Peak Mind Pro: Is Your World View Distorted by Your Beliefs?

Have you ever worn tinted lenses? Through brown or gray or green or rose-colored glasses, the world looks a little different. Like those colored glasses, beliefs are the lenses through which we see the world. They color our life experience and impact how we understand things. Unlike those shades, however, we are not always aware that we are wearing these lenses, and we move through the world without recognizing how our view is being distorted by our mental filters. 

A belief is something that our minds hold to be true. While our minds treat them as fact, it's important to understand that beliefs are not facts. They are internally constructed - meaning created by our minds - and are not objective, inevitable capital T Truths. Our beliefs do not necessarily reflect some objective aspect of reality. 

As soon as we are born, our minds get busy trying to make sense of everything. As they do, they form beliefs, which essentially become our operating system for understanding the world and our place in it.  

Core beliefs are deeply held assumptions and conclusions about ourselves, others, and the way the world works. These are the filters through which we process information, and they guide our interpretations, expectations, and, ultimately, our reactions in various situations. We are not always consciously or directly aware of the core beliefs that shape our reactions and life experience.

And shape it they do.

Consider the reactions of thees two people. Alex has a core belief that people are generally out for themselves while Jamie believes that people generally do the right thing. Their colleague leaves them off a group email about an important project. Filtering that event through the lens of their core beliefs, Alex will assume the omission was intentional, that the colleague is trying to get ahead and sabotaging Alex. Jamie, on the other hand, operating on the basis that people generally do the right thing, is more likely to view the email as an honest mistake. Very different reactions to the same event...because of beliefs. 

There are few things as impactful on your life experience as the beliefs you hold. Beyond your skills and talents, your beliefs - your mindset - shape every aspect of your day-to-day being. At work specifically, your beliefs influence how you interact with others and how you approach problems, how you handle pressure and stress, and how you bounce back from failures, among other facets of your professional world. 

Are your beliefs helping or hurting you?

Monthly Tips 

1. Become aware of your beliefs.

Many deeply held core beliefs are below our level of conscious awareness and may require a little digging to uncover. Start by paying attention to your automatic thoughts, the knee-jerk things that go through your mind in any given situation, particularly during times when you do not feel calm, content, or confident. Write down your automatic thoughts so that you can examine them in more detail later. 

2.  Discover what's beneath those automatic thoughts.

Dig deeper. Ask yourself a series of "why or because?" - Why is that bad/that's bad because? Or, if it fits better, phrase the question this way: why is that true? Or that must be true because? 

Keep asking why/because until you get to the bottom, to the point where there is nothing below it. You've likely uncovered a core belief.

3. Evaluate your belief.

Ask yourself if that belief is helping you or hurting you. Would your life be better in some way if you knew for sure that belief was not true?

4.Find an alternative.

If you're holding on to some unhelpful beliefs, consider what someone who has a different reaction in that situation must believe. What would they have to believe to be true or know about the world in order to have that reaction? What must be true about them or for them to be successful in that way?

5. Try on a new belief.

Some psychologists use the term "act as though" to capture this strategy. Act as though you knew for a fact that alternative belief were true. If you believed it 100%, how would your actions be different? There's some truth to the old adage "fake it til you make it." Changing your behaviors is a surefire way to shift your beliefs.

"We must look at the lens through we see the world, as well as the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world."

 - Steven R. Covey