There's a wonderful bumper sticker that explains life the way I see it: The universe rearranges itself to accommodate your picture of reality. I have been working with belief systems for the past 20 years and I'm grateful to have a bumper sticker that explains my life work! 

Belief systems are strongly held opinions which determine how you perceive life, how you filter what you hear, how you act, and what you feel. In other words, your belief systems direct all aspects of your life. 

Your belief systems are not deep, dark secrets; rather, they are in front of you at all times. Think of your belief systems as a filter. While they seem transparent since you don't see them consciously, everything you encounter in life is filtered through your beliefs. The question then becomes, how do you become conscious of your belief systems? 

Discovering Your Belief Systems 

There are two major ways in which you can discover what your belief systems are: 
1. look at your life patterns and 2. look at times when you feel immature or like a young child. 

When you begin to look at patterns in your life, you will discover events, thoughts, feelings or circumstances that occur to you over and over. Some patterns are so commonplace and occur so naturally in your life that you assume "that's just how life is for me." 

Another way to discover your beliefs is to look at times when you feel stressed and then have a sense of immaturity. You are re-experiencing a belief created in childhood at the age you feel in that moment. 

Belief systems are formed throughout life. An event occurs and you may feel a strong emotion. If it is perceived as a traumatic event, you may make a determination as to what that event means to you, and a belief system is formed. You make a decision of "how life is" and that belief is then given to the subconscious mind, where it remains "as is" until it is updated. Belief systems are naturally updated as you go through life. You learn how to walk, to ride a tricycle, then a bicycle, tie your shoes, drive a car, get a job, etc. 

The beliefs that cause you problems are those that do not update to a healthy adult viewpoint. Rather, they remain in your subconscious in the same form as they were created. They are held intact with the age, the emotion, and the belief all residing together. When you access that belief, you also access the age and emotion you experienced when it was formed. 

For example, an infant is crying to be picked up, but no adult comes to pick up the child. The child may create the belief that "I'm not supported, I'm not loved, nobody cares about me." Later on in life, this belief will be reactivated and the teenager may not get picked for team sports, and as an adult doesn't get the promotion. The belief is reinforced and so the pattern continues throughout life, always feeling left out and unloved, until the belief is changed.

In another example, a hungry young child is reaching for her bottle which is up on a counter. She struggles to reach it but can't and nobody comes to help her. So she sits down on the floor and focuses inside to console herself, feeling overwhelmed and helpless. A belief is formed, which if it isn't changed or updated, will cause her as an adult to close down and feel helpless or overwhelmed when she can't see a solution. In reality, there was a kitchen chair which the child could have pulled over and stood on to reach the bottle. But when you are acting out a belief, you don't see the other solutions outside of your belief structure. 

Positive Intent 

Now this may surprise you, but beliefs systems are ALWAYS meant to help. They are always a positive solution in the beginning. If they create a problem as an adult, it's because they are still in their childlike format and have not been upgraded. 

Thus, your "problems" are actually solutions chosen by your subconscious mind according to your beliefs. Concerned about your safety, your mother may have constantly told you to "be careful crossing the street." As an adult, you may continue to have trouble "crossing the street" in order to stay safe. This can mean you never leave the [place you live], any travel causes tremendous stress and anxiety, you don't risk changing jobs even if you dislike what you're doing, and any type of fear sends you back home where it's safe. The positive intent is to stay safe, which is appropriate for a young child but not for an adult. 

You can think of your conscious mind as a train which can only go where the railroad tracks are laid down. The tracks are your subconscious mind, the rule book of how you are to live your life. It is the beliefs in the subconscious mind that determine where our life goes. An event happens and the conscious mind checks the "rule book" to see what the event means to us, how to respond, and how to feel. 

This is one of the most important points: you are always successful at following your subconscious beliefs. Everything that happens is a result of your beliefs. Even though you can point to life experiences as "proof" that a pattern is true, the underlying basis is still a belief system. 

If every boyfriend you ever had left you for another woman, you can prove it's true that this is "how men are" by pointing to the numerous men who have all acted this way. All this actually proves is that you have a belief that men leave you for another woman and that you are successfully experiencing this belief. Another belief may be "when I'm too happy, something bad will happen." Once again, you can point to specific happy times in your life, which were followed by something "bad" happening. The belief is activating the pattern. 

Life Validates Our Belief Systems 

Your belief systems appear real because you believe in them as real. You can just as easily believe in the opposite experience and make it real in your life. One way to notice that an experience is based on a belief is to determine whether or not this experience is true for everybody. If it is true for everybody, then it is a Universal Truth and not a belief. Gravity is a Universal Truth, as everyone is bound by it on earth. Cause and effect is another Truth. Your day-to-day experiences, however, are not based on Universal Truth but on your beliefs. 

You actually make up all of your beliefs. Your subconscious mind doesn't care if it's "real" or not, or if the causative event happened the way you remember. It just sends directions to the conscious mind and your life is lived out accordingly. 

Holding Onto Outdated Beliefs 

Why do we hold onto beliefs if they don't work for us? We only hang on to some beliefs while most are updated throughout life. Most of our beliefs work for us, while a minor number of beliefs, those which are mal-adaptive, cause us grief. 

Perhaps the main reason we hold onto old beliefs is because when formed, all beliefs are not a problem themselves, but are a solution to a problem. The majority of mal-adaptive beliefs were formed before the age of six and are based on being safe and secure or on getting love and acceptance. These are core needs that each of us has, so beliefs tied into them tend to stay intact. 

Plus, if a belief based on these needs is formed during a time of high emotion, the emotion acts as a glue to keep the beliefs static. 

We also hang onto outdated beliefs because they make us feel safe, they are comfortable. We don't change other outdated beliefs because they helped us during a difficult or traumatic time, especially with regard to safety and getting love. We also hold onto mal-adaptive beliefs out of loyalty to family. For instance, "I'll be letting Father down by letting go of this belief' or "It's not okay to earn more than my parents, or to be more successful than they are." You may even feel as if you keep someone else alive with a belief. 

Holding onto outdated beliefs is like the parable told by the Buddha of the man walking a high road who sees a great river, its near bank dangerous and frightening, while its far bank is safe. He collects sticks and foliage, makes a raft, paddles across the river, and safely reaches the other shore. Now, suppose that after he reaches the safe shore, he takes the raft and puts it on his head and walks with it on his head wherever he goes. It's obviously nothing he needs to do, but the raft helped him get across the river, so he hangs onto it. 

Changing Your Belief Systems 

Every self-help book published is about changing your beliefs. The authors all have ideas on how to "improve your life" in so many simple steps. We're all looking for the secret, simple recipe to change and improve our lives, as well as how to change the lives of our loved ones! Oprah's Change Your Life TV is based on changing your belief systems. 

Some beliefs change automatically just by looking at them. This is the "ah ha" reaction and you may even feel it shift in your body. Remember, you've been changing beliefs all your life and it's a natural part of the process of maturing. 

For belief systems that need some help in changing, here's one way to consciously change beliefs. This is from Bruce Doyle's book, Before You Think Another Thought. Think of a belief system or pattern that you are aware of which limits you. Decide how you would prefer the belief to be. Then say or write the following: 

1., I have a belief that . . , (state belief system) 
2. I choose to release this belief because it limits me and it's not true. 
3. I now choose to believe . . . (state new belief) 

For instance, let's say you have a money belief that you "just get by, regardless of how much money you earn." 

1. I have a belief that I just get by. 
2. I choose to release this belief because it limits me and it's not true. 
3. I now choose to believe that I thrive in all that I do. 

I recommend saying this numerous times during the day. Feel the impact of the words on your life, rather than just saying it by rote. Notice any sensations you feel inside and let your body experience the new belief. You are reprogramming your sub- conscious mind with the new belief, and emotions help the reprogramming. 

Another way to change beliefs is to go back to the root cause, review the experience that created the belief, and then change it to an appropriate belief. This is most easily done with hypnosis or in a meditative state, as the root cause of beliefs are not logical, so the conscious, logical mind can't access them easily. While the original event may have been perceived as traumatic, your conscious mind is not likely to remember it or to see it as the root cause of a belief system. In a light trance, however, the subconscious mind can easily recall the original event. 

If you are in the midst of living out a common pattern, feel the emotion of it and declare "No more!" as you are re-experiencing the original emotion and childlike feelings. If you can get conscious for just a moment and remember this is just a belief, then with full emotion tell yourself "No more!" The original belief was created with emotion and can be more easily changed with strong emotional intent. 

It's very important to understand that once you change a belief, it's no big deal. It feels so natural to be the new way that sometimes you miss how much you've actually changed. It's as though you've always been this new way because you now live life naturally according to the new belief. You feel different, act different, and have different thoughts. But remember, it will seem very natural to you and you may not even notice the shift! 

For instance, when you stop smoking and release the root cause, there is no sense of deprivation. You simply become a nonsmoker who doesn't even think about smoking. Or when you change a belief that you can't express yourself honestly, then you find yourself giving your opinion easily, naturally, and calmly. In the past, this could have caused you stress. 

Life really is lived from the inside out. What you believe inside is what you experience outside. As you change your internal beliefs, your external world changes to match it. It's true: the universe rearranges itself to accommodate your picture of reality.

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