6 Keys to Developing an Empowered Core Belief System

by Coree on March 22nd, 2009

“Our beliefs act as lenses. These lenses can help us see things we can’t otherwise see, but they can also block us from seeing parts of reality.” – Steve Pavlina.

Early in life we develop our core beliefs – basic ideas that we accept about ourselves, other people and our world. They can either be positive or negative, life building or life destroying. Experiences we had as children are often where our core beliefs begin. If we repeatedly heard from parents, grandparents and others at an early age that we didn’t deserve something it may have caused us to develop a core belief that we aren’t worthy of receiving. Because perceptions are often subconscious it’s not unusual to discover that they weave their way throughout our lives in unexpected ways. So an unconscious core belief that we aren’t worthy of receiving may play out as a lifetime of lack that shows up in love, money and success, and even life itself.

The perceptions stored in our conscious and subconscious minds can heal as well as hurt. To heal and overcome any limiting core beliefs we have stored in our minds there is a simple process that must take place. We must somehow bypass what the mind has believed in the past and replace it with something new based on an experience that’s true for us…our inarguable truth. We can use the power of logic to speak directly to our subconscious minds, and when we consciously accept a new way of seeing the world; our subconscious beliefs are affected as well.

Once the mind has a reason to think differently it will allow the heart to embrace that possibility as a new belief, that is, to feel that it is true. We are forced to use logic and embrace a new belief in the presence of an experience that’s beyond national explanation. This is the definition of a miracle.

One way we apply logic to our core beliefs is when we see another person accomplish something that we believed impossible. Sometimes we convince ourselves that we can’t do something because no one has ever done it before…it can create such a strong belief in our minds that we begin to believe that it’s impossible. That is until someone proves us wrong.

Consider the records for the one-mile run. Charles Westhal established the modern benchmark of 4 minutes 28 seconds that was set in 1852 and remained the best record for a long six years. During the 1800s and early 1900s that record was broken more than 31 times, all being just a fraction better than the last and all still remained over the 4 minute mark. For more than 100 years it was believed that humans simply were not physically capable of running one mile in less than four minutes. That is until 1954 when a British runner named Roger Bannister broke the seemingly impossible feat for the first time in recorded human history. He finished the mile in 3:59.4. And this is where you will see a paradigm shift in beliefs.

It had taken a long 102 years for Bannister to come along and break that elusive 4 minute mile mark, fewer than eight weeks later it was broken again by John Landy of Australia with a record of 3:57.9. Once that seemingly impossible limit of four minutes was broken, it shattered the belief that it couldn’t be done and opened the door for others to follow with times that were even faster. Since Roger Bannister’s feat in 1954, the record for the one-mile-run has been broken at least 18 times. By the end of the 20th century, the record had been lowered to 3:43.13, by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999.

To all those who were convinced that four minutes was the fastest a human could ever run the mile, Bannister’s record-breaking time was a miracle. Because it hadn’t been done in more than a century the public at large was convinced that it was simply impossible to do so. As this example shows us, it takes only one person to demonstrate that something is possible and that individual’s miracle can give all of us the unconscious permission to duplicate it.

Bannister approached the goal using logic to convince his mind that it was attainable. He chose a goal that was clear and precise. It’s rumored that he slipped a piece of paper into his shoe with the exact time written on it that he wanted to run: 3 minutes and 58 seconds. Instead of looking at the record as an obstacle, he chose to think of it as only being mere seconds faster than another time he’d already accomplished.

By breaking it down this way he was able to bypass the belief that it was impossible. We can bypass our core beliefs in much the same way. Rather than considering the huge project at work, or perhaps everything it would take to start a new business or career, we seem to do much better by setting our big goals in small increments with each one getting us just a little closer to our ultimate objective. This helps us bypass the old ideas that may have kept us from achieving our greatest dreams or aspirations. The key is to be clear, concise and honest when stating your goals and action plan. Follow these key steps:

1. State how you feel about YOUR desired outcome as though it has already happened. Keep it in one clear sentence that you will understand and identify with.
2. State your passion, your emotion, or your ‘why’ behind your reason for wanting your goal. It is the emotion and fervor that charges your belief to attract it to you.
3. State the limiting belief you have about yourself and/or filling your need. What is the core belief or excuse you give yourself at first thought of why you “can’t” do it?
4. State the opposite of your limiting belief.
5. State when you feel most fulfilled in life. This will become your goal.
6. State the inarguable fact(s) that support your goal. Find your logic.

The purpose of these steps is to create a program for yourself. It’s to help you organize your beliefs into statements that are true for you and create a powerful sequence of information that will give you a reason to change a deeply held belief. The key is to provide the information that is meaningful to you, and in that way you’re accessing your subconscious mind in a way only you can. Use this as a template and begin to develop an empowered core belief system that can accomplish miracles in your life.