What is a belief? Something that our brain perceives to be true and influences our behaviour, I am not a professional to advise on the matters of the brain but just an enthusiastic individual who is interested to know how the brain works, where these beliefs come from and what makes us all different beings?

Just sharing my knowledge and fascination of the brain system, I marvel the intrinsic detail and how it all fits so well. We all have a subconscious mind, which stores the belief system, these beliefs can be sourced from experiences from childhood, way back from being in our mum’s womb, from our parents, siblings, family members, teachers, neighbours, even the television influences our belief system.

This database of beliefs are forever rooted without our knowledge deep within us. Most beliefs are harmless, some are even the absolute truth(or facts), for instance “the sky is blue in the morning”, “sun rises in the east”, etc., however, we are here to address those beliefs that come in the way of your happiness, that results in negative emotions, for instance “I am not good enough”, “I don’t have good luck” etc.,

If we are not aware that our beliefs about ourselves, the world around us and just about everything is influencing our emotions, then we are forever in the loop chasing happiness blindly!

Reviewing these belief systems from time to time will give us a fresh perspective to life, for example a belief at the age of 5 may be real and when left dormant then will last forever, for example , if a teacher has told a kindergartener , You cannot draw, this will stay forever in that person growing up, and their life may be influenced by that passing comment from the teacher, You may relate to many such limited beliefs over the years that may have resulted in today’s negative emotions of anger, fear, guilt, envy, sadness, loneliness etc.

Evaluating these beliefs and challenging your brain with plenty of examples when it was not true can reduce the negativity in life. There are plenty of ways of doing this but I came across most effective way to rewire your brain is through Tapping(EFT- Emotional freedom technique).

What is tapping?

According to https://www.thetappingsolution.com/, tapping is also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). It is a powerful holistic healing technique that resolves a range of issues. It’s based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology.

The basic Tapping technique requires you to focus on a negative emotion at hand. This can be a fear, a worry, a bad memory, or any unresolved problem. You do this while maintaining your mental focus on this issue. Then you use your fingertips to tap 5–7 times on 9 specific meridian points of the body.

Tapping on these meridian endpoints, while addressing the root cause of distress, sends a calming signal to the brain. This allows you to feel relaxed and in control.

I am not going into details into tapping in this one, but if you are interested to know more , you should definitely visit this page to know how Tapping can help rewire your brain https://www.thetappingsolution.com/blog/how-tapping-rewires-the-brain/.

What can be our limited beliefs and how can we challenge them? My favourite book of all times is Change your thinking by Sarah Edelman, this book is about changing your thinking using CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). I have the most highlights from this book, so many things that resonated with me! But I would like to mention some here relating to beliefs. At the end of the day we all are chasing happiness and we reach there at some point and happiness could mean different things to each one of us. Which in the book it is rightly put :

If we brought together the happiest people in the world, what do you think they would have in common? Lots of money? Good looks? Career success? Fame and admiration from others? Wrong! The happiest people are those with the most flexible attitudes. Of all the people you consider to be genuinely happy (most of us can count them on one hand), are any of them rigid, demanding or uncompromising? Do they get upset when things don’t go their way?

A key characteristic of happy people is their ability to adapt to life circumstances — a trait called cognitive flexibility.

Much of the distress that we experience in our daily lives stems from rigid, inflexible thinking.

IRRATIONAL BELIEFS

Albert Ellis observed that most people by their very nature are inclined to think in ways that are irrational and self-defeating. He noted that some people are particularly predisposed towards upsetting emotions because they habitually think in self-defeating ways. According to Ellis, our thinking is irrational if it goes against our basic desire for happiness and long life. So, if holding a particular belief makes you experience inappropriate anger, frustration, anxiety, depression or feelings of worthlessness, or if it thwarts your ability to experience good health and long life, then by Ellis’s definition the belief is irrational. This includes beliefs that cause us to engage in self-defeating behaviours such as procrastination, social avoidance, aggression and neglecting our physical health. Ellis described many irrational beliefs that contribute to unhappiness and psychological distress, including the common irrational beliefs listed below.

Note: The two most influential figures in the development of CBT were psychologist Albert Ellis and psychiatrist Aaron Beck.

Ellis described many irrational beliefs that contribute to unhappiness and psychological distress, including the common irrational beliefs listed below.

According to me, this book should have been introduced in early education that would have provided as a manual for Happiness by evaluating your own thinking. It teaches you that Happiness is not somewhere out there to seek, but it is within you, and you have to power to gain it.

Conclusion

Beliefs are important, but when they get in the way of your happiness then we need to examine them and question their origin and truth to it. Beliefs are not set in stone, and can be re written through either tapping by rewiring your brain, or through traditional psychological therapy CBT, etc.What are your limited beliefs? Would you consider evaluating them today?