Beliefs - A Coaching Perspective

I grew up around professional philosophers, grew to become a Buddhist at 21; I thought I understood all I needed to about beliefs.

What a surprise to find out not so many years ago that most of the beliefs that were actually driving my life were beliefs I didn't even know I had!



It is usually these unconscious beliefs that are the extremely interesting to work with, because they are generally more deep-rooted, and, since we require to make a little bit of attempt to see them, we may not have. Yet.



Now, on account of the description of the job, we coaches are inclined to separate all beliefs into empowering or disempowering, which is simply self-development-speak for "do they work for you or not?" - just in case you were of the opinion that the belief "I can jump off tall buildings and soar" is incredibly empowering.



Needless to say, if anyone has some disempowering beliefs, it can be great fun to help change those so that they can get the outcomes they wish for, whether it's in the area of profession, relationships, spirituality, health and fitness, building their business, etc. etc., or even "simply" learning to like themselves.



You might be wondering: if my unconscious beliefs are, er, unconscious, how do I understand what they are? Here are two analogies that might help.



First, throw yourself into a river. Any river will do, although a fast-flowing one is excellent. Then, swim down the river. Now turn around, and swim the other way. One way is going to be a lot easier than the other. If your journey down the river of life is smooth and the waters seem to take you effortlessly along, you have a pleasant/empowering set of beliefs. You could possibly change them to go even more speedily, perhaps take on sophisticated swimming lessons or even get a power boat to go quicker and keep yourself dry, but things are running fairly well as they are.



If you find, on the other hand, that the current is continuously pushing you back, you need to examine, and address, the stuff underneath that doesn't want to let you past.



For those of you who love mathematics, here is one more way of viewing it:



25 (your conscious beliefs)

? +

12 (your results)



You cannot right away see the second number you're adding, but you can deduce from your results that it's a negative one, and to guess that it has a 13ish flavor to it is also not hard.



Of course we have beliefs that we're conscious of too. A favorite one is "but you don't realize - it really is other people's mistake that I can't be happy". These can also bring down the value of your life, and are sometimes really harder to shift than unconscious beliefs for the reason that their awareness makes them appear to be more "real" and therefore more worth(?) defending.



Typical disempowering beliefs are "I'm not lovable", "I don't deserve it", "Money is something other people have", "You have to be clever to accomplish something and I'm not" (two for the price of one there!)



Unfortunately, many people go through life weighed down by their conscious and unconscious beliefs, as if they had no option. But if all we want is a better quality life, it becomes necessary to consider and if need be, transform the beliefs that we have at present. This is an amazing way to begin.



A belief, conscious or unconscious, is like a train. You may find that the train you're on is taking you around the least attractive parts of town, and when you ask the driver the final destination he says "the run-down depot in the center of the wasteland". Obviously the train can't decide to jump the tracks and go off somewhere else, so then you know it's time for you to change trains.

Live the difference Life Coaching is based in Melbourne which offers transformational one-on-one coaching both face-to-face and on the phone. People come from all walks of life and live in and around Melbourne, interstate and overseas.



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