Hello and happy Monday to you. As I write this, there is a refreshing and invigorating nip to the air. September's soft transition to cooler & shorter days always feels like a welcome invitation to wipe the slate clean, reassess goals and top up on motivation to think and live as consciously as possible. Kind of like back to school for the adult who craves continuous growth. So in that spirit, I invite you to read a little bit on beliefs today and how deliberately questioning and tending to our own can be the most empowering endeavour ♥︎
Abraham Hicks describes beliefs simply as 'thoughts you keep thinking'. What an elegant and helpful definition! And many neurological studies have long since proven that neurons 'that fire together, wire together.'
In essence, when you think thoughts over and over again, they wire together and fire more efficiently and subconsciously as time goes by.
This is how thoughts that go unchecked, become beliefs. And beliefs about ourselves or others often filter the evidence of reality around us. Our neurons, based on past experience, are looking for an efficient way to sort the 'facts of our experience' into categories we've previously decided exist (our beliefs). As a result we begin to 'believe' this is the way life is or has to be and we see 'evidence' of it everywhere. But in actuality, it is just what we are perceiving it to be according to the thoughts we keep thinking about it all. Isn't that realization alone just incredible?!
Knowing this, I invite you to ask yourself, are there any thoughts you keep thinking, toward yourself or your present life experience that you know do not make you feel good or empowered?
We all have them but we don't have to keep them.
To help you excavate and analyze your own, I am thrilled to introduce you to The Work of Byron Katie. Byron Katie is a revolutionary thought leader who developed 4 questions to help us all analyze the thoughts we think and ensure we redirect them in a way that allows us to live our best life. I hope this week's mindfulness toolkit helps you uncover a limiting belief and rewrite it in a way that serves you in the pursuit of your limitless potential.
READ
Enjoy this short document that outlines the 4 questions Byron Katie created. Print it off and reference it often. Its simplicity is powerful and certainly offers us the ability to revolutionize our lives when practiced. I am excited for you to experience it for yourself!
DO THE WORK
Identify one non-serving belief you currently hold. Perhaps you believe you are a procrastinator or that there is never enough time or money. To my friends who are expecting, maybe you believe labour & delivery is impossibly painful or that because your mother had a particular complication you'll have one too. Whatever it is, identify this thought and do THE WORK. Follow the questions Katie lays out and witness the transformation and empowerment you feel as you complete the exercise.
COMPASS
As you take on this week, remember THE WORK you've done here. When that pesky, well wired belief tries to resurface (which it will, so don't be dismayed) kindly turn your attention to the new thoughts you are choosing to think in that category instead. Let negative feelings, as they arise, serve as a compass that points you back the new thoughts you are consciously choosing to place your focus on.