What are Core Beliefs?
Core Beliefs are the beliefs we hold about ourselves, those around us and the world in general. They shape how we interpret things, feed into our emotional reactions, and influence our actions. Our beliefs basically dictate our whole life and way of being.
10 Most Common Toxic Beliefs:
Everyone’s beliefs are unique to them, but there are some beliefs that are particularly common –
- I’m not good enough
- I’m a failure
- Nobody likes me
- I’m a bad person
- I’m useless
- I’m worthless
- I don’t deserve to be happy
- I’m weak
- I’m stupid
- I’m boring
Why do our beliefs matter?
Toxic beliefs like those listed above cause problems with –
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Perfectionism
- Low-Self Esteem
- Burnout
- Relationship problems
- Self-Harm & Suicidal thoughts
- and much more
Afterall, if we hold those beliefs about ourselves, it’s very hard to be happy or relaxed.
Recognising your Core Beliefs
If we can learn to recognise our own Negative Beliefs, we can take steps to challenge them.
Identifying them isn’t always easy though. Some we might be able to recognise as things we call ourselves, or what we fear is true.
It is common to have contradictory parallel beliefs:
– The first is our emotionally driven and irrational toxic beliefs
– The second is what our logical mind tells us to be true, but we often don’t feel or believe
For example we can know logically we that have achieved what others would view as success, yet despite this still feel and believe at times that we are a failure.
Challenging Negative Beliefs
A common issue with our beliefs is what is called black and white thinking. This means that we only see things as one or the other, and ignore the spectrum in between. An example might be that if we can’t say we are 100% a good person, if we’ve made a few mistakes, been human, that then we brand ourselves as a bad person.
What we believe about ourselves impacts our actions. For example, if we don’t believe ourselves to be interesting, we might not speak up much, and due to this we lose opportunities to prove to ourselves that others are interested in what we have to say.
It becomes a perpetual cycle – negative belief – act as if this is true – further reinforce negative belief.
How therapy works
It is difficult to identify and change our Core Beliefs alone or via self-help books. Therapy is highly effective in helping you to recognise your Toxic Beliefs, understand where they come from, identify how they impact your life now, understand the changes that need to be made, and support you to implement this.
Core beliefs are incredibly powerful and destructive. By altering your beliefs to better reflect reality, it can dramatically change the world as you see and experience it, and free you up to live your best life.
