings deep joy, and I'll then find myself settling for whatever feels like a "safe default".

It seems to me, that in order to be able to fully live this life-gift, in order to discover who I am, and what I am here to enjoy and experience, I need to BELIEVE, at the very core of my BEing, the truth about the nature of this universe, the truth about the nature of my own Self, in order to know I have the utter FREEdom to choose how to thus create my own life.

Beats the snot out of "there is only one right choice, and you must make it, or else suffer the punishment."

Shalom & Namaste ~
Dena