Reflect on Your Beliefs
A client asked me what I thought about reincarnation. As the inscrutable psychiatrist, I, in turn, asked him what he thought about reincarnation. He said he was not sure and that it certainly deserved more reflection. Many of us are just like this; to know our beliefs on an issue, we need to make efforts to become aware of what we believe.
How do you figure out what you believe? Some of it may be quite easy. You value something and have strong feelings about it. For the most part, however, we lack a keen awareness of our attitudes about things. We often have to go through some crisis before we realize that our attitudes may not work.
When you were very young, you begin formulating certain theories about the world. Maybe you thought, “If I work hard, I will be rewarded.” This is what your parents and teachers told you. Later you worked real hard at your job and found out that you were denied the raise that you expected. You’d be upset because life did not conform to your expectation. It’s really your idea that causes the upset.
We grope for what’s out there and do so much to formulate rules and patterns to live by. We forget that what may have worked for one situation, at one time in the far distant past, may not be the appropriate solution for a present situation. It’s easy to fall back on our experience and think we have the final answer to what may be going on now.
On the other hand, people will also have no clear idea about certain issues. There may be a number of options for them to choose from. They won’t make a choice and live out of that choice because they are not sure it is “true”. They continue to be confused on the issue and their formless belief leads to no conscious result. If I remind them about the available choice to produce a certain result from their belief, they readily decide on the belief that will give them what they want out of life. That opportunity is always available to everyone. All we have to do is choose beliefs that give us what we want. Part of this process is figuring what beliefs we are currently living by.
Look at your behavior and deduce from it what your beliefs may be. If you say you want to be a millionaire, look at what you are doing to propel yourself toward that end. If you are doing little towards a claimed goal, it is likely that you do not consider yourself capable of achieving that goal. Certain negative feelings may lock you up so that you can’t take action towards your goal.
Most of the time we live in the realm of “I can’t.” “I can’t make more money.” “I can’t get along with this person.” “I can’t figure out how to be healthy.” Saying “I can’t ” leads to the usual result of “mission impossible”. If we really believed we were capable of things, then we would never be disturbed by any obstructions in the path of our goals. An aspiring writer fears rejection and won’t send his story for publication. His belief is most likely that he will fail. Does he want to have this idea? He’s say “no” if you asked him but he thinks negative without our asking. He needs to make a conscious effort to reprogram his idea because he can operate from whatever idea he chooses. Why not choose a belief that works?