NLP: What Are Beliefs?
“Our beliefs have a huge impact on our behavior. It’s commonly thought that if a person truly believes they can do something, they will definitely accomplish it. But if they’re convinced it’s impossible, no amount of effort will persuade them otherwise. Beliefs like ‘It’s already too late,’ ‘There’s nothing I can do, I’m powerless here,’ ‘I’m a victim of circumstances,’ or ‘If this is my fate, there’s nothing I can do’ often become stumbling blocks that prevent people from fully using their natural resources and unconscious competence. Our beliefs about ourselves and our abilities in the world around us consistently and significantly influence our daily lives. Everyone has beliefs that serve as resources, and at the same time—beliefs that hold them back.”
— Robert Dilts, “Belief Change with NLP”
Understanding Beliefs
In my opinion, the most authoritative expert on working with beliefs is Robert Dilts. He defines a belief as “a generalization about a relationship between different experiences in life.”
But this definition is rather strict and scientific. I’d like to describe beliefs a bit differently.
Each person has their own view of the world—their map. Beliefs are the skeleton of that map, the framework around which it’s built. Beliefs largely shape a person’s inner world. People either act because of their beliefs or do nothing at all. If you’re reading this article, you must have a belief that supports your interest—like “understanding myself is important” or “I need to occupy my time with something.”
The Structure of Beliefs
Beliefs can be expressed as full sentences and can often be reduced to forms like:
- X = Y (X corresponds to Y)
- X ⇒ Y (X leads to Y)
Examples:
- If a person has love in their life, then their life was not in vain. (Love = Life not in vain)
- If you try hard, you can achieve happiness. (Trying ⇒ Happiness)
- If I have a good job, I can get out of a tough situation. (Good job ⇒ Overcome tough situation)
- If I were interesting enough, I would find a loving husband. (Being interesting ⇒ Find loving husband)
More examples:
- I am an interesting person.
- A married person is not free.
- Love is good.
- If I do everything well, it means I’m talented.
- If I work hard, I’ll become wealthy.
Internal Representation of Beliefs
Beliefs are usually not represented inside us as words, but as feelings or images that carry their meaning. Trying to put a belief into words is just an attempt to find the most suitable phrasing. When you try to articulate a belief, you might have trouble expressing it precisely. Very similar phrases can describe quite different beliefs.
For example:
- I can change.
- I can cheat.
These two beliefs sound similar but have very different meanings.
Types of Beliefs
Robert Dilts suggests dividing beliefs into three types:
- Beliefs about possibilities.
- What a person thinks they can or cannot do:
- I’m just not capable of thinking quickly.
- I only need 4-5 hours of sleep a night.
- I just can’t leave my family.
- Beliefs about personal identity.
- Who I am, what I am (and the same about others):
- I’m a competent specialist!
- People like me are always unlucky.
- Ivan Petrovich is a loser.
- Beliefs about meaning (correspondence).
- If someone is jealous, it means they love you.
- Beautiful people can’t be happy in life.
- If you have hands, you can provide for your family.
Why Understand Beliefs?
When it comes to other people, understanding their beliefs helps us figure out what they want, why they react the way they do, and the reasons behind their actions. If desired (by yourself or a “client”), you can even try to change these beliefs.
For yourself, knowing your own beliefs (and how to change them) is a powerful tool for organizing yourself in the way you want and freeing yourself from your own limitations.