How to Find a Core Belief

Hello there.

We are creators.

We are extensions of what 
we call God or Source.

As such, we are creating 
our collective reality

as well as our lives

with the thoughts that 
we think every single day.

Even if you don't believe

that your thoughts literally weave

the fabric of our reality,

it's undeniable that the 
thoughts that we think,

dictate the decisions we make,

and that the decisions 
that we make,

plot the course of our entire lives.

So it's easy to see

how living a happy life 
really does depend

upon finding these 
thoughts and beliefs

that are painful, 
and changing them.

There are beliefs that we 
could call surface beliefs.

Beliefs like, black people are angry,

kids should clean their rooms,

I have to keep my job,

women are flaky.

These kinds of thoughts 
are like branches of a tree.

Each one of them is the by-product

of a deeper core belief.

The core belief is like 
the root of a tree.

Core beliefs are the building blocks

of the life that we're living.

They're the source from 
which everything grows,

and most importantly,

they are the very source 
of how we see ourselves,

and how we see the 
universe we live in.

They're both the root of the joy

and the root of the 
suffering in our lives.

Some examples of core beliefs are:

"I am unlovable."

"I will be hurt if I get 
close to someone."

Or, "There is no point to life."

Core beliefs can be 
positive or negative,

but for the sake of this episode,

I'm going to focus on 
negatives core beliefs

because they're the ones 
that are not working for us.

Core beliefs are mostly subconscious.

They are the result of 
impactful experiences

that we had in our childhoods.

Most often core 
beliefs are the result

of repeated experiences 
that are similar.

When we experience those things,

and we get those core beliefs 
as a result of those experiences,

they become inflexible 
and deeply, deeply rooted.

As a result, what we 
tend to do is to ignore

anything that invalidates those beliefs,

while paying attention to 
anything that validates them.

Thus we get more proof, 
thus we believe it more.

Thus we get more proof, 
thus we believe it more.

It's a never ending cycle, 
until this particular belief,

quite literally is the foundation

of the life that we are living.

When it comes to core beliefs

these are thoughts that 
we have thought so often,

that our subconscious mind 
has now taken them over.

Because they're a part of 
the subconscious mind

we are no longer 
aware of them.

They become a part 
of the human shadow.

That's why finding core beliefs

and changing core beliefs,

is a big part of shadow work.

If you want to understand more 
about what shadow work is,

you can watch my video 
on YouTube titled:

What Is Shadow Work?

That being said, we can
become aware of,

and find our core beliefs.

In order to find your core beliefs,

what you have to 
do is to be aware

of the things that 
are upsetting you,

or aware of the fact 
that you are upset.

If you find yourself becoming upset,

what has happen is the 
universe has set-you-up

to find something out

that was buried in the subconscious.

When we find ourselves getting upset

we have the prime opportunity 
to find our core beliefs.

So when you find 
yourself getting upset,

you have to notice what 
it is that is upsetting you,

then you have to sit down and 
deliberately begin the process

of actively and consciously 
questioning your upsetness

in a very specific way to 
whittle these thoughts down,

to the deepest core thought

which is causing the 
pain in your life.

We do this with two 
specific questions.

The two questions that we ask are:

1. If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?

2. What does that mean to 
me, or mean about me?

So let's say that you notice 
that you become upset

because you get home

and the house is a total 
and complete mess.

You begin with the most surface 
thought that you can find,

which is in this case 
would be the judgement"

"The house is a mess."

I've written down an example

of a core belief finding session here

that I'm going to read to you,

that's the result of this, 
"the house is a mess" scenario.

So I'll read it for you now.

Let's say that we find 
that the house is a mess,

and that's your statement,
"The house is a mess."

what you would ask 
is the question:

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me or mean about me?"

The answer might be,

"I live in a pigsty."

OK, I live in a pigsty.

"If that's 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that 
mean to me, or about me?"

The answer might be:

"It means no one 
respects my house."

OK, no one respects my house.

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that 
mean, or mean about me?"

The answer might be: 
"No one cares how I feel."

If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?

"And/or what does that mean 
to me, or mean about me?"

The answer might be:

"It's inevitable that I'm 
going to be hurt by people."

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me, or mean about me?"

The answer might be:

"Suffering is the purpose of life."

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me, or mean about me?"

"Life is a punishment."

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me, or mean about me?"

Answer:

"It means I'm bad."

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me, or mean about me?"

The answer might be:

"I'll be unloved."

"If that is 100% true, 
why is that so bad?"

"And/or what does that mean 
to me or mean about me?"

The answer might be:

"I'm all alone."

"I'm all alone"

is the core belief in 
this particular scenario.

What's ironic is that,

the person who came 
home in this scenario,

and saw that their 
house was a mess,

in fact immediately had that 
belief triggered:

"I'm alone."

So, the very bottom core belief

correlates the very first statement;

"If house is a mess, then I'm alone."

When you're in the process 
of finding a core belief,

you want to be very 
careful about justifications.

Justifications are a kind of cop-out

to not have to see your shadow.

So an example of a justification 
might be something like:

"The house is messy, 
why would that be so bad?"

"Because it makes me feel 
like people don't care."

"Why would that be so bad?"

"Well because people should care

otherwise I can't feel good."

That is a cop-out, that's a justification.

When the real answer 
might be something like:

"Well if they don't care 
about me, I'm all alone."

So we have the tendency,

especially when we're right on 
top of the deepest core belief,

to at the very last second,

veer in the direction 
of justifying why

the previous thought was true,

instead of looking at 
why it really scares us.

Why it really is so bad.

You can apply this 
process of questioning

to any thought or any 
judgement which you can posses,

and believe me, you 
will be blown away

at what some of your 
core beliefs are.

Now it's important to understand,

that with some judgments, when
you start this core belief process,

you might find multiple core beliefs.

That was the case with 
this previous exercise.

You may have a difficult time
identifying with a core belief.

Because it's so subconscious,
when you see it consciously,

it might seem absolutely ridiculous.

Or you might see 
that particular belief,

and feel like you're going 
to fall to your knees,

because it is so incredibly impactful

and so incredibly true at such 
a basic level of your being.

For some of these 
core belief exercises,

you will find multiple core beliefs.

Definitive statements 
about your life or yourself.

What you want to do is to 
work on all of these beliefs,

not just the bottom 
or the core one.

the one that makes 
you feel like:

"that's the one, I can stop right there."

"Because if I question it 
further, it just goes in a loop."

For example, in the above 
scenario which I gave you,

the thought: "No one cares how I feel,"

needs to be questioned.

So does the thought: "I am bad."

Once we find the core belief 
which is causing our upset

or the multiple beliefs that 
are lending to our upset,

we can begin to question them.

My favorite process 
for questioning beliefs

was actually invented by Byron Katie.

It's a process called The Work.

So I highly suggest you look 
into that particular process

and apply those to your core beliefs.

Then, you can go about 
changing those beliefs.

To learn how to change a belief,

you can look at my 
YouTube video titled:

How to Change a Belief

We need to begin consciously 
challenging these beliefs

and looking for proof 
that they are not true.

We also need to use 
these core beliefs

to determine what we 
would rather believe.

So once you find your 
core belief, ask yourself:

"What would I rather believe?"

And begin looking for proof

that this new belief is true.

Read and watch and 
seek out any material

that supports this new belief.

As you go about your 
daily life, ask yourself:

"What would I do 
right now if I believed

this new belief with all my heart?"

and do those things.

With enough focus, 
you will manifest

more proof that 
the new belief is true,

and the belief will become 
stronger and stronger,

until it has completely 
replaced the old core belief.

Most of us struggle 
for years against

beliefs that are deeply 
rooted within our being.

We do everything we can 
to push against them,

to try to succeed despite them,

when all we really 
need to do is to sit down,

to become conscious of 
these particular core beliefs,

to question the way we see them,

and to change them.

Yes it's a bit time consuming,
but look at it this way;

you could spend months 
or years of your life,

doing everything you can

to try to pull in the opposite 
direction of these beliefs,

and do so moderately successfully,

if successfully at all,

because it's like trying 
to hang to an anchor

at the same time as trying 
to paddle down a stream.

Or, what you can do,

is you can take an hour 
or two out of your time,

focus directly at the 
particular core belief,

and replace it,

so that it's actually 
no longer creating

a challenge for you in your life.

Have a good week.

Subtitles by: Tanya Duarte 
& The YouTube Community