Dropping and Forming Beliefs

I've been hanging out at Steve Pavlina's Personal Development website a lot lately. Steve's blog is wildly popular, and for good reason. He writes about personal development in a very interesting way.

I've been focusing on his writing on empowering beliefs. He views beliefs as a lens through which we see the world. Some beliefs are empowering and help us move toward our goals, some are not. He asserts that if a belief does not serve you, you should drop it and install a new belief to replace it. The more accurate and effective the belief, the more empowering it will be. Steve gives eight guidelines to choosing effective beliefs.

This led me to examine my own beliefs. Which of my beliefs are holding me back? Being as honest as possible with myself, I wrote a list of limiting beliefs. Here are a few I came up with:

I often believe that I should do things perfectly.

I believe that the game of life (working, socializing, etc.) is a struggle.

I believe social interaction (especially with people I don't know too well) is difficult and uncomfortable.

You can probably see how these beliefs would affect my actions. I am hesitant to do many things, because I'm afraid of making mistakes, and I expect them to be a struggle.

I gave it some thought and came up with counter-beliefs:

I believe nobody is perfect, and there is no such thing as perfection.

I believe that the game of life is often pleasurable.

I believe that it is usually enjoyable to engage in social interaction.

If I adopted these new views my assumptions would be completely different going into certain situations, and as a result I'm sure the outcomes would change as well.

I picked up many beliefs during childhood, and through my life experiences. Many of them have never been examined. Why be stuck with default beliefs when I could choose the ones that are most empowering for me? I think this is a wonderful concept.

LOL... it seems like every other day I latch onto some new personal development idea. I get excited thinking about different ways to better myself... actually integrating them into my life is the challenge.