Honesty is the best policy, right? We were taught this as kids and we teach it to our children. Why is it then, that we sometimes lie to ourselves? Where do these lies come from?
Dr Bruce Lipton, author of Biology of Belief, offers an explanation. He states that our behavior is based on our perception of our environment. And our perception is based on our beliefs. Our beliefs form through all our life experiences and the people who have influence over us, especially when we’re young.
When we’re born we have a fresh mind and as we grow, our mind is imprinted by people and events we experience. As children and later as adults we decide how the world works. We form beliefs about the world and we behave according to what we believe.
The struggle happens when we want to change our behaviors or achievements. If our behaviors are dictated by our beliefs – whether true or not, in order to change our behaviors we would have to change our beliefs.
Imagine living your life with one of these seven statements.
- ’ll never amount to anything
- I’m worthless
- I’m not smart enough
- No matter how hard I try, it’s never good enough
- Money is hard to come by and hard to keep
- I don’t deserve to succeed
- No one will ever love me
None of them are true and yet something caused you to adopt them as your own. If you believe in #7, you will struggle with relationships. If you believe in #5, chances are you will struggle with having enough money in your life. The examples are endless.
There could be any number of experiences or people who influenced you to adopt one of these statements in your life. The reason, however, is truly irrelevant. If you’re experiencing struggle in an area of your life then likely you’re telling yourself one of those 7 lies. At some point you decided that one of those things was true for you and so it is true for you.
In order to eliminate the struggle and easily succeed in all areas of your life it’s important to identify and eliminate these lies. It doesn’t matter where they come from, it only matters that you stop telling them to yourself.
Imagine, if everyone believed in these 7 statements instead:
- I can accomplish anything I choose
- I am a worthy and valuable person
- I am intelligent and capable
- I do my best and my best is good enough
- I easily attract money into my life and use it wisely
- I deserve happiness and success in my life
- I love myself and I am loved by others
Dr. Lipton’s research and writings on beliefs point to the fact that we are in control of our own change in life. Of course there are factors outside us that we have to take into account, however, much of the struggle could be eliminated if we looked inside ourselves first and cleaned up our own mindset. Dr Wayne Dyer states that we see the world as we are. Figure out how you view the world in those areas where you are struggling…then figure out how you can view it differently to achieve what you want.