Authentic Core Beliefs
Now that we’ve worked on building our understanding for the 5 core values and began the process of connecting them to the basic core beliefs about what those values mean to us, it’s time to start applying these beliefs to the specific things you do on a daily basis that are important for you to Live the Life you Want to Live. These true, authentic, core beliefs are intended to guide the decisions we make, and the actions we take, every single day. They shape the way we want to live out our lives, keeping us moving in a direction that’s in line with how we demonstrate our values in our behaviours.
At the same time, we have to remember that beliefs are fluid by nature, they are based on the information we have at this particular point in time, and they can shift and change as we learn and grow as individuals. When we are open to experiencing new things from an objective point of view, we receive new information that can alter our core beliefs. Sometimes these alterations are so minor we might not even notice them, and sometimes they are major changes that completely shift the way we see the world. On the flip side of this, if we are tied to the rigidity of a particular perspective, this ability to change and grow is significantly stunted. We often remained trapped in a distinct behaviour pattern, trying to cope with emotional impact of this rigid point of view, this is the power of our negative childhood schema.
"These true, authentic, core beliefs are intended to guide the decisions we make, and the actions we take, every single day. They shape the way we want to live out our lives, keeping us moving in a direction that’s in line with how we demonstrate our values in our behaviours."
~Steven Morris RP.
When working with our true authentic Core Beliefs, a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that beliefs are formed in sentences, unlike our values which exist as single words. For example, I value honesty, and I believe that I should tell the truth whenever possible, provided it won’t cause harm to myself, or damage my relationships with the people I love. Now remember, as I previously mentioned, there is always a hierarchy to our values system, in that sometimes one value will completely outweigh another depending on the situation we are in. So, in the example I am using here, for the most part, I try to live by the value of honesty, and the beliefs that go with it, to the best of my ability. Mainly because it helps me to avoid the activation of guilt and shame in my personality system.
At the same time, if telling the truth will put me, or someone I love in danger, then my value of safety trumps my value of honesty, and I will shift my behaviours accordingly. This is why it’s also important to understand the Hierarchy of Values that exist within our personality system. While many of our core values seem to be the same, our beliefs can be different from person to person, culture to culture, and experience to experience. This can cause problems in certain areas of life if you value the same things but have different beliefs from the person you are experiencing the situation with.
"If telling the truth will put me, or someone I love in danger, then my value of safety trumps my value of honesty, and I will shift my behaviours accordingly."
~Steven Morris RP.
For example, most people value integrity, doing what you said you were going to do when you said you were going to do it, but what your beliefs are about the way you express integrity in your life can differ from that of another person based on your experiences, and what’s important to you right now. I may believe that I have to follow through on what I said I was going to do with 100% integrity in this particular area of life because this domain is at the top of my list when it comes to importance. However, if the people around me don’t hold this domain in the same way as I do, our beliefs can clash and cause problems in the relationships, particularly if I am tied to the rigidity of my beliefs.
This is why establishing what’s important was the first step we took when figuring out our values and beliefs. Having the ability to understand that other people may not follow the same beliefs as me, and learning how to work with our judgments about this will come at a later date, first let’s establish your own unique beliefs about the Life you Want to Live. In the PDF attached to this page is a worksheet designed to take the information we have gathered on what areas of life are important to you, what your basic manifestation of the 5 core values looks like for you and then apply these beliefs to your own specific important areas of your life.
Download the PDF of this page
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