If I leap from a tall building without a parachute I believe I am likely to be seriously injured or even die. I can believe that is what will happen because I am not a bird and can’t fly!
If I stop doing anything and sit on the couch day in and day out, I believe I will be happy. I can believe this because I am not happy now and just want to do nothing.
I believe that life is more than what I do every day. Go to bed, sleep, get up, eat, go to work, play, talk, go shopping, have a shower, visit friends and family and then do it all over again.
I can believe that it is true that there is much more to life and living than what I or you do every day, because when I was a child I could see people who weren’t like me or my family. I could see through them yet they were moving around.
And as I grew older I could not only see them but hear and talk with them. I had many occasions as a nurse when I saw spirit walking the passage ways, they seemed to be repeating the same path every day or night.
Over time I came to understand that the spirits I saw were in fact doing what I call “looping.”
They existed on a different plane of life, but only that it was like a time warp, and they relived their last days or even minutes of their physical life here and were essentially stuck in that loop.
I came to know how to help them by releasing them from the “loop” and in that my faith and belief in a higher power and different planes of existence was formed.
You may also be interested in our extensive range of holistic health articles eg What are Beliefs? and Holistic Health Magazine on What Are Beliefs & Values?
So what is a belief and how does it affect our life and who we are?
What Are Beliefs? A Belief Is Way of Thinking;
- “An acceptance that something exists or is true especially one without proof.”
- “Trust, confidence and faith in something or someone”
- A belief system is a set of mutually supported beliefs that form a religion or political party
- A belief is your foundation of your life
- A way of looking at life and
- What you stand for
Your beliefs are first formed through your immediate family, were their belief systems are imposed upon you and this may be in teaching you right from wrong, what is accepted and not accepted and are set by the foundations of belief in your family environment.
As you grow and move through different circles of life you will experience other beliefs and belief systems.
You might adapt these new beliefs into your life or you may choose to form your own, thereby creating your own foundation of a belief system. Would there be any value to your life by designing your life by your beliefs?
Through my experience as a nurse and my practices as a Holistic Lifestyle Practitioner, I have seen that beliefs which are put upon a person in the family environment and are never challenged are often simply accepted as the way we are.
This leads to a foundation of belief in that family which can be detrimental.
An example which comes to mind is of a man who came to my wellness centre, he was 62 years of age, over weight, very unwell with several health issues including very high blood pressure. When I did his assessment he said he was on a high dosage of antidepressants.
I asked how long he had been taking the medication, he replied “Oh since I was 19”. I asked what had happened when he was 19 he looked puzzled and said “nothing at all, life was good”. I asked if he was happy with what he was doing at the time “yes” he said.
Then came the clanger, “It’s a family thing, my Mum has been on them all of her life and her Mum was and her Mum before her was on some sort of calming stuff”.
So this man believed that was what happened in his family, therefore he believed it was the way of life for him.
I have also worked with women who are habitual believers that they must go to the chiropractor every week and then believe they must take their children too.
When the children reached the age of 16 they were staunch in their belief that they must go to the chiropractor every week without fail.
So I put it to you that beliefs can be either a most amazing foundation on which you will build a life of trust, hope, joy, success, happiness and faith or a life of fear, uncertainty, illness, pain and constant struggle.
You see your beliefs determine how you look at life and how you react to situations and other people. As such your beliefs will directly affect your relationships and decision making process in all areas of your life.
Have you heard about the power of your thoughts in that “As he thinketh in his heart, so he shall be” which is from Proverbs in the Bible. This means that how you think about things, is how your life will be and your thoughts will be governed by your foundation of beliefs.
To have a closer look at this let’s consider the person who lives by their own very high personal beliefs and values. Most often they will be spoken of as “lucky”, “good fortune comes their way all the time”,” anything they put their hand to turns out well”.
And now to look at the person who believes they won’t do well in life because of the way their father was, their family never achieved anything, there was never enough money, and the list goes on.
The point is that this is the belief system held by this person and as such it is the constant thinking process and how they conclude every day of their life.
I have had female clients tell me that they won’t be able to have successful pregnancies because their mother had lots of miscarriages. This is a belief that is highly detrimental and yet accepted because that’s what mum has said.
This brings me back to my earlier mention that you may choose to design your own life by creating your own foundation of beliefs.
Interlaced with beliefs is personal values, I am often amazed at what people think are personal values. If you are not aware of your personal values it is most likely that you are living other people’s beliefs.
Beautifully intertwined in beliefs are some favourite “beliefs” of mine; Faith, Trust and Hope.
Many, many times over the years I have found that the people who struggle the most in everyday life and who succumb to serious illness or disease, are without a strong foundation of beliefs in anything other than what they can touch, see, feel, taste or hear.
My foundations of Belief being Faith, Trust and Hope can never be swayed because of the wonderful experiences I have had throughout my life.
Not only with communicating with the spirit of those who have physically left this world but with Angels, Deities, Ascended masters and other “beings.” The ability to use the energy of what I refer to as Gods Light or Divine light to heal and seeing the healing happen, not only for others but for myself, I can never deny.
Beliefs form who you are and what you stand for but even more importantly I feel that beliefs provide you with the opportunity to know you are never alone in this world and that there is more to life than what you do every day.
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Gwenda Smith – Lifestyle Mentor & Educator
