WHAT ARE BELIEF PATTERNS?

Belief patterns are a mechanism created by the brain to understand our surroundings and protect us from potential harm. They are often created before the age of 7 and are built upon as life happens. This is where they can hold us back if they are rooted in negativity, scarcity and fear. Sometimes the beliefs drive us to obtain everything we desire and other times they stop us from taking risks and keep us playing small. For example, we can convince ourselves that it's better to avoid vulnerability in our relationships as the thought of the outcome could be too scary to even consider the potential growth. A belief is a logical process based on PAST experiences and does not take into account the possibility of new and better outcomes for all. It could be the link that's preventing maximal relationship, job and general life satisfaction. We inherently know that there is more out there but we are often unknowingly stopping ourselves from opening into possibility. All because our brains don't know how to handle the new. It's too scary, therefore it keeps us still running on an old system that no longer serves our growth!
Sounds like Groundhog Day, no?

BECOMING OK WITH THE NEW AND UNKNOWN

Ok, opening yourself into the unknown is never comfortable. Why would it be? You’ve got so used to predicting the path that when you change tactics and the steps aren't laid out… what is the brain to do but say, “stay in the cave where ‘I’ know it’s safe.”
In fact it can be paralysingly terrifying to the point that your brain will behave as if your life is at risk and kickstart your fight-or-flight response. Some people may get this from pier jumping, some from leaving their house, some from upsetting or disappointing someone. But you know what? It's not all that comfortable staying comfortable either is it, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.
So you're going to have to pick your poison. Choose your discomfort and lean in.
Either way, soften. Allow it to be there. Be with it. Whatever wording helps you. And give it an internal hug you secret hippy!

I recommend a book - How to Die Happy by Martin O’Toole

YOUR BODY VERSUS YOUR BRAIN

You have thought your body into its current state. Need a book on this?
1) The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk.
2) Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza
When you have had an emotional or physical experience that you were unable to fully process and accept at the time, the body stores that information (vibration) in the cells and there it will stay until the cells have no more capacity to store it. Almost as if to become tight and inflexible. Your brain understands that you have been harmed and creates a belief and subsequent behavioural pattern in an attempt to keep you safe from any recurrence. However this behavioural pattern may not be correctly utilised if the brain can no longer interpret the situation of the present, as different from the past. Hence why we may overreact to a situation with a current partner that, although different, may have some resemblance to a past partner's behaviour. Past hurts are held in the body and if we never relieve our resistance to these states, our brains are left to be defensive and protective instead of allowing the whole self to be open and receiving the fullness of life. Pain and dis-ease can result and you enter into a never ending cycle of attempting to heal yourself through external methods or keep it at bay. You can see how none of this is screaming of vitality, freedom and love.

YOUR BRAIN VERSUS THE NEW

Your brain is a record of the past.
It tells you to fear things regardless of whether there is even a threat anymore.
IT CANNOT SHOW YOU ANYTHING NEW.
Therefore, you cannot think your way into a new existence.
For a new outcome to occur, you’ll need to sit with what already exists, become ok with not controlling it and open yourself to something new happening.
“WHAT ELSE IS POSSIBLE HERE?”... *breathe and relax.
If you have decided on what the outcomes could be, then that's as much as you are allowing into your life. If you keep refocusing the inner voice, for example on the sensations of breathing, a little impulse may follow that feels inspiring. It can be as small as taking a break, going for a walk somewhere different, cooking something new, take a class, reading about something you heard mentioned a few days ago. These may seem small but you will not know who you may meet, what that will result in or where it will lead. Because the brain cannot predict the steps toward opportunity! You may wish to stop kidding yourself that it can.
It is not down to you to figure out the HOW… life will do that regardless of you trying to force your ideas on it.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

The aim is integration.
There's some sensations in your body or thoughts in your mind that you've been unwilling to notice fully.
All these belief patterns and fear patterns; stored emotions and physical pains, all just need a moment in the sun. Just like a child that has been ignored and rejected, they need to be seen, listened to and allowed to exist JUST AS THEY ARE.
With no pressure to change.
With love and patience and compassion.

Start by focusing your attention into an area of your body. Bring your awareness into your body to notice the subtle sensations occuring. We spend most of our time focused on our intellect and not enough on our bodies. It's called running away from feeling… you've been called out!

Breathe and then just notice what you notice.
A tingle, a tickle, a pain, an irritation, the urge to move.

Remember you are not trying to change it, that would still be pushing away the experience rather than integrating it and embodying it. It has been a part of what has made your life colourful so give it its grace. Ease will come of its own volition once the sensation has been acknowledged fully. You must release your desire to control this. A child's temper tantrum eventually runs its course and this will too. Come back to your breath, lean back and let it be there.

You also don't need to know where these emotions or pains resulted from but you may find it helpful in your opening to them. This is not an invitation to lean on what you find and identify with it but to let it be the fuel for your practice.

Things that arise may have you questioning your understanding of how you perceive situations. What an opening into possibility! “You mean I don’t have to get things ‘perfect’? Sweet, sweet liberation.

You may have to be brutally honest with yourself about how you’ve behaved in the past, games you play for attention or to manipulate a situation in your favour. This is rough and ragged territory but so worth traversing. Be honest about what you're in denial about and let yourself cringe, breathe and unravel. Own it all, take responsibility for the roles you have played and positions you have put yourself in.
There's no point in defending your ego anymore.
There is also no right or wrong way to be human, there is just learnt behaviour, trial and error and survival… until you truly realise you don't need to play the survival game anymore.

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

Everything is vibrational energy and the frequency of that vibration determines the form it creates - a chair, your heart muscle, the light from the sun.

The air is thick with vibrations. So it is a simple truth that connectivity transcends what we can see, hear and touch. We can be affected by music, by the energy of our thoughts and emotions, or of the environments we are in. For example, there is a distinct difference between being at the ocean versus a football stadium. The vibrational frequency is different and it moves through the cells of our body. Sometimes we meet people we are attracted to and others we wish to avoid. You are responding to the vibration in their system and how it is amplifying in yours.

It is interesting to consider everyone and every situation as a mirror in this way. What does this person show you of yourself? What are you seeing in the other that you are refusing to acknowledge in yourself. For better or for worse.

We can use this attunement in favour of our collective opening. If everything is connected, we can see each other as a vibrational or energetic mirror. One person's fear may resemble another’s. In other words, it's a vibrational match. It can be felt, recognised and integrated together so as to release it's grip on us, so to speak, and we can live more openly. Likewise we may have a vibrational match with the same person, of a particular openness to something else. Lots of laughter and fun are experienced in these areas with them.

We attune to the frequency vibration we are exposed to or we resist it.
In resistance we find ourselves irritated or uncomfortable. That is to say, when a fear belief pattern is triggered, for example, “people are out to get me”, “I can’t trust anyone”, “If I relax, how will I protect myself?”. Our fight-or-flight response kicks in and we find ourselves needing the situation to change in order to feel comfortable again.

When we attune to it, we relax, the sensation of opening or melting or expanding occurs and a calm becomes us. We are much less reactive and affected by external scenarios. We are clear headed, respond from a place of compassion and life is simpler and lighter. Even through the tough stuff.

Of course there are times our fear response is correct - becoming clear enough to discern between a belief pattern and our intuition is part of the journey.