Several years ago my brother brought home a girl – the love of his life, and we all loved her too (still do). One day the family was gathered around the dining room table to enjoy a delicious feast. Along one wall of the room, behind the table, was a sliding glass door that led out to the backyard.

In the back yard was the family dog. However, she wasn’t exactly roaming the yard, her nose was pressed to the door as she longed to have a taste of the banquet that lay on the other side of that glass. Comments were made about the dog wanting to have some of the dinner. My sweet sister-in-law told everyone not to worry about the poor dog, she didn’t know what was going on around that table because dogs can’t see through windows!

As you can imagine, a round of boisterous laughter ensued and my sister-in -law’s long-time belief was shattered.

Now think about Columbus taking off to sail around the world when there were those who believed the world was flat. Once again, beliefs were shattered when he didn’t fall of the edge! There are many examples in science that destroy what was once believed to be truth.

So what is so startling about that? We see new advances in science every day now. We are used to hypotheses being made and tested and proven false.

The startling truth is, that on a very personal level, we actually create our own false beliefs to meet our needs. That’s right! In an attempt to “help” ourselves, we are actually self-sabotaging!

According to Hyrum Smith, a favorite author and coach of mine, we all have 4 basic needs:

1. To live
2. To love and be loved
3. To feel important
4. To have variety

If those 4 needs are not being met, we create our own beliefs to meet those needs. An example of this would be a young man whose need to be loved is not being met by his father. So he creates the belief for himself that any attention from his father – good or bad – is an act of love. Being good has not gotten him any attention so he adjusts his behavior to get “love” from his father. He grows out his hair, skips school, and misbehaves in any way he can think of. NOW his father is paying attention to him. So, NOW he believes his need to be loved is being met. He has created his own belief to meet his needs.

Interestingly, everything has transpired subconsciously. He didn’t sit down and reason with himself about his needs that were not being met and how he could fix the problem. His subconscious took over, found and solved the problem for him. He doesn’t even consciously recognize that his less than stellar behavior is a means he has created to feel loved by his father.

Ok, so now that it appears that all of his needs are being met, isn’t everything alright?

Let’s investigate.

You see, to determine if his new belief , any attention from his father – good or bad – is an act of love, is a true belief or a false belief it must pass the test of time.

In order to be true, it must continue to meet his needs throughout his life; otherwise it is a false belief.

Now, how does he know if it will pass the test of time? He could continue this behavior and belief for the rest of his life and see how that works out for him … OR … he could look at the examples of others.

There are countless examples throughout history and probably in our own neighborhood that show where such behavior leads – and none of them are good unless they change their ways.

The belief this young man’s subconscious mind has created is definitely a false belief! It will not meet his needs over time.

I know what you are thinking. If all of this was done subconsciously, how does he even know to consider he might have a false belief? Great question!

False beliefs carry low vibrating energy. They bring us down. They do not serve us. Here is an exercise you can to do to identify false beliefs that may be hurting you.

Identify areas in your life where you find yourself avoiding blame.

As you do this, you will likely notice an “icky” or “uneasy” feeling, the feeling of low vibrating energy, comes over you when you consider certain situations. These are the ones you want to focus on first.

In our example the young man might be thinking something like “It’s not my fault I’m flunking out of school”.

Examine the situation to see if you have a belief that is driving you to avoid your responsibility.

Our young man might come up with the belief “It is more important to have my Dad’s attention than it is to get passing grades”. With this belief, he would then flunk classes if necessary to get attention from his father.

Once you determine a belief, ask yourself if the result of your belief is something you want to acquire in your life.

The result for our young man would be for him to flunk out of school, which would likely lead to a life of poverty or even crime. I doubt this is something he would want to achieve/acquire in his life.

Now ask yourself, does this meet my needs?

Remember your 4 basic needs?

1. To live
2. To love and be loved
3. To feel important
4. To have variety

Right off the bat, I don’t think this young man would have his need “to feel important” met if he continues down this path. It is highly likely that other needs would not be met as well.

Now that the false belief has been discovered you can go about changing your belief to one that meets your needs over time.

Recognizing and admitting you have false beliefs – that we all do – can be so enlightening and uplifting. It will help you in every aspect of your life.

Take some time and apply the 4 steps to discovering and eradicating your false beliefs today! You don’t want to be hanging on to beliefs that don’t serve you like ‘the world is flat’ or ‘dogs can’t see through windows’!