Our beliefs about the world and our place in it affect the things we think and these thoughts guide our actions, which in turn reinforce our beliefs. Sometimes these beliefs and thoughts are empowering and lead us into sound judgements and choices and other times they hold us stuck fast in behaviours that are detrimental to our well-being.
While channel surfing during the ads I came across a most disturbing snippet of ‘reality TV’. Unfortunately I didn’t catch what programme I was watching or the name of the person who was speaking on it. The gist of the interview was that a middle aged woman held the belief that her father wasn’t actually her biological father.
This belief had bombarded her with thoughts of not belonging and not being good enough, and undermined her relationship with her sisters and particularly with her mother. In fact, she hadn’t spoken to her mother in 16 years, despite her mother’s repeated pleas for her to put aside these concerns and get on with being a part of a family which loved her very much.
The show’s host had organised a DNA test which showed without question that the woman’s father was indeed her real father and her sisters were her real sisters. Despite the new evidence the woman was disappointed with the results as she had convinced herself that she didn’t belong and that her mother had betrayed her father and was therefore her enemy. When given the opportunity to make peace with her mother after all the years of hurt and pain she declined and decided it was easier to continue to hold a grudge for something that had never happened.
How empowering are your beliefs? Are you constantly thinking thoughts that are dragging you down and making your life a misery?
