Tag Archives: core beliefs

Effective strategies for conscious living

circle Who am I? Why am I here? What am I here to do? Where will I go when my body dies? 

As a child I was a seeker full of questions and as an adult I’m still a seeker and questioner. I am committed to opening my mind as wide as possible to all possibilities.

Are you a seeker and questioner too? Or do you have all the answers?

What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think of asking. The question is the helmsman of consciousness. Our minds, bodies, feelings, relationships are all informed by our questions. The complex networks of neurons that make up a mind are as individual as our fingerprints. — Sam Keen in What You Ask is Who You Are

In the Beginning

When I was young it seemed that the adults around me  had all the answers.  Asking individual  adults what they thought their purpose in life was, and what their ultimate destiny would be  would produce identical answers.  As a teen I  disbelieved “the correct answers” I had been given, but by then I had learned that raising questions about them would lead to swift and painful punishment, so I kept my questions to myself.

Living, loving and learning

As a young adult I came to know the reason all  adults I knew all had the same answers to all the questions I asked was because their answers were recitations of the same institutionalized religious dogma and doctrine.   They were programed to live and die within the confines of the Christian creation myth, and to accept without question the values, ideology  and politics of the generations who had gone before them.

Awakening

If we choose to challenge the belief system we have been raised in and live our life in emotional integrity then we can go for it slowly or go for it quickly. What is most important is that we go for it effectively.

I became conscious thorough meditation.  Meditation does not seek for information or make inquiries. It does not ask that a wish or desire be granted; it does not seek intervention on the mediator’s behalf, or the behalf of another person, place or situation.

The meditative state is achieved by stilling of the mind and body, becoming aware of vital stillness, and hearing within that still silence. It is the stillness of being naturally present before you become attached to thoughts and things; before you identify with thought-feeling-reaction.

I opened my mind reexamined my core beliefs and values and  replaced those that were no longer useful with those that were my own answers to the mysteries of the universe. I came to know more about living, loving learning and dying.

  • Ideas, theories and beliefs are not necessarily truths.
  • A belief is not an idea held by the mind; it is an idea that holds the mind.
  • We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.

Today I am keenly aware that my beliefs shape my reality. I  continue to reexamine them at irregular intervals, when questions arise and new approaches to finding answers are required.

Are You Conscious?

We seek purpose when we are not in touch with who we really are. When you discover who you are (at the deepest place of your being) you will find your purpose.— Colleen-Joy Page

Living consciously  is actually a lifestyle that few master.  Being conscious involves asking questions,  seeking answers  and thinking about why you do what you do.

Without doubt it’s easier to repeat doing what we always do without questioning why we do what we do, simply because it’s what we’re used to doing. Conscious living means rising to the challenge to question and break out of  non-productivity cycles  so  we can begin to craft  the lives we really want to live by design.

The important thing is to question the life you are living so  you really know and understand your life for what it is, then you can make course corrections whenever they are  needed.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. — Albert Einstein

Effective strategies for conscious living

1. When we question, “What beliefs am I clinging to that are obstructing my progress? We are on our way to choosing to live consciously.

2.  When we choose to break through old thought patterns by trying new ways of doing familiar tasks, we are choosing  to live consciously.

2. When we  incorporate techniques from one discipline to  solve problems in another, we are choosing to live consciously.

4. When we choose to keep all the possibilities in play, we allow our brain to seek unique solutions. This is another example of choosing conscious living.

Two tried and true methods of cultivating a questioning mind that leads to conscious living are  journaling and meditating.  I do both. Do you?

What’s at your core?

It’s not always easy to slice into the center and uncover our core beliefs. When we do this we may find some very negative ones left over from childhood.

Negative Core Beliefs develop as a small child tries to work out a “because” to help them cope with something they don’t understand or are troubled by in their daily life. It might be neglect, injustice, dishonest parenting, parents with addictions, abuse or just feelings of vulnerability, fear or shame.  Source

An integral component of our life purpose are our “core values”. These values are those intangibles of life that mean the most to us. When we are children our core values are those transmitted to us by our parents, teachers, religious leaders and the society we live in. Our core values are at the heart of all the values we’ve been taught we “should value.”

When we are adults we can choose to uncover these core values and jettison those leftover from childhood that are negative and no longer useful to us. Then we can move forward by adopting new core values that are positively focused towards helping us achieve our chosen life purpose.

Imagine 3 concentric circles. The outer and largest circle is composed of “should values,” the next circle inside that one is our “chosen values” (should values that we actually choose to hold onto and live from). The last circle is our “core values” which are those chosen values that as adults truly matter most to us.

Since these core values are an integral part of our life purpose, when we have undertaken a core value review and made appropriate changes we begin to live a new purpose driven life. At that juncture we can begin living a “value-based” life, rather than a life based on materialism and competitiveness.

Summarized from: Dr. W. Bradford Swift, and author of Life On Purpose: 6 Passages to an Inspired Life.

When I was in my early thirties I uncovered some negative core beliefs and  I  replaced them with my own truths.  Below is a list of my core beliefs. I’m sharing them with you and hoping that you will share yours with me.

My Core Beliefs

  • I am complete, perfect and whole.
  • I am capable, competent, compassionate, lovable and powerful.
  • I set realistic goals and achieve them.
  • I learn equally well from both success and failure.
  • I see clearly what is happening both outside and inside of me, without emotional or rational attachments and distractions.
  • I experience joy and peace that pass all understanding when I enter the ego-less state of harmonious balance through meditation.
  • Learning is a lifelong experience that transcends many lives…and when we close our minds to learning we close our minds to life itself.
  • The same life lessons will be presented to me and over again  until I learn them.
  • The more difficult the challenge, the more valuable the life lesson will be.
  • Ideas, theories and beliefs are not necessarily truths.
  • A belief is not an idea held by the mind; it is an idea that holds the mind.
  • We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.
  • Change is the only constant in life, and I am able to be flexible, adaptable and to flow with its ever-changing events.
  • Life’s changes are challenges, which help me grow and become more powerful, purposeful and strong.
  • Not everyone will love me nor will I love everyone but that’s okay, because at our core we are all much more the same than we are different.
  • Death is a transition, a new beginning.

Related posts found in this blog:
Everyday Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation
Depression Busters: Daily Affirmations