Thoughts are those knee-jerk reactions we have in a given situation. They are not pre-meditated but instantly pop into our head in a particular situation. Example: You get cut off in traffic. Your automatic thought might be “What a jerk; that was dangerous!”
Beliefs are deeper. The basic difference between a thought and a belief is that you may have thousands of thoughts going through your mind but none of them have any power except those that are beliefs. A belief is a thought that you make real, or 'accept as true.' Choosing to make a thought real or not is a decision under the very power of the will.
- Beliefs are engrained in us at a young age due to specific experiences we’ve had.
- They are often rigid, inflexible and difficult to change.
- We have a tendency to focus on evidence that supports the belief rather than anything we come across that contradicts it.
Example: You are talking to someone and notice them smiling. Your automatic thought is “I am being laughed at. I’m so stupid.” If you dig deeper into what that automatic thought reveals about your core beliefs you might discover that deep down you believe you are unlovable, which is supported by the fact that people “laugh at you and think you’re stupid” – or so you believe.
Beliefs are deeper. The basic difference between a thought and a belief is that you may have thousands of thoughts going through your mind but none of them have any power except those that are beliefs. A belief is a thought that you make real, or 'accept as true.' Choosing to make a thought real or not is a decision under the very power of the will.
- Beliefs are engrained in us at a young age due to specific experiences we’ve had.
- They are often rigid, inflexible and difficult to change.
- We have a tendency to focus on evidence that supports the belief rather than anything we come across that contradicts it.
Example: You are talking to someone and notice them smiling. Your automatic thought is “I am being laughed at. I’m so stupid.” If you dig deeper into what that automatic thought reveals about your core beliefs you might discover that deep down you believe you are unlovable, which is supported by the fact that people “laugh at you and think you’re stupid” – or so you believe.
So we have a person who has the belief that human nature is essentially evil. This kind of belief would have a person believe that most interactions with others can be quite dangerous. This person would try to protect him from what he perceives, through his beliefs, to be a world full of people that are out to get him in one way or another. This person would probably have many thoughts where he would see others being confrontational with him, he would see terrible driving when he is on the road, he would have thoughts of protecting his family and his possessions from the evil of others. He would have many thoughts that would involve aggression and protection. But none of these thoughts would essentially tell him very much about the underlying belief that causes him to have these thoughts.
By believing that his beliefs are just thoughts that he has often, he will then try to change these individual thoughts one at a time without much success. It will feel very much like someone trying to stop a gushing pipe with just his hands. He covers one hole but then water starts coming out from another area, he covers that area but then another leak sprouts out; he is never able to stop the flow of water/negative thoughts. And these negative thoughts will never stop because he is not addressing the one thing then he needs to address which is his belief.
After unsuccessfully trying to control all these negative thoughts, this person might even end up creating a type of psychosis where he believes that he is being pummeled by thoughts from outside of his own mind, that perhaps these thoughts are coming from somewhere else and he is being attacked by an evil force.
If this person, who believes that human nature is essentially evil, would instead begin to question his own personal beliefs, he would find it far easier to stop all those negative thoughts that he is now having.
In order to do this all you need to do is to ask yourself ‘why’ you are having the thoughts or emotions that you are now currently having. Just about every single thought and emotion that you have is caused by a certain belief. If you ask yourself ‘why’ you are having these thoughts or emotions, you will discover the belief that is causing them.
By believing that his beliefs are just thoughts that he has often, he will then try to change these individual thoughts one at a time without much success. It will feel very much like someone trying to stop a gushing pipe with just his hands. He covers one hole but then water starts coming out from another area, he covers that area but then another leak sprouts out; he is never able to stop the flow of water/negative thoughts. And these negative thoughts will never stop because he is not addressing the one thing then he needs to address which is his belief.
After unsuccessfully trying to control all these negative thoughts, this person might even end up creating a type of psychosis where he believes that he is being pummeled by thoughts from outside of his own mind, that perhaps these thoughts are coming from somewhere else and he is being attacked by an evil force.
If this person, who believes that human nature is essentially evil, would instead begin to question his own personal beliefs, he would find it far easier to stop all those negative thoughts that he is now having.
In order to do this all you need to do is to ask yourself ‘why’ you are having the thoughts or emotions that you are now currently having. Just about every single thought and emotion that you have is caused by a certain belief. If you ask yourself ‘why’ you are having these thoughts or emotions, you will discover the belief that is causing them.
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