Lesson 20: New Beliefs (Part 2)

This post is my thoughts on a lesson from the Beyond Freedom home study course for personal growth and life achievement. This course has been instrumental in transforming my life from stress-full to stress-FREE. Order your own copy today at: http://www.LibertyLeague.com/margieremmers And transform YOUR life from where you are now, to where you want to be.

OK, so in yesterday's post I talked about Jon Gabriel's take on belief vs. truth, and how he doesn't care whether something is true, but only whether his belief serves him--does believing that thing make him feel good, happy, complete, successful? That is his only criteria. The truth is inconsequential.

Today's Beyond Freedom lesson (continuing from yesterday) is about getting rid of beliefs that DON'T serve you ("I'm not good enough," "Everyone's out to get me," "That would make me look bad, etc."), and replacing them with beliefs that DO (e.g., "I can do anything I set my mind to").

But in some ways, that is easier said than done, because the mind is always searching for ways to strengthen its belief. As Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." You may say to yourself, "I can do anything I set my mind to," but as soon as you think it, your mind is filled with things you failed at--piles of evidence that, in fact, there are things that you can't do.

I mentioned yesterday that this exact topic is one that I have been batting around for several days. And I've come to what might seem some pretty crazy conclusions. However, my belief in the answer serves me a great deal--so I'm keeping it.

Here is what I have begun to realize: It's a commonly known fact that although we human animals seem solid, in fact we are not. In fact, we are just atoms spinning around, much more space than mass. It is quite a miracle that we are cohesive at all. In fact, Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist and author of My Stroke of Insight, describes how the right side of our brain does not even recognize separateness--how it only sees and feels with all the other energy forms in the universe. If you have not seen Jill's powerful speech at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, grab a kleenex and sit down for 20 minutes to watch it now. It will definitely change your perspective, it could very well change your life:


And if, like me, you can't get enough of her message, watch the videos in Oprah's Soul Series.

More tomorrow... :o)

Lesson 20: New Beliefs (Part 1)

This post is my thoughts on a lesson from the Beyond Freedom home study course for personal growth and life achievement. This course has been instrumental in transforming my life from stress-full to stress-FREE. Order your own copy today at: http://www.LibertyLeague.com/margieremmers And transform YOUR life from where you are now, to where you want to be.

Last Friday, my friend Aisza threw down the gauntlet. OK, not really--she didn't directly challenge me, but her words caused me to challenge myself in a way that I haven't in awhile. She made me realize that it has been awhile since I have picked up my Beyond Freedom. In fact, I searched through this blog and found that it was November of last year when I last posted a lesson!

During my conversation with Aisza, I committed to doing a couple things full out, 100%, for ONE WEEK--one of which was one full hour every day of work in Beyond Freedom! So here we go...

Today's lesson is titled "New Beliefs," and it never ceases to amaze me how whenever I open up my book, the topic is EXACTLY what has been on my mind!

So many recent events have brought this topic to the forefront of my mind--there is no way I am going to be able to document them in one sitting. This, by the way, is the reason why Beyond Freedom is considered a 90-day course, even though there are only 29 lessons. It often takes more than one day to complete a single lesson!

I'll start with Jon Gabriel. I don't know how exactly I bumped into Jon on the internet--was it an ad? Was it a link in someone's blog? I don't remember. Regardless, I attracted his website and became fascinated with his unique approach to weight loss--by using the mind, rather than going on a "diet." I immediately bought his book, which came with mp3's of seminars that Jon had conducted in various places.

In one of the mp3's Jon shared a FASCINATING insight. He said that he chooses what to believe based on whether it serves him--not whether it's true. "Frankly," he said, "I don't care whether it's true or not. All I care about is whether it serves me--whether believing that is helpful in my life. If it's not, I get rid of it, and choose to believe something else."

And, of course, this is what today's lesson is all about--choosing the beliefs that make us happy, that bring us success, that make us feel good. Rewriting our old beliefs into new ones that serve us.

Of course, the hard part in all this is evidence. When we believe something, we search for evidence that it is true. After all, like the lesson says, "Beliefs are etched in our subconscious mind. And we won't let go easily." We are constantly searching for things to back up what we believe is true--even if those beliefs are harmful or make us feel bad. If we believe that all store clerks are rude to us, then even if we run into 9 nice ones out of 10, we will only notice the 1 that was rude, because it confirms our belief.

Well, my hour is up. Looking forward to tomorrow so I can finish my train of thought! :o)

The Wisdom of an 8-Year Old

In case you don't already know this about me, I am a musical theatre fanatic. I love it. I'm passionate about. It is one of the greatest joys of my life and has been for as long as I can remember.

Yesterday, for some reason, I felt compelled to listen to one of my favorite musicals, Miss Saigon--the raw, gritty, and oh so tragic story of a Vietnamese woman and a soldier who fall in love the night before the fall of Saigon in April 1975. With its beautiful, sweeping melodies and intense emotion, Miss Saigon won several Tony's (Broadway's equivalent of an Academy Award) and stole the hearts of people like me everywhere.

I popped in my tape (yes, tape--the show came out in 1989!) on my way to pick up the kids from school, and, since the very adult songs about marines and prostitution were over, I asked my kids (who I'm cunningly training to like musicals as well) if they wanted to listen to it while we ran some errands.

They agreed, and as we drove I told the story and asked how they were liking it. They thought it was OK--occasionally coming across as song they liked better than others. (Yeah!)

Then we came to one song (one of my favorites) that was particularly sad--a duet called "Please," where our heroine begs a former marine to help her find her lost love and the father of her child: "Please, don't you see we've washed over, as we crossed the wildest sea? Even God wants us together...can I end this journey, please?"

When the song was over, I said to my kids, "Isn't that sad? I love that song. I used to listen to it over and over."

Then my 8 year old daughter said the wisest thing:

"If it makes you so sad, why do you keep listening to it?"

Why, indeed.