Symbosity

Category: Belief Systems

Learn about the impact that your belief systems have on your life experience, and why it’s so important to construct belief systems that serve your growth. By applying the teachings of this section, you’ll let go of beliefs that hold you back, and form healthier ones that help you capitalize on your full potential in life.

  • Your Life Story Becomes Your Reality. Time To Change It!

    Hi, I’m Daniel.

    I’ve always struggled to make lasting connections with people, and could never figure out why. I have lived an unfortunate life where the odds have always been stacked against me. Since a small child, I have always been the underdog. I’ve had to struggle with everything just to keep myself going.

    But hold up for a moment…

    Is this the reality of the situation? Or is this a contorted sob story I’ve been reinforcing my entire life, to the extent I have completely identified with it? Sure, I’ve been through hardships, but maybe I’m painting a picture that isn’t in my best interest.

    So what if I told myself a different story?

    Hi, I’m Daniel.

    I was once very miserable, however, I have lived a beautiful life filled with healing, adventure, and wonder. I was once socially deprived due to my incompetence, but I learned how to be good with people. Sure, I’m not perfect, but let’s be honest, I probably live a more socially abundant life than most people.

    I am grateful for my struggles as they have opened my consciousness to a new dimension of experience. I certainly wouldn’t be walking the path I am today without acquiring the necessary wisdom. I’m living the life I have always wanted, and even though it’s challenging at times, there’s nothing else in the world I can see myself doing.

    Now this is the reality I have created for myself. This is the story I choose to tell myself because at the end of the day, life is a subjective journey. We may have objective experiences, but these experiences can be interpreted however we want. Life is a canvas and we are the painters.

    You may not have control over your reality, but you have control over your narrative. You can have an extremely difficult life, yet a beautiful narrative. It’s the narrative that makes you feel at peace with your life, and find meaning in it. The proof is in people who have devastating lives, yet happy lives.

    They chose to write a happy life story. So what story do you tell yourself? Is it a story that oppresses you, or liberates you?

    Experience is the framework, story is the substance

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    You can look at your life from many different angles. Some of these perspectives are going to cause you a lot of struggle, while others will fill you with optimism.

    The events that happen in your life are objective, but the experiences that these events create for you are not.

    Over time, we use our experiences to build a story about who we are, and where we fit into all of this. Depending on how you look at your life experience, that’s the experience you’re going to create for yourself.

    First of all, your beliefs do matter.

    Your beliefs influence your thoughts.

    Your thoughts influence your emotions.

    Your emotions influence your decisions.

    Your decisions influence your life experience.

    If you believe that your life is a constant struggle and you have it so much worse than everyone else, do you think this is going to instill positive thoughts and feelings, or negative thoughts and feelings?

    Since those painful thoughts and feelings are low-vibrational energy, unconsciously you will act in particular ways and make decisions that aren’t in your highest interest. You can see how you can get sucked into this negative place in life, just from the way you perceive it.

    This is why it’s important to create a life story where you are the hero of your life. You are persevering, courageous, and doing your best. You must write your narrative in a way where it’s certainly not over, it’s just beginning.

    You are not a loser, you are not a failure. You are doing your best, and step by step, making your life a little better. It may be a long road, but it’s a fulfilling one. So don’t lose sight of who you are, and what you’re shooting for.

    Elements of your life story

    A few core pillars create your life story:

    1. Your beliefs
    2. Your thoughts
    3. Your attitudes
    4. Your emotions

    Unlike the events that occur, these pillars are all subjective. Put these all together, and your subjective life experience is created.

    If you lose your job, that’s a fact. This is an objective reality you need to face. However, depending on how you view losing your job, the experience is very different.

    If you see losing your job as a terrible thing that causes fear, worry, and uncertainty, your experience is going to be negative. On the other hand, if you see a silver lining, and perhaps opportunity, adventure, and excitement in this transition, then the experience you have may be very different.

    Perhaps you’re thinking about the opportunity and the freedom. Sure, it’s natural to worry, but if you have faith that things will work out and use this experience as a catalyst, it can be pretty exciting. Maybe you can perceive this situation as a positive life change you’ve needed but haven’t had the guts to pursue.

    Your life is the events that have happened, your life story is your perception of what those events meant.

    Your beliefs

    Your beliefs are what you think about the world. Your beliefs refer to your unconscious programming about how the world works, and what your life experience must be.

    • Do you believe you can do anything in the world if you really apply yourself, or that nothing will work out for you, despite how hard you try?
    • Is everything a challenge to you, or does life seem easy?
    • Is the world generally a dark place, or is it an incredible opportunity to be experiencing this?

    Your thoughts

    What you think about is tied to the other pillars of the frame. The quality of your thoughts influences the quality of your reality.

    • Are you constantly thinking about how you can make something work, or about all the ways it could go wrong?
    • Do you think about all the hardships, or everything that is good in your life?
    • Do you think about what you want in life, or what you’re trying to avoid?

    Your attitudes

    Your attitudes reflect how you react, respond, and think about different occurrences in your life. Your attitude is more of a conscious mechanism, while your beliefs are generally unconscious, and run in the background.

    •  Are you optimistic that things will work out, or do you assume it’s going to go bad?
    • Do you think it’s a waste of time, or do you think it’s a good learning opportunity?
    • Do you give everything the benefit of the doubt, or avoid opportunities because you’re uncertain about them, or they make you nervous?

    Your emotions

    Your emotions are how you feel about a particular event that has happened to you.

    • Does it makes you feel shame, or pride?
    • Are you grateful that it happened, or are you disappointed?
    •  Do you feel hope, or do you feel like giving up?

    You become attached to a particular identity

    Burnout

    Over time we form an idea of who we are, based on the experiences we have had. This idea of who you are becomes your identity. This is your understanding of who you are, and what your life experience means to you.

    Your identity concretes your sense of belonging and helps you find where you fit in this world. But it can also be a big source of pain, or it can empower you.

    So if your identity is unempowered, where you believe you’re a nerd, or a loser, or an insecure train wreck, that’s the reality you’re going to build for yourself. How can it not be when that belief system becomes your whole world?

    Unconsciously, you’re going to keep yourself in that particular frame. Luckily, your identity is never actually consolidated. We think it is, but we can make a mental pivot.

    The more you reframe your experiences in a positive way that empowers you, the more your identity is going to shift to higher ideals.

    You’re constantly reinforcing your identity

    You’re constantly reinforcing a particular identity because you get deeper into believing that your beliefs are the objective truth. If you feel like you’ve been taken advantage of, you will look for reasons why you’ve been taken advantage of.

    If you identify as a failure where no matter how hard you try, the big bad world will always knock you down, then you’re going to keep having these experiences, and you’re just going to get more and more engraved into that belief system. In a way, you’re going to construe an objective reality to suit the story you tell yourself.

    So you keep reinforcing an idea, that you’re a victim, or that people don’t like you when you’re just twisting it to an extreme.

    Not saying that people aren’t victims at times, but whether we see ourselves as victims of life, or creators of our realities also has a huge influence over our life experience.

    How do you frame your life story?

    Now that we’ve looked at some of the core ingredients that make up your story, you need to work on changing it.

    If you believe that you have always had it hard, can you see it in a way that the hardship has been preparing you? Without those difficult lessons, you wouldn’t be pushed to evolve as a person. Can you tell a story where you’re just starting your journey, rather than winding down and propping up the white flag?

    Your story is your life.

    So if you don’t create a story that you’re proud of living, what chance did you ever have in the first place? Remember. This is your life. You decide how it shapes you, and what it means to you.

    And when you create a story that you’re happy to tell, that’s when you’re really going to start that wave towards all your greatest desires.

  • How To Replace Limiting Belief Systems With Healthier Ones

    How To Replace Limiting Belief Systems With Healthier Ones

    Your beliefs form the foundation of your reality and influence your life experience. If your beliefs are rotten to the core, your reality will be too.

    If you believe the world is a horrible place and everything sucks, do you think that’s an objective reality, or a personal hell you’ve created for yourself? Maybe you believe life is full of amazing opportunities, adventures, and connections. You’ve created a great life for yourself because your beliefs facilitated that reality.

    That’s why you need to do some summer cleaning to discard stubborn belief systems that aren’t serving you, and cultivate healthier ones that make your reality a better place to live in.

    Knowing how big of a role belief systems play in the quality of your life, let’s look at how you can identify the beliefs that aren’t serving you, discard them, and construct healthier belief systems that enhance your life experience.

    What are limiting belief systems?

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    A limiting belief system is a restrictive belief that reduces the quality of your life or prevents you from reaching your full potential.

    Belief systems help us navigate the world effectively. You’re not going to steal because your belief systems tell you it’s wrong. Perhaps you believe that you can achieve whatever you put your mind to, and this drives you to achieve more.

    These are examples of positive beliefs because they encourage you to make the most of your life.

    Belief systems are limiting when they prevent you from making the most of your life. View them as cognitive blocks that have developed at some point in your life that prevent you from achieving health, wealth, and happiness.

    Are these beliefs inspiring you to do better, or bringing you down?

    Most of us have some sort of limiting beliefs. Perhaps these limiting beliefs come in the form of commitment, where you hold yourself back from a stable partnership out of fear that it won’t work out.

    Maybe you sabotage good opportunities that come your way because you don’t feel worthy. With all these mental barriers, it can be hard to get anywhere in life, because consciously or unconsciously, you hold yourself back.

    Are you a victim of the world, or are you a creator of your reality?

    Perception vs belief

    Your belief systems are more cognitive than your perception of life.

    Perceiving something is an automated and unconscious process, while beliefs often require thought and introspection. Belief systems tend to revolve around the future and future ideals, while perception is momentary, and experienced in the now.

    Your perception refers to your understanding of the world via your senses which create a life-like picture of it. Beliefs are a conscious acceptance that something exists or should be done in a certain way.

    For example, you might believe that society is moving in a bad direction based on your observations, research, and critical thinking.

    You might believe in religion or spirituality, but you might not perceive it because there is no sensory input to validate its existence.

    Limiting belief examples

    • I’m not good enough to achieve my dreams
    • I’m a victim of the world
    • People don’t like me
    • I need more experience
    • I fail at everything I do
    • I’m too old/too young to do this
    • I’m not smart enough to do that
    • I don’t have enough time to do what I want
    • I’ll never be successful
    • I don’t deserve love

    Healthy belief systems

    • I can become more intelligent and learn whatever I need to succeed
    • I am in control of my life
    • I am a valuable asset to any job
    • I am already successful, in my own way
    • There will always be more opportunities
    • Amazing people always come into my life
    • Every difficult situation is temporary
    • Life will get better
    • I am abundant with everything I need
    • I will meet the person of my dreams one day

    Identifying limiting belief systems

    Identifying limiting belief systems starts with an awareness of them.

    When I used to think about money, there was a block. Even though I wanted to get ahead financially, I got discouraged. I thought about how much competition there was, and how I could possibly provide any value to others.

    Because of this limiting belief system, I avoided a lot of good opportunities that came up, because I didn’t feel I deserved them.

    Because of my belief system regarding money, I manifested a lot of issues with it. Every time I started to get ahead, something would come up that separated me from my earnings. I would get cheated on, scammed, and robbed.

    So I looked into this belief system and why realistically, I couldn’t do as well as anyone else.

    I started spending more, enjoying it more and stopped thinking about how much I needed it. When the need for more money lessened but the value I got out of it improved, things began to change.

    As my beliefs surrounding money have become more positive, I have had a lot of amazing adventures in life, and more opportunities in this form keep arising.

    Unless you are conscious about what you believe and why you believe it, these negative patterns will remain undetected and continue to control your life. 

    Cultivate an awareness about your beliefs

    Often, we aren’t aware of the beliefs we have. Because we mindlessly reinforce them without ever paying attention to them, they continue doing their dirty work outside the spotlight of awareness.

    Therefore, you need to think critically about your belief systems.

    This requires you to dig into what you think you’ve known for a long time and start questioning things. Once you identify your beliefs, really think about them, and how strongly you’re holding onto them. Here are some prompts to get the juices flowing:

    • How is your relationship with money? Is it abundant and easy to access, or something you just can’t have no matter how hard you try? Do you think money is bad, or it’s just a tool?
    • Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Why, why not?
    • Do you believe in spirituality? What do you believe happens when you die? What beliefs do you have surrounding death, and how does this translate into your life experience?
    • How do you feel about society? Is it going down the shitter, or do you believe we’re going to have a utopia? What’s wrong with society, and how can we make positive, lasting change?
    • Are governments here to serve us, or control us? Is it the whole system, certain individuals? What are your thoughts on corruption, and what can be done about it?
    • Are aliens real? If so, what are they like? Are there many different types of them, just a few? Have they already made contact, will they soon make themselves known to humanity?
    • What are your thoughts on spirits, demons, and the paranormal? Where do they come from? Are they here to help you, or hurt you, or are they all different?
    • Do we live in the matrix? Funny question, but an important one. What’s your perspective on this? Are we in a simulation, is reality the be-all and end-all of life?
    • What are the biggest keys to being a happy person? How do you become happy? What does happiness look like to you, and what needs to be done to achieve it?

    The emotions surrounding your belief structures are a good indication of whether your beliefs are serving you or not. Ultimately, when you’re thinking about a certain belief structure, does it make you feel heavy or light? If you feel fear, unworthiness, shame, hatred, etc.

    When inspecting your beliefs, then that’s a solid indicator that they’re toxic.

    On the other hand, if you feel positive emotions such as hope, excitement, or joy when looking into different aspects of your life, then that’s a good indication that your beliefs are healthy.

    So look into different areas of your life and see what comes up. Think about your career, friends, dating life, and how many opportunities you get. Take a moment to think about how you feel about your life right now and inspect where the negative emotions arise.

    Let’s say you believe that only bad people get money and good people have to remain broke. How does this make you feel? If it’s not positive in any way, then you know that the belief needs to go.

    Inspecting your beliefs and feeling the emotions when you dig into them will give you a solid lead to identify what belief systems are holding you back, and which ones are helping you excel in life. Don’t be too hard on yourself as it’s normal to have some limiting belief systems, but be critical of yourself, so you can identify these beliefs and take steps to heal them.

    When you catch yourself reinforcing something negative, stop and think about it. Reframe your belief by reinterpreting it differently, and push yourself to think about why you can rather than why you can’t.

    Understand that you’re trying to reinforce healthier belief systems, and this can take time. Imagine it like a mental muscle that you need to exercise, and you do this by catching your negative beliefs when they’re kicking in, and forcing yourself to think about the situation in a more optimistic, yet critical way, which spurs the belief of why not, rather than why.

    Discarding limiting belief systems

    Woman expressing content

    To get your mind into an optimal state, first, you need to clear up some mental space. While you’re hosting limiting belief systems, you won’t be able to cultivate conflicting healthy belief systems.

    If a belief is not making you happier, better, or serving your growth, then it’s time to look at why you’re still holding onto it.

    Your beliefs should be tailored around your ideal vision of reality. That means that you should work on adopting beliefs that make you feel happier and more fulfilled.

    For example, you might believe that people are harmful, that money corrupts people, and that every politician is evil. You might believe that you can’t be happy and make lots of money, or that you will never make it in life without doing bad deeds.

    These are counterproductive beliefs that certainly don’t serve your best interests. They act as walls and prevent you from growing and expanding into the person that you’re supposed to be.

    Life-enhancing beliefs might be along the lines of

    ‘I can achieve anything that I put my mind to’

    ‘I have faith that the universe will take care of me’

    or

    ‘I consider myself a lucky person’

    Believing that the universe will take care of you reduces stress. Believing that everything is meant to be provides reassurance. Your belief systems can also cultivate better ways of living through doctrines of nonresistance.

    Challenge your belief systems

    Stop watering the beliefs that don’t serve you and let them wither away like dying weeds.

    Stop giving energy to limiting beliefs, as the time and attention you give to those beliefs is like watering them.

    The truth is, you can believe whatever you want. It doesn’t matter, it just depends on what thoughts you’re tendering. So stop tendering beliefs that degrade your quality of life and put your energy into better things.

    Beliefs are powerful.

    If you believe that you’re socially awkward and bad with people, then in reality, you will be. If you genuinely believe that you have a good social life or that you’re living a good life, then that is the reality you will carve out for yourself.

    You will begin moving towards the paradigms that you believe in, so make sure you’re tendering the beliefs you want to have and neglecting the ones you don’t.

    An open mind is the worst enemy of limiting belief systems. Because if you open the floodgates and allow yourself to be inundated with alternate perspectives and new ideas, those limiting belief systems won’t stand for long.

    You should always be learning and growing, and acknowledge that your beliefs are always changing, as do you. Therefore, allow your beliefs to naturally evolve as your knowledge, wisdom, and life experience does.

    Usually, we just don’t care enough to dig into opposing beliefs because we are comfortable with our own. We don’t want to rattle our stable paradigms, because those paradigms are attached to the ego.

    But if you step backward and gain an unbiased perspective, you might realize that your beliefs are not as solid as you once thought. Therefore, don’t shut down arguments, or combat people who oppose your beliefs

    Hear everyone out, gain as much knowledge on all perspectives as you can, and incorporate those views into your own beliefs — at least the ones that make sense to you.

    Forming healthier belief systems

    Constructing healthy belief systems

    Beliefs are formed over time throughout your life experience. We typically accept our belief structures as a default which can’t be changed.

    As with your perception of life, beliefs are not concrete. It doesn’t matter how stuck in your ways you are. You can reconstruct your beliefs.

    It’s important to understand that beliefs can change and that you can change yours to accommodate your desired lifestyle, attitudes, and resulting behaviors. By realizing that your beliefs are always evolving, you open the gate to possibilities.

    It’s time to pivot towards a more promising mind and form beliefs that are beneficial to your life.

    Understand that all beliefs are valid

    The first step to change your belief systems is to acknowledge that there is some nonsense, and some validity in everything. There is no ultimate truth, just theories, ideas, and speculation.

    Even beliefs that have a strong standing and those that are backed by science aren’t unquestionable. Reality is not black and white. We tend to paint a picture that grossly simplifies life when this is a counterproductive approach to take.

    To change your belief systems, you need to understand that there is no right or wrong. There is no correct or incorrect. Beliefs are subjective. The truth is… nobody knows what the fuck is happening in reality, which means that everything is plausible, and this gives you leverage.

    Anything will seem logical if you convince yourself into it. So don’t rule out any options just yet, because your knowledge is always changing.

    Desire the belief to construct it

    Your desire to believe something will create the actual belief. Therefore, start looking into the beliefs that you want to have, and make them your orbital point of focus.

    Usually, the problem is not that you can’t form a new belief, it’s that you never even thought about it, or have no incentive to change your belief systems. When you engage different beliefs and build the desire to believe them, you will start resonating with them. That’s why you should think about what you want to believe, and gain conscious control over that.

    How often do you meet people who believe in something that they don’t want to? It’s a pretty rare phenomenon, as when you want to see things in a particular way, you’re going to start convincing yourself into it and pulling out every tiny shred of information that supports that belief.

    If you want to believe that humanity is going to prosper and we’re going to move towards an interstellar species, then there’s no reason why you can’t. I do believe this because I want to. It makes me feel optimistic about the future.

    If you want to believe in something hard enough, you will start to believe it. When you start doubting it or you don’t care, that’s when movement stops.

    Look at the details

    To believe in something, you need to see the sense behind it. It needs to be a plausible theory to you, otherwise you will discard the idea. Therefore, to change your belief systems, you need to look for logic to support that belief.

    The thing is that there is logic and plausibility in everything if you inspect it closely enough. Most people who don’t believe in something have no interest in researching it. Since they never actually take the initiative to look into the counterargument or things that don’t align with them, they never give the belief structure a chance to seed.

    If you start digging into conspiracy theories, you are likely to start believing in them, or at least the ones that resonate with you, because you’re digging into the details and giving them a lot of thought. Who would have thought, many conspiracy theories are very convincing?

    Look at the details, search for information that supports the belief, and before you know it, you’ll be gathering a mound of insight into why the belief seems plausible.

    Surround yourself with positive influences

    The people in your life contribute a lot towards your belief systems, which is why it’s important to be aware of your social influences and to be around people you want to learn and grow from.

    There will always be people who doubt you and discourage you. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of who you tend to spend your time with.

    If your friends are lazy, unmotivated, and downers, you can bet that it’s going to rub off on you too. Likewise, spend your time around winners who are motivated, then you’re in a much more positive environment that is going to instill self-belief.

    Spend more time around interesting people with whom you can learn and grow, and you will start adopting their belief systems too.