Our beliefs create filters that impact how we process, view and experience the world. They are essentially self-sustaining, validation seeking mechanisms driven by repetitive thoughts. The majority of our beliefs are passed down from family or authority figures throughout our lives and often go unquestioned. Through inquiry and awareness we see how our beliefs limit or serve us, and how to shift beyond.
Beliefs – double edge swords
Beliefs are like double edge swords. They cut both ways, either working for us or against us. For example, the belief of creating success with ease leads to a life of graceful success. It might play out slightly differently than planned, but the end result remains. If we believe something to be true, we experience the reality of it, not realizing it’s only true at the level of the belief. Our experiences mirror our beliefs, and as our beliefs change our experiences follow. Some suggest utilizing beliefs like garments we wear, using them during the day and discarding them at night. This is liken to living with heart centered present awareness, often referred to as being ‘child-like’. Living from this state connects us deep within the self with full present-level awareness. At the level that we understand the self, our true nature, we find freedom from attachment with our beliefs.
Beliefs and our identity
When we attach to beliefs and the belief becomes threatened, we find ourselves emotionally triggered. This occurs when we identify ourselves through beliefs, as it invokes the ego, which will defend and attack to protect its way of being, even if it perpetuates conflict. This is because we lose a part of ourselves, especially when it becomes a part of our story or identity. If there are insecurities, it can cause us to feel threatened or exposed which can amplify the reaction. Through silence, inquiry and reflection we have potential to see beyond all of this, as we step outside of our thought patterns and see how they are impacting our reality. Life is always changing and evolving and as we remain flexible with our beliefs, we become more pliable and resilient.
Limiting beliefs
It’s the limiting beliefs that cause us to hold ourselves back, to hide or play small. These beliefs are wrapped in fear to avoid questioning and reflection. It’s these fear-based beliefs that trigger anxiety and stress, while hindering our faith and suppressing our intuitive voice. As we reflect and question these beliefs we begin to navigate our way through their associated limitations. The majority of our fear-based beliefs are the result of our conditioning. As we embrace these beliefs with awareness we expand beyond. This grants us the ability to surrender into faith, that is living in knowing with an absence of fear. With this experience, something very interesting occurs within us, we experience a burst of light with freedom from our control. This leads to living more presently without attachment.
Living in the moment
A daily practice of silence with present living greatly benefits our awareness and resiliency. Through awareness, we have potential to suspend our beliefs and see beyond. We become able to view the world from multiple perspectives simultaneously. This offers great potential because we are no longer in resistance to what is, and if we are, we see it with awareness allowing us to shift beyond. Our self-worth expands, beyond anything that can be measured through external circumstances or things. Here we find more empathy and compassion for the self and others, realizing it is a mirror of the self. We become more heart centered with unified awareness, which clears limitations and exposes their associated beliefs.
