We each are born into a belief system that is continually being formed and expanded. It is true that we don’t have a choice of the belief system that we are born into but we do have a choice of what belief system that we attach ourselves to as we become adults. Belief systems are sometimes rooted so deep that we can feel like we are attempting to deceive ourselves by challenging them. But it is challenging them that creates the opportunities of growth that each of us desires.

Belief systems include and are not limited to the perspectives that we hold on inanimate and animate objects in the world around us. Beliefs about how people act. Beliefs about cultural traditions. Beliefs about spiritual and religious traditions. Beliefs about populations of people. Beliefs about gender. Beliefs about politics. Beliefs about what’s good for you and what is not good for you. We are inundated with belief perspectives everywhere we turn. But how often do we actually challenge what we believe?

If I grew up believing that it is not right to get angry and I never take the time to challenge that belief, then I may never find out what it is like to experience a healthy anger. If I grow up with an abusive father or mother and I don’t take the opportunities in life to change the pattern, then I become an abusive parent myself and continue the tradition. If i continue to date the same kind of person over and over and over, and don’t ask myself what part I play in the failure of those relationships, then I may never experience what healthy relationships looks like.

The point I’m attempting to make with these examples is that we get so entrenched in our view of things that we lose sight of the possibilities that are easily accessible to us. The walls that are created by the views we take of things become thick and rigid and ultimately keep us from experiencing freedom.

A belief that haunted me for years was that I was at fault for things that went wrong. As if I were the source of all bad things and that took place and somehow it was my responsibility to fix all of the things that went wrong. I eventually took on the dysfunctional belief that I was broken and lacked value. Out of this belief of myself, which was ultimately passed down through the generations of my family, I created a people-pleaser mentality that was at the core of many of my failures. By me not letting myself off the hook for that which was not my responsibility, I kept myself stuck!

What is the belief that you are going to challenge today? What is that belief that keeps nagging at you and gets the best of you in situations? It’s yours to take charge of today! Don’t let anything get in your way!