The Philosophers Zone

Yesterday we discussed what the true meaning of happiness was to each of us. Another part of our happiness is our belief system. Everyone of us has a belief system. Some of our beliefs we developed through our environment growing up. Some we developed through our own passions. Some we picked up along the way as we grew, as we learned new things, as we integrated into various other environments along the way.
But some of us don't even really give much thought into what our beliefs are unless they get challenged and then we realize when we get an anxiety attack that we have a deep belief for whatever it may be.
I was married to an atheist for 10 years. I came from a very spiritual family who lived with the pure belief in The Lord. I had come to an impasse when I was a teenager due to a few disappoints and misconceptions, thus leading me to lose my faith/belief. But it was always there way down inside me. When conversations would come up regarding my beliefs, I would change the subject to avoid the conflict that would be sure to arise. Ultimately, denying my own beliefs and not being true to what I had always lived by and believed in. I was miserable!
As we get older, and the world gets more complicated(and scary), we realize that our belief system is the only foundation we have to hold on to. The following article I found adds to my opinion with the scientific aspect thrown in for added benefit.

The Power of Beliefs
Copyright 2005 Ann Ronan

Your beliefs shape your life. How’s your life right now?
Any areas you’d like to change? If there are, you have
the key – your beliefs. Even more amazing is that it’s
really not that tough to change your beliefs. It can
happen in an instant. I know. I’ve changed lots of them.
Change your thinking, change your life. I’ve proved it
–several times over.

Now – while I’m a natural optimistic, I also have a brain
that likes science, truth, and proof. And I’m happy to
report that science is starting to find evidence for this
belief business.

Dr. Bruce Lipton, cell biologist and author of the “The
Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness”
says that we are not victims of our genes but are
co-creators of our lives and our biology. He finds his
evidence in the relatively new field of science called
epigenetics. Let me give you just a taste of this science.
Science used to think that a cell’s nucleus, which
contains the DNA, was the brain of the cell and absolutely
necessary to its functioning. Well, they’ve since found
that they can remove the nuclei from cells and yet they
continue to live and function. It turns out that the real
‘brain” of the cell is the membrane, which reacts to and
responds to outside influences, adjusting to an
ever-changing environment. This environment includes our
thoughts – what we are unconsciously telling our genes to
do.

Ok, so what does this have to do with changing your life
for the better? Well bear with me a bit more in the
scientific realm. Our perceptions are in the subconscious
which controls 95 percent of our life. And like an
iceberg, most of this is underneath the ocean, out of our
site, out of our awareness. Our conscious mind processes a
much more limited amount of information and is busy keeping
us safe while we drive our cars, cook dinner and check our
emails. Much of what’s in your subconscious was programmed
in there during your first six years of life. And for many
of us, most of these subconscious thoughts are pretty
darned limiting.

So how to change those thoughts that are limiting? Here
are the techniques I’ve used:

Visualization – creating images of what you’d like, on
paper, in your mind, or with words
Visioning – sitting quietly and asking yourself a few
questions – letting ideas just bubble up from your inner
source, then jotting them down.
Affirmations – short, positive statements to help reprogram
your thinking
Meditation – a period of quiet –either letting your
thoughts just come and letting them go or contemplating a
quote or spiritual passage
Power questions – asking yourself a powerful question – ex.
what do I need to do to embrace this new idea?
Role models – finding someone who has already accomplished
what you want to do or has qualities you admire and then
patterning yourself after this person
Support groups/teams – you get to be heard deeply, get new
ideas and have an accountability structure to keep you
moving forward
Success! - I find it easier and easier to shift my beliefs
as I experience small successes along the way – you will
too!

if you’d like to learn how to use these practices fully in
your life, you may want to join my weekly study group by
telephone on Tuesdays: register here:
www.authenticlifeinstitute.com – click on join study group.

Are you a stay at home parent looking to earn some extra income? Come check out this site for cool ideas. Bizymoms.com