BELIEFS - THE GUIDING FORCE

BELIEFS – THE GUIDING FORCE

Belief plays an important role in our life and belief is what leads us in our life journey.? Beliefs are unconsciously formed and stored in our mind since we were born due to the bedtime stories told by our parents and families, witnessing the good or bad incidents happening around us along with their positive or negative outcome, our first hand experience of things in life or the traditional lineage culture being followed by our family and society. It also comes to us from our social relations, our teachers, our education system and the society we are born into.??

Beliefs can either be empowering or limiting, depending on their content and how they are held. Empowering beliefs help us to feel confident, motivated, and capable, while limiting beliefs can hold us back, causing us to feel negative emotions, and impacting our self-esteem and self-worth.

For example, if someone has a belief that they are capable and deserving of success, they may be more likely to pursue their goals with confidence and resilience. On the other hand, if someone has a belief that they are not good enough or that they will never achieve their goals, they may struggle to take action and may be more likely to give up when faced with challenges.

Our beliefs can have a profound impact on our lives, shaping our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and relationships. By becoming aware of our limiting beliefs and working to replace them with more empowering beliefs, we can unlock our potential and achieve greater happiness, success, and fulfilment

Some examples of common limiting beliefs are:

1. "I am not good enough."
2. "I will never be successful."
3. "I am not smart enough."
4. "I don't deserve to be happy."
5. "I can't achieve my goals."
6. "I am not worthy of love and respect."
7. "I am not capable of change."
8. "I will never be rich."
9. "I am not strong enough."
10. "I am not deserving of success."

By recognizing and challenging these limiting beliefs, we can work towards replacing them with more empowering beliefs and unlocking their full potential. People who question their beliefs, who challenge the status quo are generally the ones who move ahead in life with more clarity, focus and purpose.

In India we value our traditional beliefs a lot but beliefs with passage of time and coming from generation to generation need to be checked and questioned to differentiate between Empowering (Positive outcome) beliefs, which help us in our life to grow and accomplish more and the Limiting (Negative Outcome) beliefs, which obstruct our growth in life. This is because many unknown things, which remained a mystery to our forefathers, are no longer a mystery for us due to advancements in science, technology and medicine and as such It is not necessary that such beliefs, which were followed by our ancestors, should still be followed today.?

We have heard that our ancestors used to worship and offer sacrifices to God for getting rain, but today we also know that rain is an atmospheric phenomenon and it can be predicted with near accuracy. This and so many other beliefs may have helped our early ancestors navigate through their life as per the then cultural scenario or social norm or religious practises, could now be a belief, which may not hold true in today’s world when we have science and equipment to study and forecast the occurrence of rain. As such it is better to question such beliefs, which knowingly or unknowingly become part of our lives and many times become an obstacle to our growth, an obstacle to use our full potential.

Let me share with you all a small story on how many of us could still be living with our underutilised potential tied to limiting beliefs. We all had been to the circus in our childhood to see the mighty jungle animals, one of the mightiest of all was Elephant, which was kept in the circus, tied to a bamboo pole by a rope. Did it ever come to your mind, how come a rope keeps the big & mighty elephant tied to a bamboo pole? This is an example of what a limiting belief can do, if it is not challenged periodically. It so happens that Initially a baby elephant was tied with a rope to the bamboo pole and at that time the baby elephant was small and was weak to get rid of that rope, in spite of valiant attempts made by the baby elephant to release himself and then with time, it started believing that no matter how much he tries, it is impossible to set himself free from that rope and then it stops trying, not realising that the small and weak baby elephant has now become a big, mighty elephant, which has gained enough strength to set himself free, but the childhood belief becomes a barrier to try again and thus it remains in captivity tied with the same rope.

This story of the elephant and the rope represents how limiting beliefs can hold us back in life, even though we may have the potential to break free. Our beliefs can become self-reinforcing and limit our potential, just as the elephant's belief limited its potential to escape the rope.?

What are beliefs? Beliefs are patterns, which become a habit in our life and become a status quo for us. How can we overcome limiting beliefs then? By changing the pattern, we can change our habits. So it becomes important to keep questioning our inherited beliefs, our childhood beliefs, our family beliefs, which gets imbibed into our mindset to know if it is still relevant and can guide us as it did to our earlier generations.?

It is not easy to change the pattern or to believe something that we have not seen happening. We believe when we see others performing and it is called a reference point. Reference point is something that is attained, which earlier was believed to be non attainable. We can do this by looking for a reference point in our field of expertise to improve upon our skills and ride the growth path. Look at the given real life example on how reference points can help change the scenario in our life.

Before 1954, it was believed that it was impossible to run a distance of 1 mile in less than 4 minutes. It was concluded that running faster to break this milestone was not possible as it would increase the heart rate to such an extent that the runner could collapse on the ground. Then came a runner named Roger Bannister, who for the first time took less than 4 minutes to run a distance of 1 mile. He did something which was not expected, which was considered to be impossible, but What this achievement by Roger Bannister did was that it provided a reference point to other athletes that it was possible to run a distance of 1 mile in less than 4 minutes without suffering any adverse consequences. In the following year, more and more runners broke the time limit of 4 minutes and entered the sub 4 minute club and it has further come down today. What was considered unachievable once is now considered sub standard and this is why we need to keep challenging the beliefs, if we want to grow and advance in today’s world. Belief inspires action and action gives us the result. Important is that we keep on running the checks on our imbibed beliefs to know whether our belief is empowering our growth or limiting our growth.

This present generation of ours is so blessed with the advancement of life that we do not have to live in fear of the unknown. The fear of falling down: In early civilization, men and women were afraid of venturing out as they had a belief that the Earth was flat and if they travel long distance, they might fall by getting close to edge of the earth, But today we know that there exists no such edges on the earth, from where anybody can fall.?

I am a member of Lions Clubs International, world’s largest social service organisation, which focuses on Eye including Eyesight and Eye donation. On several occasions while promoting the cause of eye donation, I have spoken to so many people about it and I have found that though many of them come forward to pledge their eyes for donation after death but then there are many people who carry the belief that if they donate their eyes in this life after death, they will be born blind in the their next life and this belief holds back many from taking the pledge of eye donation. A belief which has no backing or scientific proof, but many opt out of eye donation based on this age old belief imbibed from their earlier generations or by hearing about it from somewhere and likewise. A belief which is depriving so many people to get their eye vision and start seeing the colours of life. Belief needs to be checked and challenged.

We cling on to our belief for two reasons,?

1. Status quo is more comforting than adopting change.
2. Risk of failure.

We do not take the risk of trying something new or if our mind is wired to a belief fearing the risk of losing, as none of us would ever want to lose. But as they say Not Trying is giving away your power to bring the change and it equals failing in the first place, while trying gives us an opportunity to succeed. Let me share with you an interesting real story on the vast possibility of the human mind, when it is utilised with an open mindset.

George Dantzig – ?An American mathematician, who accidently was able to solve two unsolvable maths problems of his time. One day he was late in reaching his class and on reaching the classroom, he saw two statistics maths problems written on blackboard by his professor, who had just finished the class and left. Thinking of it as the class homework given by the professor, he copied the problems and started solving them. He found it to be tough but as he considered it to be his homework given by his professor, which needed to be submitted back, he kept on working for days and was finally able to crack and solve the problem. He submitted his solution to the professor. To his surprise, the professor after 2 weeks returned to knock at his residence door at 8 am in the morning asking him if he can get the chance to write a foreword to the solutions provided by him, which could be published in an international journal. This was attempted by the student because he was not present in the class, when the professor had pointed out that those two problems had remained unsolved till that time. As he was not aware of this fact and thus had no mental block of seeing those problems as unsolvable, he could work and found the solution.?

India is a country divided in caste system and it is practised even today in many sections of the society and in rural India. No one can think of a boy born in the brahmin family to get into formation of an internationally famed organisation by giving a life of dignity to people engaged in scavenging of human waste. One side of this movement was to provide sanitation facilities to the masses of India and on the other side, working with the most marginalised and sidelined community, who were engaged in clearing the human waste manually.? Bindeshwari Pathak is the name of the person who established Sulabh Sauchalaya changing the pattern of belief which his family had been carrying for generations.??

Remember the Indian cricket team of the 1990s, when it was very rare that the Indian cricket team won matches and series outside India, the Indian team played to save matches rather than win. Drawing a match was considered to be a win in the mindset of our cricketers and selectors. Compare it with the Indian cricket team of the 2020s, which is ready to challenge and take on any cricketing side and plays to win matches. What has changed? It is the seed of belief, it is the changed mindset of playing to draw or playing to win. It changed because the prevailing belief was challenged by the new age cricketers due to their changed mindset of beating their opponents in any condition at any place.?

How easy is it to change the pattern of belief? It becomes easy if you apply a different perspective to check its utility and relevance in the current social and economic scenario. How we see things makes all the difference. If we change our position, we see things differently. Similar is the case with our life, we just need to change our mindset and we will start seeing life differently and thus begin our growth journey.?

1. Cut some beliefs from our life
2. Add some reference points to our beliefs
3. Change our position
4. Change our mindset

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained. Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. Then the task was given to a countryside farmer and In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. The king asked the farmer, "How did you make the falcon fly?"

With head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch of the tree where the bird was sitting."

We are all made to fly - to realise our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we sit with our limiting beliefs clinging to the things that are known to us or familiar to us just like the bird sitting on the branch. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling. Cutting the branch is important to let birds discover the joy of flying. Coming out of our comfort zone will give us the path to the glory of flying to explore new horizons.

Challenge your belief system,?

Change your mindset,?

Change your life

Breaking limiting beliefs can be a powerful step towards personal growth and reaching one's goals. Changing limiting beliefs can be a challenging process, but it is possible with persistence and effort. Here are some steps that can help:?

1. Awareness: The first step in changing beliefs is to become aware of the limiting beliefs that are holding us back. Start by examining our thoughts and paying attention to the negative self-talk that we engage in on a regular basis. Write down the beliefs that are causing you the most distress.
2. Challenge: Once we have identified your limiting beliefs, challenge them. Ask ourself if there is evidence to support them and consider alternative perspectives. For example, if we believe that we are not good enough, ask what evidence we have to support this belief and consider the times when we have been successful.
3. Reframe: Once we have challenged our limiting beliefs, work on reframing them. Replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations. Write down positive statements that counter our limiting beliefs and repeat them daily.
4. Practice: It takes time and practice to change beliefs. We can’t change a belief overnight, but with persistence, it will eventually become second nature. Practise the new beliefs in small, safe ways until they become more familiar and comfortable to us.
5. Seek support: Changing beliefs can be challenging, and it can be helpful to seek support from friends, family, or a therapist. They can provide encouragement and guidance as we work to change our limiting beliefs.
6. Reference point:? Reference points can help in changing beliefs by providing a different perspective and expanding one's view of what is possible. By using reference points as a benchmark, individuals can assess their own beliefs and see if they are limiting their potential.