How to Understand and Recognize Your Negative Beliefs

Negative beliefs hold us back from being the best version of ourselves and stepping into our God given calling. Mistaken belief, negative thoughts or fear are other ways to describe negative thoughts. Negative thoughts or fears stand in the way of our dreams becoming reality. Any belief that questions our value is a mistaken belief. Negative belief, mistaken belief or fear can look very different for different people. In general there is a resistance to moving forward. Fear can disguise itself as avoidance, worry, disbelief or distraction. In this post I will break down how to understand and recognize your negative beliefs.

Understanding Negative Beliefs

Let me break down how a negative belief is formed. And remember each person’s experience is unique. What one person may react to strongly may not effect another in the same way.

It begins with a negative experience or series of experiences. These could be labelled as triggers because they set off a sequence of reactions.
These messages or negative experiences are filtered through our current value system or lens that comprises of our personality, family history and life experiences.
Perception is a lens through which we interpret the message. This perception of the message or event is met with our personality; inescapably who we are (who we have been created to be) and how we respond are closely connected.
Thoughts that have been formed then perpetuate feelings that we tend to label as positive or negative.
Feelings and thoughts lead to a response of action or inaction. We may decide to hold back from public speaking because we have been given the message that “introverted people can’t speak in public” or maybe you wanted to try out for a softball team but decided not to because “You throw like a girl” and therefore girls cannot play softball.
Multiple negative beliefs from others can push us to make vows. This could look like, “I will never speak in public in front of a large group of people ever again.” or “I will never allow myself to be seen as vulnerable”

Negative Belief is About Fear

We repeat these thoughts in subtle ways (often subconsciously) and then it becomes habitual to think a certain way.

Often, we don’t know why we believe the negative or mistaken belief. It has become so buried beneath the layers of habit and history.

Negative belief is really about fear and fear is really about value. Negative belief focuses on what we are not. We are worried that we are not enough; not competent enough, not qualified, not deserving. (too old, too young, not smart enough, not trained enough etc.)

So, download and print the handout called MISTAKEN BELIEFS/FEARS from the Goal Setting Freebies. This list contains possible statements that you may identify with. Check off any that apply or write your own in the space provided.

Recognizing Negative Beliefs

What you checked off from the list above will give you a good indication of the negative beliefs that you may struggle with. If you are not yet aware of your negative beliefs, we can look for clues. Clues might be

how you receive compliments
how you view others success and accomplishments when they exceed our own
your view of your journey (academics, personal, social, emotional, spiritual)
how you speak about yourself and your journey to others
other’s feedback about how you speak about yourself

Recognition is all about building awareness. When you build awareness starts by tracking and rating your thoughts.

Take a look at the following worksheet which is a free download in the Goal Setting Freebies, that will help you begin to track one of your more prominent negative beliefs. Negative Statement Rating Guide is best completed once a week.

Once you build that awareness of how much the negative belief is influencing you, you will have more incentive to change it.

Refer to the last blog post called, Vocalizing as an Essential Tool to Achieving Your Goal to grab the Affirmation tools or go straight to the Goal Setting Freebies to get your Transform Your Mind With Affirmations worksheet.

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