You may be stuck in a self-created, personal development “rut” and not even be aware of it.
Has your total yearly income increased by at least 10%-50% in the last few years?
Have your relationships gotten better in the last few years?
Has your health significantly improved in the last few years?
Are you happier and more positive now than you were a few years ago?
If not, than you may be stuck in a personal development rut, self-created by a set of mystical limiting beliefs you have been led to believe define reality.
As a personal development fanatic I have read well over 1,000 personal development books over the last 15 years. Up until about 9 months ago I thought that my life was progressing along nicely, but then I had a gut check and started asking myself some of these tougher questions I mentioned above.
Belief Mirroring Scam
One of the ways that the personal development books and seminars I was attending were actually hurting my progress, instead of helping me, was through the process of “belief mirroring”.
What is “belief mirroring”?
Basically the process of belief mirroring is to simply take the already existing beliefs of a person and then to mirror those beliefs back to them.
When it comes to personal development books, many books are nothing more that just mirrors. They essentially identify the very specific target market that they want to write for, and they then create a beliefs profile of their target market, and then a book is written which mirrors those beliefs right back at the person reading the book.
The end result is that the person reads the book, realizes that the author BELIEVES in the same BELIEFS that the reader does and a bond is created.
The reader thinks to himself “I love this book! It is amazing! I learned so much. This is a great author!”
However, in reality the reader hasn’t learned a thing. No new beliefs were created. No new cognition’s were discovered. No transformation happened.
All the book did is simply reflect back at the reader all the same beliefs that they already had.
Have you ever read a book and thought to yourself “This book just doesn’t resonate with me. I don’t know why, but I find it hard to read.”
If so, this may be a GOOD THING, not a bad thing.
You see, in order for transformation to happen. In order for us to evolve in our beliefs, we must find books that don’t just mirror our beliefs, but which EVOLVE them.
If a book doesn’t resonate with you, chances are that it is challenging your beliefs. This is a good thing. A good personal development book should challenge your beliefs – and not just mirror back the beliefs you already have.
That doesn’t mean that all personal development books that don’t resonate with you should be listened to either. It just means that your beliefs are being challenged. It is then up to you to see if the new set of beliefs will serve you better than your current set of beliefs.
The trick is to find books that challenge you, your thinking and your beliefs – and then to make decisions as to what information to accept from these books.
I find too many people only read books that “resonate” with them, and that keeps them stuck in their existing set of beliefs.
You are better off reading books that will challenge your thinking and your existing beliefs – if you are seeking to improve your life that is.
Challenge Your Own Beliefs
Take some of your most basic beliefs in a specific area of life and challenge them yourself.
If you are a medical doctor, or a surgeon and you absolutely believe that chiropractic medicine is a scam, and that all “those people” are charlatans, try to challenge that belief. Why not meet with a chiropractor and see their perspective and try their beliefs on for size for a bit to see how they see medicine, healing and what being a doctor is all about.
If you’re a chiropractor who believes that surgery and pharmaceuticals are a scam, why not challenge your beliefs? Why not take a surgeon to lunch and try to understand their set of beliefs. Maybe you’ll learn something.
If you believe that the stock market is a scam, why not challenge those beliefs a bit and see if you can learn something new.
If you believe that the real estate market is a scam, why not challenge that belief?
If you believe that vegetarians are crazy people, why not try to learn a bit about their beliefs? If you believe that people who eat meat are horrible people, why not try to understand their beliefs for a bit?
If you believe Hondas are the best car out there, and you hate Toyotas, why not take a Toyota for a test drive.
By putting yourself through the process of challenging your beliefs, you will learn an incredible amount about yourself and your beliefs.
I’m not saying all of your beliefs will change, or that ANY of them will change. In fact your existing beliefs may even get stronger. My point is that the exercise of challenging your own beliefs is a VERY useful personal development technique.
You’re Holding Yourself Back
You are holding yourself back from whatever you want to achieve in life.
If you are not happy with your health, it is YOU who is holding yourself back. It is not the medical system, or your doctor, or your genes, or your parents, or your insurance company, or your disease, or any other external “thing” out there. It is you.
If you are not happy with your income or the size of your bank account, it is YOU who is holding you back. It is not all the rich people out there, the banks, the governments, the insurance companies, the scammers or anything or anyone else out there. YOU are holding yourself from complete financial abundance.
YOU are holding yourself back from having the best relationships in your life.
It is all YOU.
All of your current conscious and subconscious beliefs and programs that are running through your mind are manifesting the reality you are currently experiencing. YOU are ultimately in control over those beliefs and programs, even if you’re not even currently aware that they exist.
Are YOU Willing to Accept Change?
Are you honestly happy with your progress in the last 2-5 years?
If not, then YOU have to change something in order to experience a different reality.
The only way your life is going to change is if YOU decide to let go of at least some of your existing, limiting beliefs and programs running in your mind.
It is impossible for your reality to shift and transform and change if your beliefs, programs and energetic vibration remain the same.
Something has to change in order for something to change.
Reading books that reflect your limiting beliefs right back to you feels comfortable and safe, but it kills your progress.
Hanging out with people who reflect our limiting beliefs right back to you feels comfortable and safe, but it kills your progress.
Watching TV shows and movies and visiting website on the Internet that simply reflect all your existing limiting beliefs right back to you feels comfortable and safe, but it kills your progress.
Are you ready for change?