How To Achieve Your Dreams and Goals by Navigating Through Your Seas of Beliefs

Much is written about how to change and improve one’s life through dreams and goals. If you go to any bookstore or search the Internet, would you not find thousands of books and sites on self-improvement from which to potentially help you navigate a successful course? Even though many of these sources contain excellent information, my experiences have revealed that these sources fail to address and infuse our own personal beliefs.
These foundational, internal thought processes, also known as beliefs, determine what an individual does. From our beliefs, spring the attitudes or habits of thought. For it is these beliefs that drive the attitudes creating observable behaviors. When you talk with people, how often do you hear “I believe this” or “My sense is” or “I don’t know that, but I believe this?” Every day we use our beliefs to navigate through the daily challenges and opportunities that we face.
Life is like a sea where we navigate our ship through uncharted waters. Starting at a very early age, we paddle through the shallow waters of these beliefs. As we grew acquiring more experiences, so did our beliefs and the depths of those convictions. Now, our ship is crossing very deep seas navigating through new experiences with old beliefs.
Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to explore how beliefs navigate and influence behaviors. A friend made the following statement: “My type of personality is that when I am stressed out, I eat.” I asked if he believed this to be true and the response was a very quick and firm “yes.” Next I asked: “Who has control over the food that you eat?” The response was “Well, I do. No one is forcing food in my mouth.”
I then drew 3 concentric spheres on a piece of paper with the inner sphere representing what one has control over, the next outer sphere representing what one has influence over and the final sphere representing what is beyond one’s control. After drawing the 3 spheres, I asked: “Since you tell me that you have 100% control over what you eat and how much you eat, then why do you have a belief that suggests you have no control over your eating behaviors?”
All of the sudden with loud sigh he said: “So, that’s why I have never been able to keep my weight off and have successful weight loss. My beliefs conflict with my behavior. I need to change my beliefs, but how do I do that?”
My friend took the first step to changing his behavior by recognizing and acknowledging his beliefs. Next I suggested to him to create what some call a positive affirmation statement or what I now call a belief statement. By touching, hearing, seeing and feeling this positive self-talk statement, he will change what he believes to be true and he will eventually change what he receives in his life.
Navigating our beliefs is not an easy task as it involves reflection and self-awareness. However, my friend made the conscious choice to recognize his beliefs regarding his challenge allowing him a greater opportunity to chart a course where he can connect his efforts to his results.
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Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com
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