Day 216: The Beliefs We Took On
I was reading about our desire for a healthy body. One that feels great and doesn't need medications to keep us going.
What struck me was that it's not just a matter of changing habits.
More than exercises or what you eat, it's about what our thoughts are bringing into our experience.
Shifting anything in our lives takes the same leap of faith.
We have to believe in something today that maybe won't exist for a long while. And we have to keep that vision front of mind without allowing ourselves or anyone else to dim it.
It has to be bright and vibrant and so real you can jump right into it and feel everything about being there.
When I read the part about it's not so much what you eat or how much you exercise, that brought up a few memories for me.
One was all the comments I heard growing up from family, and even people I didn't really know.
I was a skinny, short kid. They looked at my mom, who was thin, and said I was lucky I took after her.
What they didn't know was that I had almost died when I was two years old and then at five I had to go live in a sanitarium for kids that had life-threatening cases of tuberculosis.
In reality, I was a weak, sickly, skinny kid.
I had reduced lung capacity from the tuberculosis, so running, sports, swimming, anything that looked like exercise was not my thing.
But other people's words and judgements were already being put in my head.
As I got into my late teens and early 20's and people observed my eating pizza and french fries all the time, I was labeled as the one who could eat anything and not gain a pound.
I'm sure all these things were meant as compliments, but all the labels about my body and my weight made me uncomfortable.
But all of those words sink in, especially when they all agree. It must be true, right?
And then I got married and I gained weight really fast. My mom said not to worry about it. That happens when you get married.
I went from 96 to 125 pounds in that first year of being married and when I went to the doctor, I found out it was because I had gone on the pill and it wasn't right for me.
I had accepted someone else's belief as true for me and just took it on as the truth without even thinking to check with my doctor.
That's how easily we can take on other people's beliefs as our own.
Especially when they come from people we love, people we trust, or people who seem certain.
We don't always stop to ask, "Is this actually true for me?"
And that's just one area of life.
When we look at the fact that we hold beliefs about who we are, what we are capable of, what kind of relationships we deserve, how much money we are allowing ourselves to make, what our spiritual life is, who we invite into our friend group, what our lifestyle is, there are a lot of ways that false beliefs can be accepted as our truth.
The answer is to create a vision that becomes your truth, and keep that vision bright.
If you've just come out of a big change in your life, sit down today and ask yourself what you really want your future to look like, in all areas of your life.
Then journal about it.
Grab a pen and notebook and just write. Don't edit. Let it all flow out. Every idea, desire, no matter if your brain is saying it's crazy.
Let it sit a few days and then go back and read it to see what feels true for you.
Somewhere in those pages, you may see the difference between what you were taught to believe and what your soul is ready to choose now.
That's where the new vision begins.
Today's Gentle Practice
Think about one belief you may have taken on from someone else.
Ask yourself:
Is this actually true for me, or did I simply hear it enough times that I accepted it?
You don't have to change the whole belief today.
Just notice where it came from.
Then give yourself permission to imagine what you would choose to believe now.
With you,
Lynn
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