What do you believe in?
If you were to ask my daughter, she’s a firm believer in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and magical fairies that change the seasons. Her worldview is shaped by these beliefs, and she thinks that all of these things are possible.
But us adults are much smarter! We hold only realistic beliefs about the world and ourselves. Or do we?
What beliefs are driving your mindset?
- What kind of life are you capable of living?
- What do you really need to be happy?
- Can you become financially independent?
- Will you find a career that fulfills you?
- Is it possible to love yourself?
We hold beliefs that drive our view of the world, whether we actively recognize them or not. These underlying thoughts live within all of us.
And we can only live a life in accordance with what we believe is possible.
If we don’t believe it’s possible to be happy without having X, Y or Z, then we won’t be happy unless we have those things.
If we don’t believe it’s possible to save money and be debt free, then we’ll never make decisions that allow us to become financially secure.
If we don’t believe that we can be happy with ourselves, then we’ll never take the actions to treat ourselves better.
Identify Your Driving Beliefs
As you consider the life you want to live, start by determining what you believe is possible. Think about the beliefs that drive the way that you perceive the world.
If you don’t determine your beliefs, the culture around you will determine them for you. The news media, your friends and family, etc., will set the standards for the life you live. Is that what you want?
My daughter will certainly learn that magic fairies are not what control the weather, but my hope is that she’ll continue to think big. I want her to hold beliefs that allow her to build a full and engaging life for herself.
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This post is Day 21 of 21 Days of Simple.
Thank you for the series.
Sure thing Craig – hope all is well with you!
Thank you very much for 21 Days of Simple Living. Your series has given me and I hope others a lot to think about and learn from. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you William, I appreciate your comment. It was good to explore some thoughts over the past few weeks.
Only one friend determined a belief for me, and that’s Christianity, his name is Abraham, praying that I become Christian, how pathetic! If Christianity is already accepted you don’t need to pray for it. I decided on Christianity because I lived my adult life religious, trying to find a religion that was right for me, I choose Puritanism. That means I purified the church. I think all Christians should unite and change the world. This is one of my beliefs and I have a few, we’re also robots, our personalities and brains and minds are programmed by their surroundings, our hearts which is the CPU can break down when there’s an overload of heat, e.g. if it scares us too much, insults us too much or hurts our feelings. More on belief, cooking should be made by using healthy, fresh ingredients from the supermarket or fruiterer, preferably the Adelaide Central Market, you get beautiful produce from that market fresh food, this is my food philosophy, some of the ingredients, and as many as you can, whenever possible, should be market fresh, love is when people want to eat your food, never cook from simmer sauces from the jar, and never make packet stroganoff when cooking stroganoff, chances are nobody will eat it. It helps when you use flavourful ingredients, e.g. soy sauce, Worcestorshire sauce, salt, onions, garlic, honey, sage, savory (in Rome renamed satury), marjoram (also known as origany), laser (it’s a type of root), brown sugar, shallots, beans, and mushrooms. That’s another cooking philosophy I believe in: flavourful ingredients, which I got from “Vegan Cooking” by Eva Batt. So this is what we need to keep in mind. I’m a pesco-beegan, so the food has to be meat-free, dairy-free and egg-free (but not fish-and-seafood-free and not honey-free), so I accept I’m wanting to eat a lot of things, and reject the rest, I believe it’s healthy, but that’s done by having unrefined carbohydrates, a little roughage goes a long way. I believe in beauty, like an Italian pasta dish with a glass of shiraz, and I believe shiraz is the only good wine, for now, so be thankful that nature provided the food you’re eating, it wasn’t God, it was the farmers that grew the crops and the butchers and fishermen who hunted/fished the animals. 😛