Beliefs are Chosen; They are not Imposed on You
It’s very easy for a lot of people to think that since they believe certain things, reality has to somehow some way keep in line with how they choose to perceive reality. I know this sounds crazy but it’s also true. You’d be surprised if you engage in any kind of political debate with people who use this kind of reasoning.
Politics aside, thinking this way really limits people’s options. If you are in any way, shape, or form are unhappy with your career, the amount of money you make, the size of the home you live in, the kind of car you drive, the relationships you have, the shape of your body, so on and so forth, a lot of this can be traced to your beliefs.
Believe it or not, everything that can be observed about you, I’m talking about your looks, your educational attainment, the way you speak, and everything else are reflections of your inner belief system. It’s very easy to think that we are born this way but we’re not. These are all chosen. At some level or other, and at some point in time, we were presented a choice. Even though we tend to make the same choice over and over again, that doesn’t take away from the fact that we are still exercising choices.
If you find yourself feeling stuck in in a relationship, in your career, or in your body, for that matter, this is one of the most empowering things you could ever wrap your mind around is the idea that beliefs are chosen. Just as you can choose to put on one set of clothes over another set, you can choose your beliefs. They are not imposed on you.
Sure, your parents may have to put a lot of pressure on you to think the way they do but, at the end of the day, you choose your beliefs. The fact that you continue to live your life assuming that certain things are true and allowing yourself to be limited by this beliefs system, is a testimony that you have chosen those belief systems in the first place.
Please understand that reality doesn’t revolve around your beliefs. Beliefs are simply just your take on reality. There are other interpretations out there. There are other ways to mix and match the thousands of different neutral stimuli that you perceive every single day.
Don’t think for a second that just because you’ve believed certain things for a long time that this length of time somehow some way means that your beliefs are somehow written in stone. They’re not. You can change your belief, but it will take effort because if our mind thinks that long-held belief is protecting you, it will want to fiercely hold on to that belief. You have to break down the irrationality of it and replace the false belied with an empowering one.
Here is the good news. When you change your beliefs, you change your life. Whatever it is in your life that you are unhappy or anxious about, you can change by simply switching out your belief system.
