To Change Your Life, Change Your Core Beliefs

Beliefs are the truths people hold on to and guide their lives by. The power of belief can trap you, as in the belief that you deserve only a limited amount of happiness. Or belief can free you, as in the belief that you are safe and protected in the cosmic plan.

When you open your awareness to your strongest beliefs, which are known as core beliefs, two things happen. First, you find out who you are and why you behave in the ways you do. Second, new energies become available when you pursue the core beliefs that are life-supporting, fulfilling, and spiritually transforming.

What Are Your Core Beliefs?

What you believe about yourself has both positive and negative effects. If deep down you believe, “I must be successful at all costs,” you will gain strong motivation, which is positive. But if you believe success involves ruthless, selfish, and hurtful behavior, your motivation is compromised. This is what it means to have your belief control you instead of you controlling your belief. Here are some other common core beliefs that people identify with:

• I want to be intimate as long as I don’t get hurt.
• I deserve love as long as it doesn’t make me too vulnerable.
• I want to be of service as long as it doesn’t cost me too much.

If your beliefs are compromised the way that these are, you have not found the true power of core beliefs yet.

How to Create Positive Core Beliefs

A powerful core belief is pure and direct. It gives you a clear sense of who you are. It isn’t confused, conflicted, or compromised. Let’s take steps to make this the kind of core belief you are activating. Step one is to bring your core beliefs into awareness. The four key beliefs you want to activate are:

• I am loving and lovable.
• I am worthy.
• I am safe and trusting.
• I am fulfilled and whole.

You already have existing core beliefs in these four areas of love, self-worth, security, and fulfillment. Your beliefs can't be changed simply by throwing out an old one and adopting a new one like changing your wardrobe. The change must come at the level of self-awareness. At the core of your being, where your true self resides, the truth about you is clear and unequivocal: You deserve unconditional love; you are of unique worth in the universe; you can trust Nature to protect and uphold you; and your fulfillment comes from being whole.

To overhaul your beliefs means that you get closer and closer to your core beliefs, these four inner truths, which are absolute. Right now, there's a gap between them and what you experience. For most people, the positive and negative side of their core beliefs depend on how good or bad their experiences have been in the past. If you have been deeply hurt in love, for example, it is hard to adopt the core belief that you deserve infinite love.

A Self-Awareness Exercise to Create Your Core Beliefs

But experience from the past only keeps you stuck in the past. Your core beliefs are activated in the now, every day. They can only be changed in the now, also. Here's how:

• Look upon what's happening now as a reflection of your core beliefs.
• If the reflection is negative, pause and ask yourself why it fits the storyline your beliefs create. If you experience any kind of abusive treatment, for example, this reflects a victimhood story supported by a core belief that keeps you in the story. If you experience unexpected kindness, on the other hand, this reflects a storyline that includes compassion and reflects a core belief in how much you deserve love.
• Whenever you get any hint of the story you are living, tell yourself that you don't need stories. You only need to live in the present moment.
• In the present moment, your true self is trying to bring you closer to an improved level of love, self-worth, trust, and wholeness. Keep that in mind as your daily vision, and remind yourself that you are always moving in this direction.

Using self-awareness is the key to changing your core beliefs, and as you know, self-awareness expands through your meditation practice. By experiencing the silence, peace, and wholeness at the core of your being, you automatically begin to melt away self-defeating beliefs, opening the door to core beliefs that reflect the perfection of pure consciousness.

Sathyanarayana Rao, T. S., Asha, M. R., Jagannatha Rao, K. S., & Vasudevaraju, P. (2009). The biochemistry of belief. Indian journal of psychiatry, 51(4), 239–241. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.58285

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6015474/

Sutton A. (2016). Measuring the Effects of Self-Awareness: Construction of the Self-Awareness Outcomes Questionnaire. Europe's journal of psychology, 12(4), 645–658. doi:10.5964/ejop.v12i4.1178

Xiao, Q., Yue, C., He, W., & Yu, J. Y. (2017). The Mindful Self: A Mindfulness-Enlightened Self-view. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1752. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01752