Belief System

The human brain is an amazing organ. The amount of information it can absorb, retain, and process is unbelievable. Imagine what life would be like if we didn't have a brain though. We wouldn't be able to experience thoughts or emotions, we wouldn't be able to walk or talk, we wouldn't be able to see, hear, touch, or smell, nor would we be able to make decisions or retain memories. Not surprisingly, we wouldn't be able to live at all, because the brain is, of course, a vital organ. Like the rest of our body, our brain requirements nourishment. Our body relies on food and water to survive, and we know that remaining committed to a diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables, whilst drinking plenty of clean water, is paramount to ensuring we keep our body healthy and in good shape. Our brain operates on exactly the same principal. We need to remain committed to feeding our brain with information that is positive, encouraging, and educational, to ensure it is also healthy and in good shape. It's what we know as looking after our mental health, of course. The more we feed our mind with positive thoughts, positive beliefs, encouragement, hope, and faith, the happier and more fulfilled we become. Easier said that done though. There is an unlimited amount of information within this world to process. From the moment we open our eyes at birth, our brain becomes overloaded with information. Our parents teach us things, we learn from watching television, we learn things from other children, and our brain starts clicking into gear about what we should believe. Even from a young age, sadly we are educated and influenced to believe information that isn't even true. Yep, I am sorry to break it to you, but Father Christmas isn't real. Santa Claus may not exactly be a harmful lie to us, more so just an innocent fantasy for children to believe in, but Santa isn't the only lie, mistruth, and false belief we relay to our children. Unfortunately, we fill them up with information that becomes extremely detrimental to them in their adult life, and it's all because we influence and manipulate them to believe such things, even though we really don't know the truth either. We base such information on what others have told us, about what we have personally learned, and what we assume to be the truth.

Why did we stop believing in Father Christmas as we started growing up? Two reasons, the first being that our parents, friends, or other people told us so, and secondly, we have never seen any physical proof that he does exist. It's never wise to believe what other people say however, and take that as being gospel. Not that I'm saying Father Christmas does exist, but for the fact we haven't seen any proof to validate that he does, in all the years we have been alive, would be a pretty good indication that he doesn't. The most accurate information we can get about anything in life is to learn and experience something for ourselves. We too often adopt beliefs purely off the back of what people tell us, people who we believe we can trust, and that wouldn't tell us lies and mistruths, such as our parents, our teachers, and our friends. For example, we hear from others that it's unwise to start our own business, because businesses only end up failing. How do we know if a business will fail if we haven't experienced owning and running a business ourselves? It's a mere myth. We are told, even educated at school, that having a corporate job is mandatory, and it is hinted to us as being the only outlet of earning an income, when in reality, there are many different and legal ways to generate an income. We are led to believe that the rich and famous are extremely selfish and greedy, when in reality, an overwhelming number of them donate a substantial amount of money to various charities, and they do seek to help others at every opportunity. We see reviews about various businesses, hotels, accommodation, etc, and we form an opinion based on them. The truth is, everyone is going to have a different experience, being good or bad. It's all about each individual's assessment and perception of something, but it doesn't make them right though. I could go on and on with different examples of information people feed us based purely on belief, rather than fact, because there is so much of it, but this blog entry would be never ending.

If you've never heard of a "belief system", it's basically a set of beliefs that we, as individuals, or society adopts around what is right and wrong, and what is true and false. Our belief system determines our thoughts, our decisions, our actions, our behaviour, our attitude, our opinions, and of course, our beliefs. So with all this information that is being fed into our mind from birth, we start to create our own belief system. From this information, we start to form beliefs around what is right and what is wrong, and what is truth and what is mythical, but the problem is that we adopt these beliefs that we only assume are truth, myth, right, and wrong, without genuinely knowing. They are nothing more than beliefs formed from what others have told us, or what we have read, and not necessarily from fact. It's not to say that every time someone passes on some information that it's always wrong, and that we should instantly dismiss it as not being factual and truthful, but unless we know or experience it for ourselves, it becomes a dangerous habit for us to believe what we read or hear. Let's not just pass the blame on others though, because we are in fact just as much to blame for what information we feed our mind. We often form our own beliefs of something, but again, this can often be based on assumption rather than fact. What's even worse is that these beliefs, that we create purely from assumption, are often generated from negativity. It can be as simple as an act of categorizing someone. For example, we see someone with tattoos and piercings, and we instantly assume they are a criminal, or they are untrustworthy, when the truth is that person may be one of the most beautiful souls we could ever meet. Or perhaps we see a person of a certain race or skin colour suspiciously lingering around the grocery aisles, and we assume they are up to no good, when in reality, they might just be passing time waiting for someone, or considering their options on what to buy. Because of what we have heard or read about a certain race or appearance of individuals, we adopt this belief about them, and then when we view anyone of such race or appearance, we unfairly perceive them in a negative light, without even knowing anything about them personally. We do so because we have adopted and allowed such beliefs into our belief system. These above examples are detrimental to our character, as adopting such beliefs can easily then lead to poor values, like discrimination and racism.

In chatting with someone yesterday, they actually picked me up on something I said, and made me realise how easy it is to believe something, when we don't even know it to be truth. I was making an assumption, and forming an opinion on something that I didn't actually know to be truthful whatsoever. This person reminded me to be careful of such thoughts, because if I were to adopt this belief into my belief system, it could have ramifications on my behaviour, and the relationships I have with others. In that moment, I completely understood how dangerous it can be to adopt such beliefs. Negative thoughts and beliefs can indeed create some negative results, and ultimately impact our journey towards the life we want to live, and the person we want to be. We need to break this habit of creating beliefs within our mind, be it as a result of what we hear, what we read, what we assume, or what we personally manufacture. The only beliefs we need to adopt are believing in ourselves, through trusting that we have the potential and capabilities to achieve what we desire in life, and anything we personally experience for ourselves, or know for ourselves. Any other information we take on board, we don't honestly know to be factual. Accepting information into our belief system outside of these may lead us into making decisions that can easily become detrimental to our success and our happiness. Don't be influenced, don't be manipulated, don't be fooled, and don't make assumptions. Get out and experience things for yourself, educate yourself by doing things yourself, and knowing things for yourself. Credit your belief system with positive information, rather than negative. Take a moment to think of some of the beliefs you have inherited into your belief system, and take note of which ones are genuinely factual, and which ones you assume to be factual. It's time to remove information from your mind that you don't really know to be truth and fact, because your future, your character, your relationships, and your potential success is on the line.

#Wednesday #WednesdayMotivation #motivation #quote #belief #believe #BeliefSystem #mindset #mind #brain #thoughts #decisions #assumptions #truth #fact #opinion #experience #knowledge #categorize #character #success #right #wrong #information #WindOfChangeNow