There is a phrase going around that says, “don’t believe everything you think.” The interesting thing to note is that on a subconscious level, every thought you have is based on a belief you hold. So you could say technically that you do believe everything that you think. Where things change around, though, is when you bring the conscious mind into the equation. This new factor gives you the ability to actually have a choice as to whether or not you wish to continue to believe the belief that caused your subconscious mind to think the thought that it did.
Cognitive behavioral theory talks about your feelings and behaviors being directed by the thoughts that you have. Thoughts really are very powerful and do take control of our lives, for good or bad, or somewhere in between. Quantum mechanics is showing us daily how our thoughts create the reality around us. So, it is important that you start taking the time to really examine the thoughts that you have and see what the meaning is behind them or if they are just truly noise. But, be warned that even the noise-based thoughts do have a larger meaning that you might not be privy to.
If you want to start down the path of not believing everything you think you will need to be prepared for an uphill climb especially in the beginning. The most common resistance that you start facing is something called cognitive dissonance. Basically, it’s when a person holds two different beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time within themselves and they are feeling mental stress and discomfort as their mind tries to sort it all out. This can also happen if you’re confronted by new information that conflicts with any existing beliefs, ideas, or values that you hold. Remember that when we are talking about beliefs, it can be related to cultural beliefs, personal beliefs, moral beliefs, religious beliefs, or any type of belief. Beliefs latch on to each other on an individual, group, county, and society level.
Your first step to not believing your thoughts is to become “the Watcher” as Ekhart Tolle talks about in his book the Power of Now. This technique gives you the ability to start put some distance between your thoughts and the conscious part of your mind. It also allows you to become less reactive and more responsive to the events that happened to you on a daily basis. While in this state the common question you ask yourself is: does the thought you are having in this moment help you, is useful, or is the more uplifting thought? Does this thought only cause me distress or is it improving the quality of my life in some way?
Once you become more skilled in evaluating your thoughts and deciding how helpful they are not, you’ll want to start putting added pressure on those negative thoughts (or any thought you no longer want) so that you can find ways to dispel them. Thoughts are energy patterns that are just trying to finish the mission that they had been given when they were first created. By starting to understand the context of this thought you can identify what the underlying belief is that is giving it power. You’ll only be able to permanently dispel thoughts when you finally been able to eradicate the belief that sits in your subconscious mind. This can only happen through conscious action and is the point and where the most stress from cognitive dissonance will start to show.
So, you’re sitting face-to-face in front of a belief that you have held all of your life and you have finally become aware that is making you miserable or you no longer wish for it to be part of your life. This is where you need to make the decision on whether or not you are going to believe what you are thinking. Are you going to be someone that continues to believe this belief or are you going to change it. Hopefully, when you really look at the belief from all angles you start to see not only how limiting it is, but also that how it is not really right in the context of the life that you want to live. That it is a wall between you and where you want to really be.
Unfortunately, beliefs and your subconscious mind are very sly and will figure out ways to make you keep your current programming. One way this is done is for the word “truth” to come out in your thoughts. You will hear yourself say, “of course this belief is correct because it’s true!” Or there’ll be some other way of it being said with the end result being that the belief sitting in front of you is true. The best way to solve this dilemma is to look outside of yourself and find examples in the world that prove this belief to not be true. Do not be surprised if the subconscious mind comes back and tells you, “yes, that is true but only for those type of people.” What it is trying to do was to put distance between you and your new realization in hopes that you won’t cross that gap.
This battle can wage on for a very long time, but you need to stick to your guns and keep seeing that original belief as no longer being part of your life. You need to make a conscious decision that you wish to look at the world differently and that you want this belief and program removed from your subconscious mind. At some point, you will be confronted again with this belief and given the opportunity to decide once again if you wish to believe it or not. This is done by your subconscious just to make sure that what you said you really mean. Based on the resolve that you hold within you on a conscious level it will determine whether or not you will have just one or multiple tests related to this belief.
All this can seem quite frustrating especially when you’re trying to remove a negative belief, but remember the same holds true for positive beliefs. Since the subconscious mind is so efficient at turning beliefs and thoughts into reality this really is a good thing. It means that when your mind is consistently turning out only positive thoughts they will be consistently reinforced throughout the reality you experience. All done with little effort on your part.
So, my friend. What thought are you having that you no longer wish to believe?