Note: This article is based on a blog post by Steven Aitchison, in which he discusses the impact of positive affirmations on beliefs.
Popular culture, the news, and sometimes the people around us remind us of the fact that the world can be a dangerous and frightening place, but positive support statements help us create a balance in life’s positive and negative.”
Integrating positive support statements into our lives is not as easy as it may seem. We grew up focusing on the dangerous things around us. Think, for example, of our cavemen ancestors, who were always at risk of being preyed upon or not having enough to eat.
Positive support statements are simply verbal, mental, or even physical reminders that life is inherently good and that we can let go of the fears we inherited from our ancestors. With positive support statements, we remember the fact that values surround our lives and that we have reason to hope.
However, the positive support statements are much more than that because they define the actions we take, the thoughts we have, and the values we have. That’s because they are inherently related to our beliefs.
As spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi said, “Your beliefs become ideas, your ideas into words, your words into actions, your actions into habits, and your habits into values that in turn determine your destiny.”
How many times have you said to yourself and to others around you:
- I'm not good at this.
- I cannot do that.
- I'm not very smart.
- I'm not good-looking.
- I wish I were like them.
- I will do it when I have the money.
These are all examples of unsupportive and negative statements that we use daily in one way or another. Your self-talk determines the beliefs you will have about yourself, others, and even the world around you. And the statements of support that you use in everyday life, whether conscious or unconscious, define your beliefs that will ultimately determine your success in any field of your life.
The Importance of Beliefs
One of the greatest gifts God has given us in life is the ability to change our beliefs, as knowing that we can change useless beliefs that have been ingrained within us for years is wonderful information to be aware of.
We have certain beliefs within us that rob us of our power and this is what we want to look at to discover ways in which frustrating beliefs can be weakened or eliminated completely and adopt new ones in our own lives.
Our beliefs shape our reality, so our reality is completely different from mine and also different from the reality of your partner, co-workers, children, and all the people around you. You are unique to yourself, and what makes you different is the beliefs you have about your world, so think about that for a moment because you created your reality and the person you are today. This may confuse you a bit but if you really think about it you will realize what it means, as it means that if you created your life in the first place, you can change it too.
Your Physical Condition Changes with Changing Your Beliefs
American physician and writer Dr. Bernard Siegel tells stories of patients with multiple personality disorder whose eyes change color with their personality changes; they have also developed physical symptoms such as diabetes simply because they have changed from one personality to another. Each of them had completely different beliefs about themselves.
This indicates how deeply entrenched our beliefs are; there was a lot of evidence to support that, as if you read any of Dr. Bernard's books, you will realize the power of beliefs. So this doesn't only show that beliefs are in our minds and can affect them, but they can affect our bodies as well. It is very powerful in itself so it is important that you learn things about yourself through your beliefs as much as possible. Then, if you feel it is necessary to change, change it or adopt new beliefs.
Let's think about the placebo effect, where there are two groups of patients who were given two groups of different pills. One of the two groups was given a sugar pill and was told that this pill would help them cure their conditions such as pain, depression, etc. The other group was given a real drug to treat their condition.
What scientists have found over and over again since 1955, when the phrase “placebo effect” was created, is that 50–60% of patients respond to the placebo pills, so they have the desired effect of treating the condition in a positive way. From here, we see how strong beliefs are, and this does not mean that humans are stupid; it just means that we deceive ourselves with the power of our mind by thinking that a sugar pill will help us. So what this really means is that beliefs are things that are ingrained in your mind, that you know for sure are absolutely true, and that they evoke a deep feeling within you.
Beliefs Are Things You Know for Sure are Absolutely True
If you say that you are an intelligent person, what you are really saying is that you feel that you are an intelligent person, and this feeling of certainty allows you to take advantage of what you have inside of you. This allows you to show a sense of intelligence and then think and take action in a different way from the perspective of an intelligent person, or at least your perception of the way an intelligent person behaves.
Belief Form
The form of belief is:
Visualization + Evidence + Repetition + Time = Belief
To illustrate this, I will tell you a story about a 22-year-old girl named Sharon, who did not believe she was attractive at all. This is what most people in the world believe today, both male and female, and one day while she was at work, a friend of hers complimented her and told her that she looked beautiful and attractive.
It surprised her but she didn't really think about it then, and yet when she came home that night, she looked in the mirror, thought about what her friend had said, and thought she looked a little prettier than she did before. After several nights, she went out with her friends to a restaurant and a handsome man came to her and complimented her too, and she was really surprised.
Sharon began to think about recent events and to question and challenge her perception of her own beliefs. These little things solidified Sharon's self-confidence, after which she began to see herself in another way and was able to realize that she really did look beautiful.
It was the beginning of a new belief in herself, and after a few weeks, her mother told her that over the past few months she had seen a noticeable difference in her appearance and that she looked great. It was unusual for her mother to compliment her and she was able to receive such praise in a positive way, so Sharon was able to solidify that belief that she had acquired in the past few months in her mind.
She believes that she is attractive now, and because of the formation of this belief—that she is attractive—which is reinforced by the praise of others, Sharon begins to act differently. This was all the result of her new belief in herself. This change affected her thinking, and she began to think more confidently and face bigger challenges in life.
As you can see, Sharon had a perception of herself and her appearance, and this perception changed because the praise of others forced her to reconsider her perception, and with the passage of time and the persistence of evidence, she formed a new belief about herself.
Visualization + Evidence + Repetition + Time = Belief
Sharon's story shows that beliefs can form over years depending on what level we are at in life. If you look at the change that happened to Sharon, she was able to challenge her misperceptions and beliefs about herself through external reinforcements. This is what happens to you because your beliefs will be either positive or negative, and if you're the kind of person where your world seems bleak, dark, and miserable, it's because your beliefs need to change about yourself and the world around you.
What happens doesn't matter; what matters is how you react to it. Know that people may go through terrible experiences, but the more painful those experiences are, the greater the need for professional help. However, in general, if you have limiting beliefs in your life, you can change them (if you wish) by just changing your beliefs.
Beliefs Table
American author Tony Robbins uses a metaphor to form beliefs called the “table metaphor.” It simply means that in front of you is an imaginary tabletop that represents your perception of yourself. In Sharon's case, this perception may have been instilled when her co-worker praised her; at that point, it was just a "table top" with no support, but after Sharon received more compliments over the following weeks that reinforced her positive image, this led to the formation of "table legs," her perception. She is now able to support her positive self-image, and this idea has turned into a belief about herself. This is how beliefs are formed.
Formation of Beliefs
When we are young, our beliefs are shaped by external forces—parents, teachers, friends, peers, and family—and we easily believe the people we respect. In adulthood, the childhood beliefs we have formed pass with us so it is time to consider and evaluate them and decide which beliefs we want to get rid of.
When you are wondering about something, it means that you are beginning to doubt it, which leads to more questions. Then you are less likely to believe the deeply held beliefs others give you, yet you will be able to keep the beliefs you already hold. Let's take, for example, the idea that 99.9% of the world's population think it is true that the sun rises every morning, and let's think and question it.
The probability of sunrise tomorrow morning is very high, but how do we determine this? Through the past, the sun has always risen in the morning and not a single day passes without it rising at a specific time. These times have been recorded, and we can trust our previous experience of that. Because of the evidence, we have no basis for saying that this belief is wrong.
It is clear that some people may believe that the sun will not rise but the difference is that this belief will prove to be unfounded when the sun rises again, yet when we question beliefs about ourselves, not external natural forces, gaps begin to appear.
When I was about 5 years old, people who were important in my life (friends, teachers, etc.) told me I wasn't smart and I believed them. At the time, I could not understand that this was related to my then-undiagnosed hearing loss, which reinforced this view. I had trouble hearing the teacher in class because I couldn't hear well.
I held the belief that I was "stupid" for about 10 more years, and that word represented how much hurt that belief caused me. The reason I was willing to believe it was because the important people in my life told me verbally and nonverbally that I was "slow to understand" and that I had no understanding or standard by which to challenge this statement at the time.
When I turned 14, things changed. I questioned the beliefs I had after I did well on my exams, and these were all clear outward indications that the traits I had been described as a child were wrong. Then I began to form other beliefs that culminated in my belief that I was smart and had the nerve to apply to college. Because I changed my beliefs and thought I was smart, and because I thought I could pass the higher exams, I continued to achieve all the qualifications required of me from the first attempt, which allowed me to enter the university.
I graduated in 2000, and this was one of my biggest accomplishments in life just because I previously thought I lacked intelligence. I know that passing exams is not necessarily an indicator of intelligence because the exam system is inherently flawed, but it is a sign of commitment and a degree of intelligence.
It was this experience that sparked my interest in beliefs and how they shape our reality and our worlds. This is an illustration of how challenging and changing our beliefs can change our future reality.
How Do Positive Statements of Support Work?
Positive support statements work simply by retraining our minds to believe in something new or to shake off an old belief we already have about ourselves. Using the above form can cause us to question beliefs until they vanish completely. This is because questioning beliefs automatically loses a little of their strength. Then we replace the old belief with a new one, find evidence to support it and repeat it often, and with enough time, the new belief becomes fully established.
Here comes the role of positive support statements: As they are repeated, we can choose the beliefs we want about ourselves. You may think this is silly but remember that the beliefs you have about yourself now are not really your beliefs; rather, they were transferred to you by other people. For example, think about your financial beliefs. If you have always thought that you will live without having a lot of money, there is no doubt that this idea was passed on to you by your parents, and it was passed on to them by their parents, so you see that some of your beliefs have been passed down through the generations simply by strengthening them with sufficiently supportive phrases.
Now think of a positive idea that you believe in about yourself, and then think about why you believe it. It is possible that many people have told you that you are very smart, for example, and then you have started to believe that you are smart, which will affect your thoughts and actions in life.
Why Do We Need Positive Support Statements?
It's not about needing positive support statements; it is more about realizing our old beliefs and choosing the ones we want in our lives in order to change our limiting beliefs and adopt new ones about ourselves.
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