How to Change Negative Beliefs in 30 Days

Photo by Dusty

"Whether you think you can or can’t either way you are right." ―Henry Ford

Two years ago, I agreed to help a neighbor who recruits teachers for the adult continuing education community school in my area. One of her instructors was not able to teach her class and she asked me if I could teach a course titled: "Blogging―Writing Effective Content." I told her I would help, and then panicked. While I have been teaching writing courses for nearly a decade, I failed to focus on that fact. I focused instead on the aspect that I was not well acquainted with―Blogging. At the time I was new to blogging with only a few blogs under my writer's belt.

All of my insecurities rose to the surface the weekend before the course was to begin. I told myself that I was not qualified to teach this course. I told myself I was unworthy. A sense of unworthiness is a belief pattern that I had carried since I was child. I was not worthy of my father's love. I was not worthy of my mother's attention, and I certainly was not worthy of a partner who honored me as mother, wife and equal. 

Discovering our belief patterns is the first step toward changing those patterns. Once I understood that I carried that belief, I began to change it by developing new thought patterns. Psychologist Dr. Athena Staik tells us that:

"When you seek to replace a behavior, such as a toxic thinking pattern, your actions produce neurochemical and molecular changes in cells known as neurons."

Science is on our side when it comes to changing belief patterns with new discoveries of our brain's neuroplasticity―the brain's ability to change and adapt. Hospitals like St. Jude are now using this science in Twelve Step programs. So truly, as a man (or woman) thinketh ....  What is key, however, is to gain awareness of how we think and what we believe. A woman in my writing to heal workshop pronounced her inability to find success because she didn't have an education, or a fat bank account. A friend touted at a luncheon that all uber-wealthy people are unethical. What are your limiting beliefs? Let's change our negative and limiting belief patterns to positive signals in our brains. 

Be advised that acknowledging where we are requires honesty and a desire to change. Clinging to comfortable beliefs, even though they do not serve us positively, is the most common reason we fail to move forward. Change requires both facing our true selves and our fears. 

30 days toward creating positive belief patterns:  In the morning when you wake, and in the evening before you go to bed, say into the mirror:

Today, I release [want to release]* the need to view myself as [  negative belief  ]

[say your name], you are capable [want to be capable] of realizing your

 dreams just as you are!

*If you feel uncomfortable saying "I release," say instead, "I want to release."