Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Need help releasing old beliefs?

At some point in our lives, we have all likely held tenaciously to a belief even when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. The most stubborn of such beliefs is usually one that we will go to any lengths to defend and hold on to. When someone or something challenges it, it feels almost like an attack on our individual being and the discomfort and ensuing anxiety seem to be acceptable as we cling tighter to our belief. In some cases, the belief is probably serving a need or purpose and removing it would shatter our perception of the world around us; in cases like that, it is probably best to take gentle, baby steps to understand the underlying issue and carefully create a healthy and supportive environment in which to safely release the belief that no longer serves us anymore. However, at other times, a long-held belief is just that; something that has become a staple in our worldview but doesn't really belong there anymore. For such beliefs, you may consider taking a flower essence such as Couchgrass.

Typically, flower essences gently shift our perception and allow us to examine the psychological underpinning of our thoughts which are often derived from our beliefs. When we realize that a belief is no longer serving us in a particular stage of life, we can let it go. For example, if we formed a belief that only tall people should play sports back when we were in high school and you weren't considered tall, and sometime in your twenties you friends asked you to join a team but you always found yourself missing the community league tryout or were late to practices, you might have subconsciously been sabotaging yourself because your subconscious mind couldn't hold the idea of you playing a sport because you hadn't grown any taller than you were in high school. A flower essence like Couchgrass could help shift your perception in a way that you start noticing people of all sizes and shapes playing all different types of sports whereas before, your mind would only find evidence to support your long-held belief and you wanted to be right, you might have only noticed tall people playing sports. If you were discussing this with your friends, you might have even tried to prove that you were not tall enough to play sports and supported your belief by showing them plenty of evidence to support your argument.

When we get locked into a belief, we spiral into a pattern where at first, quite innocuously, you might start noticing evidence to support your theory which then cements your belief further. The charge and excitement of being right becomes addictive and everywhere you look, you start noticing things to support your story. All of a sudden, you have a whole set of thoughts that form around the belief and pretty soon your behaviors start reflecting the beliefs as well. By this time, if anyone tries to challenge your belief or show you evidence to the contrary, your mind can't even process contradicting information, so you find reasons why the contradictory evidence isn't legitimate. You start feeling even more righteous with every "win" and nugget of perception that supports your belief system. Depending on how important it is to hold true to that belief, your whole life will start forming around it. When you start becoming invested in the belief financially, with your time, and with any other resources, it becomes even harder to extricate yourself from what was once a rather innocuous observation.

Beliefs themselves are not bad. It's a matter of whether a particular belief is serving you and your life at the moment. Beliefs can keep us safe, motivate us, and help us live our lives. Errant beliefs on the other hand can destroy our self-esteem, make life more difficult for us, and undermine our own intuition and self-worth. Flower essences can't change our beliefs without our consent. Flower essences create more space inside of ourselves so we can expand our world-view and examine what works for us and what doesn't. Additionally, they can provide a gentle support so we can do the inner work required to challenge and remove any errant beliefs.

To learn more about the flower essence of Couchgrass, please click here. Leave us a note about a belief you would like to get rid of in the Comments section by clicking on the blog post title. What would your life be like without a belief that is undermining you?

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