What is a belief? A belief is a thought you hold in your mind that you believe to be true.
In reality, a thought is only a thought, nothing more.
A thought is neither true nor false.
So how do we come to believe a thought as true? Through our mental filters - our assumptions, beliefs, concepts, desires, expectations - and built upon our past experiences.
A belief can also be said to be a perception of reality.
A belief is just a perception, not the reality.
It is how we interpret or see reality but not actually real.
However, once we buy into a belief, we feel and act according to the belief.
The belief becomes real to us.
For example, I just had a consultation with a young lady in her twenties.
She walked into my consultation room with tears in her eyes, obviously worried and concern about her illness.
When I asked her what was bothering her, she complained that she was having diarrhea, vomiting and stomachache, and she fears that she may have the swine flu.
That was why she was in tears.
She was afraid that she might die from a swine flu infection.
Once I explained to her that her symptoms are due to food poisoning and not swine flu, she calmed down.
Her fear subsided.
Her body became more relaxed.
You can see that a heavy load was just lifted from her shoulders.
All these from a false belief! We should not be laughing at her silliness because we do the same thing to ourselves all the time, only in different degrees.
And when we do, which is just too often, we set ourselves up for fear, pain, sufferings, despair.
So the next time you start to feel bad or sad or fearful, challenge your thoughts.
What thoughts do you believe in right now? When you delve deep into your thoughts and see them honestly for what they really are, you will find that you are holding on to a false belief.
Here is a good rule of thumb: "Where there is fear, there you will find a false belief.
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