Core Beliefs

What is a core belief ? In simple terms, it's the belief that makes your core. It's a self impression that decides your action and reaction. How the world views you, may not be same and usually it's not the same. Core belief is a self impression about one's self. At some level it boils down to specifics in terms of, if you think you are beautiful or ugly, stupid or intelligent. There are many more attributes about yourself for which you will be carrying the impression. Again a word of caution, the impression may be far from reality but these self impressions get wired in us. They are wired as part of our upbringing.

We are a result of our thought process. The way we think, we tend to become that. In fact, we push ourselves in the direction of the thought process. If I think I am intelligent, I will try to solve something with full of my energy. As I think I am intelligent, I will focus on getting the solution. With that focus itself half of the battle is won. If I think I am stupid, in the face of a problem, I will

prematurely decide that I cannot solve it. It's beyond my calibre. I have lost the battle before it starts. Again this has nothing to do with my IQ levels. But I have already made a huge difference to the outcome with my thought process.

It's very very difficult to identify one's own belief system as it is in ingrained in us like a gospel truth. We might think that we know about ourself but what we know is just a self impression. This may be way way different from what you actually are.

How to identify core beliefs

Core beliefs can be identified by evaluating yourself dispassionately. You have to look to yourself and evaluate your actions. Don't love or hate you for how you have reacted. Look into events factually. How you act or react in a situation will bring a lot about you. 

Core beliefs can also be understood by talking to someone also who knows you intimately. However make sure that they have a rational way of looking and they should not colour you with their belief system. One way is to talk in terms of actions and reaction you do in different situations. Hard factual data and not to talk about you in terms of their impressions. For example they can tell that you are a good orator when you are among friends but you cannot speak in public. It might be because you are carrying a negative belief about your skills. You think that you cannot speak in public. You have got ingrained with that thought.

The key is to separate out the reality with the perception, your self perception. The reality is your self which behaves in certain way, when you do it unconsciously. The effort from perception makes it to behave differently.

Beliefs can be positive and negative. Positive beliefs which make you to think more than what you are at times compensates for the deficit in reality and you actually do better. Though be careful about over confidence. That's the fine line to be understood.

Finding one's core belief is a journey to understand one's own self.

Changing core beliefs

Core beliefs can be changed but first one need to identify the need for changing one's own core belief. Also one need to identify exact nature of core belief. It is a long process as rightly said "Old habits die hard". If we have to change the foundation of a house, we have to reconstruct it. Changing the foundation of self is not easy as we have to recreate self by replacing old self with new one. 

The first good step is to characterize the self completely and than identify the area of improvement. The journey has to start with the though process. How you think and react in a particular situation because of negative beliefs and than how to start changing that. Changing the first reaction is a great win. The first reaction will put in a different frame of thought process.

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