Strong beliefs have enormous power to determine your experiences
All of your beliefs act to filter your experiences. In other words you perceive the world through the filter of your beliefs (among other things). So that, in the same way that negative beliefs may limit you or leave unwanted consequences, adopting positive beliefs can give you freedom and peace.
Beliefs of Excellence
Many NLP schools teach the presuppositions of NLP; sometimes also called the Beliefs of Excellence. As you can guess from their title, these are considered positive beliefs that, once adopted will improve your life by improving the way you perceive the world. I’m going to introduce you to one of these beliefs and explain how it might influence you or change your perception.
Firstly, though it’s important to know that these aren’t truths
These are simply beliefs. NLP isn’t a cult and people can believe anything they like. The question really is whether holding a particular belief gives you more choices in life or limits those choices.
As Richard Bandler, co-founder of NLP says, if you look for things that can go wrong you will find them. If you believe something’s impossible then you’ll find what that thing is. Let’s face face it, virtually everything was impossible once - until someone came along who believed it was possible.
So what I’m introducing you to are some possibly useful beliefs
I expect you’ll be able to find counter-examples to illustrate the opposite of each belief. So really, the question to ask yourself is this: “Given that my beliefs affect how I perceive the world, will holding this belief serve me?” If your answer is, ‘yes’ or ‘possibly’, then you could consciously hold that belief in mind and see how it influences what you do, how you perceive the world and how you communicate with people.
In other words you can ‘try it on for size’
Try it for a few weeks and see how you like it, discuss it with others. It’s entirely up to you whether you make it yours of not. OK. Here it is …
‘There is a solution to every problem’
We could argue until the cows come home whether this is ‘true’ or not. But let’s explore it as a belief. If you believe that there is a solution, you’re much more likely to keep going until you find one. So having this belief is likely to make you more tenacious and more persistent in the face of adversity and to be more resilient. You won’t give up and you’re more likely to experience a breakthrough and to find that solution.
But what about if you don’t believe that there is a solution to every problem?
Believing the opposite, i.e. That some problems don’t have a solution, will more than likely result in you having a cursory search for a solution but giving up more quickly if the search becomes arduous. Some of the greatest developments of our times came to fruition because of someone’s dogged determination to find a solution. Elias Howe is one such person.
Elias persevered with his search to develop a needle for his sewing machine - apparently both day and night. While he worked on it consciously during the day his unconscious mind went to work to find one at night.
The solution was delivered to him in a nightmare!
In his dream, Elias was captured by a group of natives who were dancing around him waving their spears. He noticed that their spears all had holes near their tips - at the pointed ends.
He woke up and realised that this was the solution to making his machine sew. The thread needed to go through a hole in the tip of the needle. After that the sewing machine design was completed and on September 10, 1846, Howe was awarded the first United States patent (U.S. Patent 4,750) for a sewing machine using his design. One of the essential features was a needle with the eye at the point.
What type of clothes would we be wearing today, I wonder, without Elias Howe’s belief that he could find a solution to his problem?
So now it’s up to you
Would, ‘There’s a solution to every problem’ be a useful belief to have? Perhaps you already believe this and have illustrations from you own life. I’d love to hear about them if you have. Who knows what developments you might contribute to the world by having that one simple belief.
