Lion Goodman, PCC, is a coach, author, and teacher of the Clear Beliefs Process, a methodology for deep personal transformation. He authored "Creating On Purpose" and "Clear Your Beliefs."
Lion Goodman, PCC, is transformational coach, author, and teacher of the Clear Beliefs Method, a process that transforms beliefs at the core of the psyche. Hundreds of coaches, therapists and healers around the world have graduated from his ICF-Certified training program, The Clear Beliefs Coach Training.
Lion has studied and practiced psychology, neurology, spirituality, philosophy, and the principles of success for more than 40 years. His first career was in executive search and executive coaching, where he served more than 250 CEOs and senior managers in a wide variety of companies, from early stage start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations.
Lion is co-founder and CEO of Luminary Leadership Institute, an accelerated initiatory program for leaders of businesses and organizations. With his partner, Carista Luminare, Ph.D., they offer programs to help executives develop virtues-based leadership, and operate from their True Self. They also provide couples with counseling to heal their relationship and develop a healthy, deeply secure partnership.
Lion has taught workshops and trainings across the U.S. and Canada, Europe, and China. He has presented his programs through The Shift Network, Mindvalley, MindPT, Impact Coaching Academy, and through institutions such as Kripalu Center, Venwoude Retreat Center, Banff Couples Conference, and Sacred Centers.
He is the author of 4 books: Creating On Purpose; Clear Your Beliefs; The Narcissism Primer, and Menlightenment, as well as dozens of articles on consciousness, beliefs, psychology, and inner development. He has blogged for The Good Men Project and Your Tango. Many of his articles have been read by more than 200,000 people.
He has been active in the men's movement for more than 30 years. He served as Director of Men's Programs for The Shift Network, an educational corporation, where he created programs with more than 20,000 participants. He is also a co-founder of The Tribe of Men, an initiatory men’s program in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lion has been interviewed on dozens of telesummits and podcasts, and has begun his own podcast series, The Belief Cafe'.
www.LionGoodman.com
www.ClearBeliefs.com
www.LuminaryLeadership.net
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Subscribe to updates$20 iClearIt - an App to Clear What's In the Way
iClearIt is an iOS app (iPhone or iPad) that guides you through a process to clear uncomfortable feelings, issues, or beliefs. A video coach takes you through the process step by step. Downloadable from the iTunes App Store.
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$30 Creating on Purpose book
"Creating On Purpose" is a book that can change your life. It describes the process of manifestation, bringing an idea into reality, in a unique 7-step process, with exercises to do all along the way. Written by Lion Goodman and Anodea Judith, author of "Wheels of Life" and "Chakra Yoga," it offers a new view of your ability to create the life of your dreams. Using the chakras as a model, it illustrates the top-down process that starts with the 7th chakra, the crown, which represents an idea, or concept, and then moves down through the 6th chakra, vision, the 5th chakra, communication, the 4th chakra, relationships, the 3rd chakra, power, the 2nd chakra, passion, and down to the grounding 1st chakra of action. Paperback book send by mail.
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$75 Clear Your Beliefs audio program
"Clear Your Beliefs" is Lion's 7-part audio program which takes you through his famous BeliefCloset Process, the best way to clear beliefs from the core of the psyche. Thousands of copies have been sold at $147, and it has received rave reviews from around the world. In addition, there are special bonuses included. Digital download.
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$120 2 Books PLUS Clear Your Beliefs program
You will receive my new book, "How to Solve Your Biggest Problems," plus a paperback copy of my previous book, "Creating On Purpose: The Spiritual Technology of Manifesting through the Chakras." PLUS, you will receive the complete 7-part recorded program, "Clear Your Beliefs," which sells for $147 alone!
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$300 Everything above PLUS a one-hour coaching session
You'll receive EVERYTHING in the $120 Bonus, plus a personal, one-on-one coaching session with me, via Zoom videoconference. We'll work directly on one of your long-standing problems or issues, and you'll get insight, movement, and possibly relief – in just one hour. You can also purchase additional coaching hours at the discounted rate of $250 per hour.
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$1200 Everything PLUS 5 hours of coaching
You'll receive EVERYTHING in the $120 Bonus, PLUS 5 hours of personal, one-on-one coaching with me, via Zoom videoconference. We'll work directly on one of your long-standing problems or issues, and you'll get insight, movement, and relief – or your coaching money back! You can also purchase additional coaching hours at the discounted rate of $225 per hour.
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$3500 One-day Intensive with Lion
Spend a full 8+ hour day with Lion, in person, at a beautiful location in Sonoma County, California. (Flight not included, two nights accommodation included). You'll have the opportunity to dive deep into yourself, exploring and transforming your subconscious beliefs, limitations, and old programs. In addition, you'll get a copy of the Clear Your Beliefs program, plus both books. Additional days can be purchased for the $3,000.
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Free Yourself from the Past to Create the Future You Want
A step-by-step solution to solving some of life's biggest problems: Identity, Self-Criticism, Low Self-Esteem, Bad Relationships, Lack of Meaning, Confusion, Depression, Uncertainty, Hurt, and Limiting Beliefs.
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We all have problems. Every person suffers in their own unique way.
And... every problem in life has a cause. At the causal level of the mind, there’s something going on, down deep, that’s creating the issue – whether the problem is mental, psychological, emotional, physical, financial, or spiritual.
Most approaches to solving human problems are an application of an outside repair job, hoping that the fix will make its way inside. Examples are plentiful: affirmations, talk therapy, strengthening one’s will, anti-depressants, getting coaching support, or becoming wealthy and successful.
Even psychotherapy takes an outside-in approach. The theory is that repeated sessions, over months or years, will produce a breakthrough. It happens from time to time. Hooray! You got it! Now let’s work on the next issue for another few months. It takes a long time, and costs a lot of money, to get small incremental results.
I engaged in dozens of different therapeutic modalities to solve my own problems. Each process produced breakthroughs from time to time. What were the common threads that tied them together? What created breakthroughs into new perspectives, new possibilities, and a new life? After decades of research, I found it.
Whenever a powerful, life-changing inner shift occurred, beneath the surface was a change in a fundamental belief.
I began to study beliefs themselves. What are they? Where do they come from? How can they be changed? By reverse engineering the mind, I developed a new approach that begins on the inside, deep in the subconscious mind, where the problem has its source.
With this new, step-by-step approach. you can solve any problem – quickly, and permanently. It’s called The Clear Beliefs Process.
This is not magical thinking, nor is it a silver bullet. It’s not another New Age nostrum. It doesn’t use tapping, or muscle testing, or convincing yourself that something is true. It takes real work – deep psychological work – to uncover the core beliefs, childhood traumas, and deep wounds that are underneath your life problems.
The reason it works so well is because it's focused on the belief system itself – the causal level of the mind.
Beliefs are the infrastructure of human consciousness, the components we use to construct our experience. Our beliefs limit what we can see, feel, and do. When you clear them out of the way, new possibilities open. You are able to handle life.
This book teaches you the method for diving into your own subconscious mind to make fundamental shifts in what you believe about yourself, what you believe about others, and what you believe about the world. You decide what you want to believe – at every stage of the journey. This is true empowerment.
When you can change your beliefs at will, you can handle any situation, any discomfort, any mountain you may wish to climb. You can build a life of happiness, love, health, success, peace, and power.
Ready to dive in?
I. Introduction
II. Foundation and Theory
III. What it takes to actually, finally, permanently solve your problems and get on with creating the life you want.
IV. Tools for the expedition: The Processes & Practices
V. Solving the Major Problems in Life
VI. Conclusion
According to an article in Quartz (https://qz.com/1106341/most-wo...), "Self-help books take a decent share of the best-sellers in bookstores, and sales have been on the rise. At the Washington, DC Public Library, for example, 11 of the top 50 titles with the highest circulation are “self help.”
The audience for How To Solve Your Biggest Problems lies squarely in the Self-help, Self-improvement, and Psychology sections of bookstores. Self-help book buyers are 65%+ women who are seeking solutions to their problems.
Paul Heelas, author of The New Age Movement: Religion, Culture and Society in the Age of Postmodernity (1996, Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19332-6), estimated that the New Age population is 10 million people in the U.S. In 2000, a UK poll revealed that 39% of the population had tried alternative therapies. People who espouse New Age beliefs are usually included in the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) demographic market segment, estimated in 2006 at approximately 68 million Americans, accounting for 30% of the U.S. consumer market, at $300B per year.
Tens of millions of people in the U.S. have read about, or tried, affirmations, the Law of Attraction, meditation, or yoga. A significant portion of this population has heard, at some level, the tenet, “Your beliefs create your reality.” Dozens of books have been published with titles such as, “Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Life.” Very few provide specific methodologies for actually getting them to change. Many of these books provide nostrums with promised results, or gentle techniques with no scientific or philosophical underpinnings, or proof that they work. The offered techniques turn out in most cases to be partially effective, or ineffective. This creates disappointment and skepticism (and self-blame), and a hunger to know how to actually clear negative and limiting beliefs so they don’t come back.
There are many categories at Amazon that cover the wide range of topics related to How to Solve Your Biggest Problems, including:
Religion & Spirituality / Personal growth / Spiritual Growth / Motivational / Personal Success / Self-Help / Spiritual Healing / Self-Esteem / Personal Transformation / Neuro-Linguistic Programming / Success / New Age / New Thought / Psychology
Main Selling Points
#1. The Clear Beliefs Process is completely unique. It is proprietary, and different than other methods of clearing beliefs. When compared to other belief-clearing techniques (such as Byron Katie’s “The Work,” N.L.P., Lefkoe Method, etc.), it has proven to be more effective, and more permanent. It is also fun, unlike other methods, which are laborious, or require expert facilitation. This method can be done by oneself, with a Clear Beliefs Coach, or with the aid of audio recorded guidance. It taps into all aspects of the self: the subconscious, conscious, and the superconscious mind, as well as all sensory modes. When a limiting or negative belief is cleared with this method, it is completely cleared from the entire self, not just one or two aspect of the self.
#2. The book teaches readers how to look directly into their own subconscious mind, and uncover their own limiting and subconscious beliefs and behavior patterns. It offers a set of integrated techniques for clearing them out so readers can move their lives forward. The processes are based on the fundamental principles of consciousness, and how it works, which I have studied for more than 40 years. The book educates readers why it works, not just how it works. No other book does this. In addition, there are references to the latest scientific research into neurology and the scientific study of consciousness.
#3. The book is ALSO about the process of manifestation, a hot topic in the Self Help category. If you want to create something new in your life, you need to be able to clear away the old stuff that stands in the way. In my book, “Creating On Purpose”, I show that you must have techniques to clear the stuff that comes up when you move forward toward what you want. This is what stops and frustrates most people who attempt to create something new in their life.
#4. The best-selling book on beliefs, The Biology of Belief (Bruce Lipton, #3,800 in books on Amazon), does not offer a simple, pragmatic method to actually clear the beliefs that he writes about. Millions of people understand that limiting beliefs are a problem (thanks to “The Secret” and the Law of Attraction meme). They are looking for an answer to the question: “How do I get rid of my limiting and negative beliefs?” According to Lifebook founder Jon Butcher, "This is the #1 question we get from students in our program." (personal conversation)
I have the following websites in operation:
www.LionGoodman.com (Author website with links to my programs, products, articles, etc.)
www.ClearYourBeliefs.com (Recorded program and coaching offered to the public. Free ebook has been downloaded by more than 12,000 people.)
www.ClearBeliefs.com (Training program for professional coaches, therapists, and healers – more than 350 graduates worldwide.)
www.iClearIt.com (iPhone/iPad app that uses one of the techniques in the book. Downloaded by more than 3,500 people) (Two additional apps: www.iClearSelfCriticism.com and www.iClearAnxiety.com.)
www.CreatingOnPurpose.com (Book website with Anodea Judith)
In addition, these websites are platforms for my other activities:
www.ConfusedAboutLove.com (Recorded program and coaching offered to the public)
www.LuminaryLeadership.com (Executive coaching and leadership training)
www.HealingNarcissismAndCodependency.com (Recorded program for sale to the public)
I have sold hundreds of copies of my recorded programs, and have coached more than 750 people during the past ten years.
I offer workshops throughout the year. In the past, I have offered numerous programs through the Shift Network, reaching many hundreds of people, and created a telesummit there featuring 70 speakers, with 20,000+ registrants.
I have taught live classes around the U.S., as well as in Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Costa Rica, and China.
My near-death story, “A Shot in the Light,” has been featured on television, in books (including one International Best Seller), and in a dozen publications and websites. An award-winning short film was based on my story (The Kindness of Strangers).
I have blogged for the online blog sites The Good Men Project and Your Tango. Many of my blog articles have had more than 200,000 views.
I have been interviewed more than 70 times in the past ten years, through numerous telesummits, video broadcasts, and radio programs. I am currently working on creating my own podcast channel.
I maintain two active mailing lists – one for my Beliefs activities (more than 8,000), and one for Relationship activities (more than 2,000). I mail regularly to both lists with a nurturing campaign and different offers of information, products, and services.. I am happy to promote my book through both lists.
I am beginning a year-long Facebook Ads and Google Ads campaign. I understand that marketing is my #1 priority after the publication of the book. I will invest $10,000 to make the book successful.
Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/lionine - 5,000 Friends
https://plus.google.com/+LionGoodman - Rarely used
https://twitter.com/LionGoodman - 450 followers
YouTube offerings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWjDL169Vf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpGMsLFNRIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bUd9VSSooM&t=351s
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGrsum1AXMSjZKi6Ez80c3g
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Author: Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
· Publisher: Ballantine Books (1998), Reprint edition (2007)
· ISBN-10: 0345472322, ISBN-13: 978-0345472328
· Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars.
· Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136 in Books
o #1 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Applied Psychology
Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford, proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. She provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. Dweck says that mindsets are not set: at any time, you can learn to use a growth mindset to achieve success and happiness. [Comment: That is, you can change your beliefs.]
Negative Reviews:
· This is nothing more than a 277-page infomercial for her “Brainlology” program.”
· If you already know that positive thinking is better than negative thinking, this book is an utter waste of time. There is absolutely nothing more to it and absolutely nothing new, psychologically or otherwise.
· The author continually insinuated she was going to tell me how to identify mindsets in others and strategies for encouraging change in those with a defeatist mindset. Instead she offers 212 mind-numbingly repetitive pages of anecdotes about successful vs. unsuccessful people, peppered with tedious platitudes along the lines of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.”
· Despite its accolades, the author made a whole book out of one simple premise, that is, change your mindset and you will succeed. After wading through any number of simplistic examples, I gave up on finding anything in depth or scientific about how to go about changing one's mindset.
My Comments:
While the author provides feel-good stories and a prescription for a positive mindset (and the beliefs that create one), she provides little to no information about how to change the negative underlying beliefs you inherited, or were indoctrinated with.
She offers simplistic suggestions instead of practical techniques, such as: "Change your thinking from fixed mindset to growth mindset." and "Just think differently about things."
This may work for those who are able to consciously shift their thought patterns. For most adults, however, their psychological and social problems are not easily changed. They are caused by deep subconscious thoughts (beliefs) and voices that operate below the level of awareness. This book does not help those folks deal with their lives or their beliefs.
My book offers a practical set of tools, exercises, and information that enables anyone to discover their underlying beliefs (about any and all topics), explore whether those beliefs are beneficial or detrimental, and delete the detrimental ones, opening the space to plant new beliefs in their place – creating the Growth Mindset that Dweck describes. This “re-programming” effort pays off immediately, by instantly changing self-esteem (self-view), relationships (others-view), and the ability to be effective in the world (world-view).
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
· Publisher: Harmony; Revised, Expanded ed. edition (November 3, 2015)
· ISBN-10: 110190464X, ISBN-13: 978-1101904640
· Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars
· Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,881 in Books
#5 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Anxiety Disorders
Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen presents scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with.
He includes cutting-edge research and effective "brain prescriptions" (cognitive exercises and nutritional advice) that can help heal your brain and change your life. Examples:
· To quell anxiety and panic: Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil
· To fight depression: Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)
· To curb anger: Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
· To conquer impulsiveness and learn to focus: Develop total focus with the One-Page Miracle
· To stop obsessive worrying: Follow the "get unstuck" writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises
Negative Reviews:
· To those reviewers who insisted that Amen does not actually tell us "how to change your brain" - this is simply not true. Amen offers a variety of options including traditional meds, (even a nice chart to help with the benefits of each), and alternative treatments such as herbal and dietary suggestions. Amen's use of SPECT scans is very controversial. Given the controversy, a serious flaw of the book is that it does not address the number and types of cases in which this approach does NOT work.
· Dr. Amen should have his medical license taken away. I spent $5,000 going to his clinic for supposedly severe ADHD. Over the course of 3 years in San Francisco, I must have ingested 12 to 15 drugs to help me though – none of them did. A Columbia-trained psychiatrist said that I was misdiagnosed with ADHD. I had anxiety which he immediately alleviated with Lexapro and ordered me to stop taking the other meds. He politely chuckled at the photos of my so called brain deficiencies and explained that the brain does not work that way. Also, he showed me numerous articles published in psychiatry journals and textbooks to support what he was saying.
· Dr. Amen is a quack who scares desperate people with his book and treatments to make money. Sure, you read the book and say "yeah, that's me" or "I have that." It human nature to want to understand what your problem is and there is certain relief when you find certain symptoms that match yours.
· Dr. Amen made it seem as if this book will give you useful methods and explanations for combating anxiety, depression, etc. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Rather, the book explains how there is a correlation between parts of the brain and different mental health issues. He offers very obvious and unhelpful tips. Even after diagnosing the problems in his patients, he always prescribes medications for treatment.
My Comments
Given that this book is written by an M.D., and I do not have a medical degree, I am loath to criticize. And I don’t need to – the critical comments above speak loudly. This is a promo book for Dr. Amen’s unsupported medical theory, which makes him (and the pharmaceutical industry) rich and happy. The exercises he offers are standard fare, and include proper nutritional support, writing exercises (journaling), breathing, and focusing. And drugs. He seems to give people hope, then direct them to his expensive clinics with dubious practices. I’m shocked that this book has done so well. It proves that people are hungry for real solutions to their problems – even if those solutions are completely woo-woo (The Secret, #962 in Books) or deliver only standard feel-good advice and stories (Carol Dweck’s “Mindset,” at #136).
I earned a P.C.C. (Professional Certified Coach) from the International Coaching Federation) on top of my Bachelors Degree in Consciousness Studies. I have studied human psychology and beliefs in depth for more than 40 years. I have tried more than 100 techniques for consciousness change through dozens of schools, and I found out what works, and what doesn’t. I synthesized all of that knowledge into a set of principles and teachings that work, 90%+ of the time. I don’t offer feel-good nostrums or promises of better drugs. I offer practical steps anyone can take to change their beliefs, and actually shift their daily reality. I’m giving the basic processes to people so they can use it for themselves. [If they want additional help, or want to use these techniques professionally, they do have to go through my coaching program, or my ICF-accredited certified training.]
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
Joe Dispenza , D.C.
· Publisher: Hay House; 4 Reprint edition (February 15, 2013)
· ISBN-10: 1401938094, ISBN-13: 978-1401938093
· Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars
· Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,333 in Books
· #10 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age & Spirituality > New Thought
“You are not doomed by your genes and hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life. A new science is emerging that empowers all human beings to create the reality they choose. Renowned author, speaker, researcher, and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to show you what is truly possible. You be given the necessary knowledge to change any aspect of yourself, and you will be taught the step-by-step tools to apply what you learn in order to make measurable changes in any area of your life. Once you break the habit of being yourself and truly change your mind, your life will never be the same!
Negative Reviews:
· After having read Dr. Lipton's "Biology of Belief" I was thrilled to find this volume where I was led to believe that I would learn how to actually apply the methods in my own life. I read with great enthusiasm, enjoyment and anticipation until... I got to the most important part of the book, the meditations. There are four weeks of very lengthy and descriptive meditations to follow with an offer to download them from Dr. Dispenza's website. As I perused the site, none could be found, but.....you could purchase a CD. Really! Now I felt like I had been "had" which led me to feel that this whole thing may be just another money-making hustle. Why, for such an important part of the whole theory being the actual application, were those guided meditations not included by way of a CD in the book? Or in the very least, available on the website at no charge for those who have purchased the book and need guidance? Very disappointed, very sad, very letdown.
· I found the book to be a disappointment. Like many other current books, it uses recent research about brain structure, function, and plasticity to make a case that being who we are is a habit we have formed--a habit we can break if we choose. Then it lays out a series of meditations to help in breaking the old habit and forming a new and better self. The problems for me were these: 1) The book is wordy. It could easily have covered the same content in half the pages, and the reading would have been more interesting. 2) It's a bit dumbed-down. Many other books do a better job of explaining the research that has been done and what it shows--better in detail and better in clarity. 3) The meditations are OK, but not strikingly different or more useful than many others.
· Joe Dispenza attempts to explain the mechanics of the visualisation process as electromagnetic waves emanating from the brain and causing some kind of collapse of the wave function of all possible futures. The interpretations of QM have been much debated, but it is quite clear that JD is using the 'collapse of the wave function' interpretation to explain this process. The mention of electromagnetic waves and how they relate to the quantum process is very debatable. The explanation is really a bad mishmash of scientific concepts resulting in something not scientific at all.
My Comments
Dispenza is one of many New Thought “doctors” peddling (dispenzing…) new age information in a pseudo-scientific manner. I find this disingenuous. I have attended conferences in which many interesting theories are presented by scientists of all kinds, but they are careful not to claim that they are more than a theory. Dispenza plays fast and loose with science, which is a disservice to science, and to the public. He also mixes in what appears to be the pseudo-science of David Hawkins (Power vs. Force). I avoid this danger in my book by 1) using plain language, not pseudo-science; 2) providing a philosophical infrastructure for the work; 3) discussing beliefs themselves, rather than saying they are actually something else; and 4) pointing readers to their own experience – not some objective scientific facts that may or may not have anything to do with their consciousness or their direct experience.
I have studied these topics for 40 years, and have encountered nearly all the ways to go wrong in talking about consciousness and changing consciousness. In my book, the reader will find a refreshing change – a clearly stated philosophical infrastructure that makes sense, and practical do-it-yourself exercises that they can try themselves to see whether they work for them or not. There are no promises, just direct experimentation.
Other books I could have used in this comparison:
· How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Maxwell) – # 1,984 in Books
· E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality (Grout) – #5,976 in books
· The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Murphy) – # 4,085 in books,
· The Secret (Byrne) – # 926 in books
· The Biology of Belief (Lipton) – # 3,800 in Books
· Inner Engineering (Sadguru) – # 1,702 in books
. Daring Greatly, Brene' Brown - #4 in Books > Self-Help > Relationships > Interpersonal Relations
. Unfuck Yourself, Gary Bishop - #10 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Happiness
. You Are a Badass, Jen Sincere - #6 in Books > Self-Help > Personal Transformation
. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson - #4 in Books > Self-Help > Success
. You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay - #10 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age & Spirituality > New Thought
Excerpt from How to Solve Your Biggest Problems
It is generally accepted as true (at least in New Age circles) that our beliefs create our reality. It’s more accurate to say: our beliefs create our experience of reality.
Exactly how that happens is described in this book.
If this is idea is true – that your beliefs create your reality – then having the ability to consciously change your beliefs would give you the power to change your reality, and bend it toward your preferences. This would lead to true freedom and self-empowerment.
Stewart Brand said, in the original Whole Earth Catalog: “We are as Gods, so we might as well get good at it.”
(He recently modified this quote, based on what’s happening now, to: “We are as Gods, so we’d better get good at it – and fast.)
A God or Goddess has the power to create, sustain, and destroy. You have the power, as a God or Goddess in your own personal universe, to destroy your old beliefs, create new beliefs, and sustain the beliefs that serve you. But don’t let that go to your head. Everybody else is a God or Goddess in their personal universe, too.
Most people think of beliefs as intellectual thoughts or commitments to certain ideas (I believe in less government. I believe in Constitutional freedom. I believe in God.) In fact, beliefs are much more fundamental. They are the building blocks of experience itself. They are at the core of how we see the world.
I searched for a definition of beliefs that covered the full breadth and depth of this concept I came to understand. I couldn’t find one. Every definition was too limited in scope. So I came up with my own definition:
Beliefs are the alphabet we use to construct the language of our experience.
Like an alphabet, or children’s Lego blocks, or molecules, beliefs are construction materials – you could call them the building blocks of the psyche. We build our experience of reality by putting together beliefs about ourselves (self-view), about others (others-view), and about the world (world- view).
How do our beliefs create our reality?
Each belief you have is like a tiny reality-creating machine. Each one was created for a very good reason at the time. Most were indoctrinated into you. They are designed to create a very particular experience – such as a rule, or code of behavior. “Don’t hit other children, or you’ll be in trouble.”
At the experiential level, this is what the belief means: When you’re angry and feel like hitting someone, feel the fear of potential punishment. That will prevent you from acting out of impulse."
Once the belief is programmed into you, it continues to support you in behaving that way – the way that keeps you safe.
Every belief creates a sensation (or set of sensations), a viewpoint about oneself or the world, and a limitation or possibility (or set of limitations or possibilities).
There is something strange about these belief-machines, and this is key to understanding their function: Once created, a belief continues to do its job (creating that particular experiential reality) until it is consciously dis-created (discarded, disappeared, eliminated, re-programmed) by the original creator (you). Beliefs don’t come with expiration dates (although they should: “This belief will expire when you are 5 years old, unless you find a better belief prior to that time.”).
My best estimate is that we have tens of thousands of beliefs inside of us, and all of them continue to operate throughout our lifetime – mostly at the subconscious level. Whenever a new belief is created or accepted, it gets added to a pile of beliefs that have already been piled up in the subconscious storehouse.
Here’s another metaphor: Every belief is like a tiny, unique snowflake. When it floats down onto the ground, it doesn't mean much. But pile millions of snowflakes on top of each other, and they accumulate into a snowdrift. The snowflakes on the bottom are pushed down (like beliefs are pushed into the subconscious mind) and compacted. All you can see is the top layer (the conscious layer of beliefs), but there is a LOT going on beneath the surface. When you dig down, you can find more and more underneath. Like a big snowdrift, you can clear them, but it takes some effort, and a lot of shoveling.
In the Clear Beliefs Process, we invite the subconscious mind to come out to play – which it’s very willing to do! The subconscious mind is playful. That’s why our night dreams are so wild and varied. It communicates through feelings, imagery, and metaphor. You’ll learn how to communicate directly and effectively with your own subconscious mind using these communication tools.
You can try on a belief to see what it “feels” like – in the same you can try on clothing at a store to see how it makes you feel. This provides a perfect metaphor for communicating with the subconscious, which is aware that different outfits of clothing make you feel very differently. Dressy outfits make you feel sharp, and good about yourself. Casual clothes make you feel comfortable. A Halloween costume can make you feel ridiculous, sexy, or wild.
In the Clear Beliefs Process, every belief is represented and illustrated by an outfit of clothing, which the subconscious mind will paint (and quite creatively!). It’s as if you could enter your night dream consciously, and navigate through it, identifying the experiences and metaphors that are unfolding from moment to moment.
As it turns out, the subconscious mind is the ultimate costume designer!
Where Do Beliefs Come From?
Our ability to identify patterns is one of the most powerful capacities of the human mind.[1] Once you identify a pattern, you can then use a word to label it. Ball. Cup. Anger. Daddy. Waves. This is not the thing itself, but an abstraction into a particular sound. That word-sound can then be used in other ways, and in other situations. This is the mental function that makes everything in the human world possible. It is the basis for communication, learning, cooperation, and culture.
Humans are story-telling animals. We use stories and descriptions to make sense of the world, ourselves, and each other. The story is not reality, but boy, do we love a good story! Add moving pictures and a dose of what looks like reality, and you’ve got a sure thing to grab the attention of the masses. Good movies make a lot of money.
We naturally seek what gives us pleasure, and try to avoid what makes us uncomfortable, or is painful. Then we quickly figure out what we need to do to get more of it, or less of it. We add a particular meaning to it, as well: “That is good. That is not good.”
We need one convenient word for all of these patterns, meanings, and stories. I refer to them as “beliefs.” There are many other terms for these building blocks of mind. Here are just a few: operating narratives, mindset, programs, neural pathways, mental structures, implicit memories, etc.
It doesn’t matter what you call them. What matters is what you do (and can do) with them.
Where do beliefs come from?
The first place beliefs come from is this basic function of pattern-detection. Babies work hard to make sense of the unknown, scary world around them, where they have no control, no power, and are barely able to communicate their distress. One of our strongest instincts is to figure out how to get our needs met. We look for repeating patterns: “When I cry and make a fuss, someone shows up and cares for me.”
This is a belief, but it doesn't show up in words. The baby does not have language yet. It is an experiential conclusion. An early pattern detected, and a strategy to survive in the world.
Another instinct we are born with is to mimic, and become like our parents. The primitive brain knows this truth: Similar = Safe. Different = Dangerous. Mammals understand that if you do what your parents do, you will be part of the herd, or troop, and be safe. If you are different than the others, you could be rejected, abandoned, or cast out, and this means you will die.
Stockholm Syndrome is a well-known phenomenon that explains this principle. A captured prisoner who is threatened with death or pain will quickly take on the beliefs and point of view of his captors. Think of Patty Hearst, one of the most famous cases in the U.S. In less than a month after being abducted, she proclaimed herself part of the radical group, and espoused their philosophy. This is a survival tactic: “If I become like them, they are less likely to kill me.”
We could say that ALL children suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Their lives are at stake, so they eagerly become like those around them – by taking on the speech patterns, behavior patterns, and beliefs of their family, community, and culture.
These adoptive instincts are one of the most important sources of our belief. Another source is indoctrination. The word says it clearly. A "doctrine" is a belief. When you are indoctrinated, a doctrine is put into you.
It begins when your parents look down at you and tell you who you are, what you are, and what you should do or shouldn’t do to bet their approval. “Look at little Bobby. He is SO cute! He’s going to grow up to be big and strong, and be a doctor, just like his daddy.” The child’s mind is on “record” mode for the first four to seven years. It records everything it can in order to survive, and fit in. Inside baby Bobby’s mind, the indoctrination begins: “My name is Bobby. I am so cute. I’m going to be big and strong. I will become a doctor.”
These recordings are dropped into the subconscious mind, where they form the foundation of little Bobby’s self-view: Who I am.
We then get instructions and admonitions for our behavior. “Don’t do that. Don’t touch that – it’s icky. Do it this way. Be quiet! Don’t disturb Dad! That’s wrong. This is the right way to do it. Sit up in your chair. Eat with your fork. Don’t question me. You are going to get a beating for that!"
These beliefs form our view of own capabilities, and the limitations and possibilities for our behavior. We call it being “socialized,” but it’s really indoctrination.
We receive other beliefs from our family members, friends, teachers, religious leaders, and of course, TV culture and other media. We are constantly seeking, sorting, and taking on the beliefs of other people.
As we mature, we may realize that a belief we once held is not really true, or no longer true. So a new belief is formed, which pushes the old belief further down into the subconscious, where it lies sleeping with one eye open, waiting for the right moment to get stimulated…
Beliefs form a kind of lens, or filter, in front of our eyes. We look through that filter, and see a colored view of reality, like putting on sunglasses and perceiving the world in a different hue. As we take on more and more beliefs, the Belief Filter thickens, and like a cataract in the eye, begins to interfere with the flow of light (attention) through it. Our vision narrows, and we see only what the filter allows us to see. We become blinded by our own belief structures.
Here is another key concept: Beliefs are self-reinforcing. They always prove themselves to be true. Mom says, “Strangers are dangerous. Don’t talk to them.” Strangers looks dangerous, ominous, people to avoid. You never talk to them, so you never discover that the belief is false.
You may know people whose views are so fixed that they cannot see what their beliefs prevent them from seeing. Religious fundamentalism and political intolerance are made of this. Everyone sees evidence and proof that their beliefs are true. This is true of scientists, politicians and businessmen as well as people who are hyper-religious or highly partisan.
Most of our underlying beliefs are transparent to us. We see through them and we experience the world through them. We don’t know that we are getting a filtered view of reality. “That’s just how the world is.” “That’s how people are.” Whenever you hear yourself saying that, it is a clue that there are transparent beliefs just beneath the surface.
The primary leverage point for real change, transformation, personal development, and a happy life is here, in the belief filter. You will learn how to change the filter, and clear it, so you can see more of the reality around you.
[1]The Patterning Instinctby Jeremy Lent
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