23/10/2025
😜 The Belief Effect: How Your Thoughts Shape Your Reality 💥
For Health, Mindset, Self Care 🤯
I’ve been reflecting on the power of personal beliefs to create our realities. It’s not an understatement: what we believe about ourselves, about others, and the world are the lenses that filter and shape our world.
And here’s the craziest part – we didn’t choose most of these lenses, and yet we accept them as a fact. We rarely pause to question why we believe what we believe, allowing the lenses to quietly shape our daily experiences. Each and every one of us was born into and grew up within belief systems, and we don’t even realize it.
The good news is… once you realize your beliefs can change, endless possibilities open up for you. When you change what you believe, you begin to transform who you are.
It’s some of the most profound, powerful work we can do, so let’s dig deep into the biology of belief.
How Imprinting Beliefs Happens -
Early beliefs are handed down and developed through our life experiences, forming our view of the world before many of us can even remember.
Here are some of the main ways beliefs are passed to us and formed in our minds:
- Cultural Norms and Traditions: Beliefs about gender roles, success, education, and behavior are passed down through rituals, language, and customs, creating early mental frameworks.
- Home Environment: How strict, nurturing, or chaotic was your upbringing? Were you financially secure, or did economic fears loom large? The dynamics at home shape our early beliefs about life, success, relationships, and self-worth.
- Early Education: Teachers and early school experiences introduce children to new concepts, ideas, and belief systems. The structure of learning also influences our belief in authority, success, and intelligence.
- Observation and Imitation: Children observe adults and peers around them, adopting beliefs by mimicking behaviors and absorbing messages about how the world works.
- Media Exposure: Social media, television, movies and books shape our early understanding of the world and influence early beliefs about what is “normal” or aspirational.
- Peer Influence: “If your friends asked you to jump off a bridge, would you?” For many young people, at certain points of growth, the answer is… maybe? Because friends and social interactions during childhood and adolescence play a powerful role in impacting beliefs, especially in terms of social behavior, self-image, and values.
- Positive and Negative Reinforcement: Early rewards, praise, or punishments create associations that reinforce beliefs about good and bad behavior, success, failure, and how to navigate the world.
- Religious/Spiritual Instruction: Exposure to religious or spiritual teachings from a young age often leads to deeply ingrained beliefs about morality, life’s purpose, and the nature of the universe.
Beliefs Are Your Brain’s Programming -
Our brains are computers, and beliefs act like the operating software for our lives, running in the background, dictating decisions and actions often without our conscious awareness.
Getting a bit nerdy for a moment – on the base of your brainstem is a bundle of nerves called the Reticular Activating System (RAS for short). The RAS acts like a Google search function for your brain, filtering out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through. (It’s why you can hear your name even in a loud room).
The RAS also seeks information that confirms what you believe. It doesn’t know the difference between fact and fiction – it’s just operating based on your beliefs and listening to your thoughts. Every time we repeat a thought or action, we’re essentially laying down a neural pathway. It’s like creating a shortcut in our mind. This can be both a blessing and a curse.
Let’s take a look at how a deeply held belief can shape someone’s everyday life.
New Beliefs = New Pathways
So how do we change our beliefs? Many of these beliefs are so imprinted on our subconscious that we don’t even realize they are there. The only way to identify beliefs is to start noticing your thoughts and reactions throughout the day. Here are some techniques to get you started:
Meditate: Just 5 minutes a day of quiet observation, notice your thoughts as if you were watching clouds pass by without attaching judgment or meaning. You’ll start to realize that many of your thoughts are on repeat.
Get Curious: Without judgment, ask yourself, where did this belief come from? Is it still serving me?
Be Open To Being Wrong: Once you open up your mind to the idea that your deeply held beliefs might be wrong, let new ideas start to float in.
Question Everything: Channel your inner three-year-old and ask “why?” a lot. It’s surprisingly effective.
Practice Cognitive Restructuring: This is a powerful technique used in cognitive-behavioral therapy. When you notice a negative thought, challenge it by asking:
What evidence do I have for and against this thought?
Is there another way to look at this situation?
What would I tell a friend if they were in this situation?
Remember, changing core beliefs is a process. Be patient and kind with yourself as you embark on this journey of self-discovery and growth.
Wrapping It Up -
Understanding our beliefs gives us access to the secret control panel of our lives. It’s not always easy – sometimes it’s downright uncomfortable – but it’s so worth it. As we unpack these beliefs, we’re not just spring cleaning our minds; we’re opening up space for new possibilities.
Remember, our beliefs create our reality. So, what reality do we want to create in this amazing chapter of our lives? The power is in our hands – or should I say, in our minds.
