Forming New Beliefs: The Structure of Certainty and Changing Old Patterns
Hello everyone! This is Stalilingus! I’m sharing with you an excerpt from a book by Richard Bandler, the creator of NLP. No one can write this better than him, so I won’t even try to take credit. Before reading, I recommend checking out my article on submodalities.
The Importance of Beliefs
One of the most important aspects of human life is the formation of beliefs. It’s our beliefs that keep most people trapped in their problems. Until you believe that you can overcome anything, do anything, and achieve anything, you’re unlikely to actually do it. Beliefs give your thoughts a sense of certainty.
Most people, from a young age, listen to their parents, teachers, and other authority figures, absorbing the limitations of their mentors. If you’re told you’re not smart enough or can’t succeed in sports, you’ll probably believe it. And as soon as we believe something, we immediately start looking for ways to prove our beliefs are true. We need to learn to question our own limitations and become more confident in our abilities and potential.
To change yourself, you need to change your beliefs and form new ones that will allow you to act differently in the future. To change beliefs, you first need to learn to identify their properties.
Understanding Submodalities
We’re dealing with submodalities. Like any thought, a belief has a certain structure and properties. If I ask you, “Do you believe the sun will rise tomorrow?” how would you answer? Most people instantly say yes, but there’s actually an intermediate process. To answer the question, you have to imagine your belief.
If I asked you this question out loud, you’d know the answer even without saying it. When I ask, “Will the sun rise tomorrow?” most people immediately picture a sunrise. Mentally, they answer yes. Their inner voice sounds confident and certain. Inside their body, they feel a sense of confidence and certainty, and this feeling tells them their answer is correct.
This is your guide to action. It allows us to make plans, buy books knowing we’ll read them in the future, and so on. Having beliefs and using them as a guide to action is a crucial part of being human. It’s also key to understanding how we can change ourselves and others.
Exploring the Structure of Certainty
If I ask you out loud, “Will the sun rise tomorrow?” what image do you see in your mind’s eye? Is it on the right or left? How far away is it? What size is it—normal or small? Is the image static or moving? Do you hear any sounds? Is there a voice giving you a positive answer? If so, does it come from the right or left?
“Catch” the feeling of certainty. Look at the image in your mind and double its size. Usually, this intensifies the feeling. When this happens, focus on the sensations in your body. Notice how they move. You’re starting to become aware of the submodalities of a strong belief.
Now, pause for a moment and clear your mind. Then come back to this page and read on with me.
Comparing Certainty and Uncertainty
Now think about something you’re unsure about. Not something you strongly doubt, but something that “might be” or “might not be.” For example, what will you have for lunch? Tuna sandwich or cheese? Or maybe someone is going to buy you a birthday present—maybe they’ll choose this, maybe that.
Try to see this image in your mind’s eye. Take a short break, think about it, then return to the book and the idea you’re absolutely certain about. First, imagine the sun rising over the horizon. Then imagine the second image, the one that may or may not happen. Compare your feelings and notice the difference.
Do your sensations arise in the same place? Probably not. If the images appear in different places, are they at different distances? Are they different sizes? Does your inner voice come from different places? Does it sound from the right or left? Is it directed inward or outward? The only thing that distinguishes these feelings is the difference between the two images.
Start examining this difference more closely. Study the properties of certainty and uncertainty in more depth. Below is a long list of submodalities: visual, auditory, kinesthetic (feelings), olfactory, and gustatory. I want you to look inside yourself and experience the feeling of certainty that the sun will definitely rise, and then the feeling of uncertainty, and fill out the table below. Note the submodalities that differ for these two beliefs. Take some time with this process.
Identifying the Feeling of Certainty
- Think of something you’re absolutely certain about (e.g., the sun will rise tomorrow).
- Notice what images, sounds, and feelings arise in your mind when you think about this belief and your confidence in it.
- Analyze the list of submodalities below and note all the properties of the belief.
- Think of something you’re unsure or doubtful about (it might happen, it might not).
- Notice what images, sounds, and feelings arise in your mind when you think about this uncertain belief.
- Analyze the list of submodalities and note all the properties of the uncertain belief.
- Pay attention to the differences in submodalities between the strong and weak beliefs.
Now that you’ve made your list, let’s analyze it. You now know the difference between what makes up a strong belief and what makes up a weak, uncertain belief. By understanding the difference between these two states, you can control your beliefs. If you’re reading this book, you probably have something you want to change. The first step toward achieving this goal is the ability to believe in your own abilities and potential.
Changing Limiting Beliefs
First, think about a problem you believe you have. It doesn’t matter what kind of problem it is. If you’re convinced you lack confidence or decisiveness, choose that problem. The most surprising thing about the belief in a lack of decisiveness is that people are always very decisive in stating that they lack it.
Now do the following. Just as you’re certain the sun will rise tomorrow, you’re probably also certain your problem will remain tomorrow. Place your problem in the same spot as your strong belief. Now look at it and say, “I’m tired of all this!” Over the years, I’ve found that people truly change the moment they decide they’ve had enough. Most people haven’t yet had their fill of their problems. It may seem their patience has run out, but I’ve had patients with obsessive disorders who filled every minute, morning, day, and night with rituals for comfort. They’d lock and unlock the door fifteen times, wash their hands a thousand times a day, but remained more depressed than ever. Finally, they’d say, “I’ve had enough! I’m not going to do this anymore!” And that’s when real change happened. But we’ll come back to this later.
First, we need to clearly understand what you want to get rid of and what you want to gain. You want to get rid of self-doubt and believe in yourself. You want to get rid of fears and gain confidence. In any case, when you think about your problem, you’re probably convinced you’re doomed to suffer from it for the rest of your life.
Feeling the belief that your problem will last your whole life, do something for me. Try, literally, to push the image away, move it into the area of uncertainty. Then you’ll look at this image and think, “Am I really going to live like this forever?” But since it’s now in the area of uncertainty, you’ll say to yourself, “Maybe yes, maybe no!”
To anchor the image in any other position, it’s important to do everything very, very quickly. Move the old, limiting belief into the area of uncertainty. To do this, anchor the image and do the following: push it away from you so it moves about five meters away, turn it, and pull it to the other side, into the submodalities of uncertainty. Then the strong belief will become uncertain and weak.
Now you need to do the opposite. Take the image of what you want to believe—for example, that you’ll overcome your problem and become happy and successful. Pull this image five meters closer, turn it, and move it into the position of the submodalities of a strong belief.
This will allow you to change your beliefs and believe in yourself and your bright future. By doing this exercise, you’ll create a plan to change your expectations for the future.
Belief Change Technique (Belief Change Pattern)
- Think of a limiting belief you no longer need. For example, that you’re doomed to suffer from your problem for the rest of your life or at least for a long time.
- Think of a useful belief you’d like to form. For example, that you’ll overcome your problem and live the rest of your life happily.
- Study the submodalities of certainty and uncertainty you just identified.
- Imagine the limiting belief you want to get rid of moving away and ending up in the area of uncertainty submodalities.
- At the same time, imagine the useful belief being pulled in and placed in the area of strong belief submodalities.
- Repeat the exercise several times very quickly.
Once you learn to control your beliefs, you’ll start generating new, useful beliefs that will help you live happier and better than ever before.
The Role of the Mind in Problems
Most of the problems we face in life, as I’ve said, are formed in our minds. Moreover, problems usually exist in our perception of the past and future. After all, the past and future exist only in our minds.
When people suffer, they experience negative feelings about the past, dislike the present, and are afraid or worried about the future. We talk about “overcoming” something and “leaving problems behind.” We talk about needing to go through something, about what lies ahead. We talk about “striving” for something and “expecting” the future. For many, these expressions really symbolize time. To change how we think about the past and future and how we process incoming information, we need to analyze the concept of the timeline.
Stalilingus