Introduction
Whether we are aware of them or not, most of us carry around negative beliefs about ourselves, despite the fact that these negative beliefs affect our mental and physical health. Additionally, these negative beliefs also create barriers that prevent us from achieving what we actually want to get out of life.
No matter how much effort we put into accomplishing something we really want, such as launching a successful career or finding a “soulmate”, our negative beliefs systems will literally block us from our goals. Fighting against such beliefs is like trying to push against a brick wall: no matter how hard we try, we won’t get anywhere. In this article, I will explain how to effectively fight against and remove such belief systems which are preventing you from accomplishing your life’s dreams.
The 3 Minds
We each have a conscious, subconscious, and spiritual mind. The spiritual mind is your higher self; it will guide your conscious mind, but only if you let it. The subconscious mind is like a servant to your conscious mind. It will do what your mind tells it to do. The subconscious mind cannot think for itself; instead, it is like a computer: whatever you program into the subconscious is what it will do. So if you have programming in your subconscious mind that you are not good enough, worthy enough, etc., the subconscious mind will run these programs, which will in turn affect all aspects of your life.
Step 1: Reprogramming the subconscious
The first step in countering our negative programming is the use of affirmations. Many people use affirmations, but may not be aware that the point of affirmations is to literally program positive beliefs into our subconscious minds. When using affirmations, there are several strategies that increase their effectiveness:
Tips for Effective Affirmations
- Affirmations should always be positive, not negative. (I.,e., say what you want, not what you don’t want)
- Use the present tense. (Remember that you are “programming”. If you the future tense, you are programming your mind that what you want will always happen at some future point in time).
- Say them out loud. It can also help to say them in front of a mirror.
- Say them like you mean it. This is extremely important. You have to show the subconscious that you mean business.
The “Programming Period”
It takes 21 days to form a new habit, which is another way of saying that it takes 21 days to successfully program the subconscious mind. So be sure to say the affirmations every day for 21 days. I also recommend repeating each one 3 times. If possible, say them in the morning as soon as you wake up. I also recommended repeating the affirmations 3 more times before going to bed.
Affirmation examples:
- I am successful at everything I do
- I enjoy the wonders and beauty of life
- I have a wonderful and loving relationship with my spouse
Be as general or specific as you want. It is your life, and you are the creator: have fun with the creative process!
Affirmation key points to include
In addition to any personal affirmations that you have for reprogramming the mind, I highly recommend including the following topics in your initial 3-week “programming period”:
- Owning your personal power: for example: “I am 100% in control of my life. I am completely balanced at all times. I am the creator of my life.”
- Not being affected by others: “I am not affected by others people’s negativity. I choose to believe only what I wish to believe.”
- Unconditional self-love and inherent self-worth: “I unconditionally love myself. I have always been worthy of love and will always be so. I am a child of God: my worth is a spiritual inheritance.”
- Complete forgiveness of self: “I completely forgive myself for all my mistakes.”
- Acknowledgement that mistakes are positive: “I recognize that all mistakes are positive: they are all necessary for my growth and development.”
- Recognition that actions don’t affect self-worth: “Nothing that I do in life affects my self-worth. I am completely worthy whether I learn my life lessons or not.”
- Success or failure doesn’t affect self-worth: “My self-worth does not increase based on my successes, nor decrease because of my failures.”
- Rejection of needing “to do” for self-worth: “I completely reject the ego’s attitude that I have to do something in order to have self-worth.”
Step 2: Removing the negative belief systems
In the 3rd (last) week, it is time to focus on the negative beliefs themselves. Now that the positive belief programs are well-established, it should be easier to directly remove the negative programming.
Visualizations
Use your imagination to visualize the negative beliefs inside of you (however you want to imagine them). Then imagine yourself removing these negative beliefs in whatever manner feels appropriate. Don’t just stop at one method. Scoop them out with your hands, blow them up with bombs and missiles, or use laser guns to zap them. Whatever you can think of. You want to completely remove or destroy them.
Another helpful visualization is to see the negative beliefs as actual lines of computer programming inside your head: select and highlight the necessary lines of code with an imaginary computer mouse, and then “delete” them.
Note: with any of these visualizations, feel free to ask for help from your guides, angels, or a higher power.
Energy Healings
If you yourself are a healer, you can also remove these negative beliefs via a personal healing session. Note: if you don’t feel comfortable with self-healing, see if you can find a healer you trust who can help you with this.
The process: make yourself comfortable, and then begin to look for the belief systems inside of you using the high-sense perception of your choice. Once you find them, use your intuition to guide you in the best method for removing them from your system.
Once you feel that the work you are doing in that session has been completed, end the session with gratitude for what you accomplished, and give thanks to any spirit helpers that were working with you. Then take as much time as necessary to rest. Check in with yourself and see what (if any) differences you can feel in your energy field.
Opening up a “2nd front”: Identifying Negative Pleasure
Once you feel you are successfully handling the removal of negative programming, you can also begin what is essentially an attack from the other side: removing the need for negative programming. This is done via a process of identifying negative pleasure.
Understanding Negative Pleasure
Due to early life experiences, we erroneously connect the experience of pain with pleasure. This starts at an emotional level before our mental development is even well-established. As an example, a baby who is hungry and cries for food might associate the pain of hunger and the comfort of being fed as part of the same experience. These pain/pleasure experiences become well-established as we grow, because our parents (or caretakers) – which are the people who are primarily responsible for giving us love (i.,e. pleasure) – are also responsible for causing us a lot of pain. For instance, a father might tell his son that he won’t ever amount to anything. Or a mother might criticize her daughter for her choice of clothing.
As we grow older, we replace these experiences with our own internal parents, voices that are constantly criticizing us and telling us “we aren’t good enough”, “we shouldn’t have done that”, and “we should be ashamed for how we acted”.
What is not at all obvious is the fact that there is a subtle amount of pleasure that is derived from all experiences of pain. Generally speaking, the pleasure is extremely egotistical: basically a “Hey, look at me! Poor me! This only happens to me!” I.e., the pleasure is derived from a fantasy that this painful experience will make other people notice us; that it will make us “the center of the universe”.
Defeating the pain
Toward the end of my “3-week programming period”, I found myself dealing with an intense amount of emotional pain. It was almost as if the negative beliefs had launched their own all-out counterattack. The pain was so great that the thought came into my head: “I just can’t take any more pain”. I had literally given up. Then I remembered about negative pleasure.
Searching within the pain, I easily pinpointed the negative pleasure, which in my case was a self-serving pleasure that comes from self-victimization. As soon as I recognized it, the pain started to lift as if it was literally being “taken off” of me. Within a few minutes, I was feeling significantly better.
Though finding negative pleasure may not be necessary in removing negative belief systems, it does at least help in the fact that there is no longer a motive to “reinstall” them. In general, once you identify the negative pleasure, you then “choose” to recognize that you no longer need such pleasure. Once that happens, you no longer have a need to feel the accompanying pain, and hence there is no reason for belief systems that cause you such pain.
An uphill battle
Spiritual progress is not a straight line. There are always 2 steps backward for every 3 steps forward. One day, you will feel like you are making progress and everything is going well. The next day, you might plunge into negativity and question whether things are getting better or worse. Just realize that you ARE making progress; these moments of negativity are simply a part of the process.
Removing negative beliefs is not an exercise, it is a fight. There are times you might question if you can actually succeed. I personally experienced an extremely dark emotional period after one of my most successful “clearing sessions”. When these rough moments come, just be easy on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up for what is happening, just allow it to happen, and the tough moments will pass.
Completing the “Removal Program”
At the end of the 3-week period, create some sort of ritual for yourself to celebrate what you have done. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. But you do need to physically do something in order to commemorate the fact that the negative programming in now a part of your past, and that your life is now headed towards a bright and successful future.
Sources:
- Eva Pierrakos. Fear No Evil: The Pathwork Method of Transforming the Lower Self. Pathwork Press. 2013.
- Joshua David Stone. Soul Psychology: How to Clear Negative Emotions and Spiritualize Your Life. Wellspring. 1999.