"The Hard Part" - Getting Beyond Unhealthy and Unhelpful Beliefs

Why do we cling to beliefs that hurt our sense of well-being and impede our happiness?

Why do we believe in things that don't stand up to scrutiny or science?

Why is the change we know is good for us so hard to make?

We're born with the capacity for reason, why do we use that power to rationalize beliefs that cause us harm? Why can't we think things through and "see the light?"

The fact is, you can't think your way out of unhealthy or unhelpful beliefs because those beliefs don't "live" in your thinking brain. They reside in the darker regions of your reptile brain. That brain is only programmed for fight or flight and procreation.

"The hard part" about changing pernicious and persistent delusions is that you can't think them through, because the place where those beliefs live only reacts. Like our beliefs, most of our behavior is driven by the unconscious.

Here's what we know, behavior informs and inspires beliefs, not the other way around. Before you change your mind, you must first change your behavior.

But I just told you most of our behavior is unconscious? That's true, most behavior is unconscious most of the time. But right now, in this moment, is an opportunity to recognize that, yes things are as they are, but not as they must be.

You can aspire to change and then step into that possibility by taking a new approach.

Your posture "telegraphs" your mindset.

Want a new mindset? Adopt a new posture and practice it.

Before you became confident at or about anything, you became curious about it and then screwed up the courage to try. You acted "as if" the outcome was inevitable. And with surprising swiftness, you learned it was.

This is how you learned to talk, walk, read, and write.

You can apply the same process to improve your belief system.

All you need to do is first imagine a better way and then try, and try again.

What action can you take today to practice a better way of being that will inform a better mindset tomorrow?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose

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