I was sitting at the pool a few weeks ago watching my kids swim lessons. While I was there I noticed a father and his daughter of about 6 or 7yrs old in the water. The father was trying to teach his panic stricken daughter how to swim. I noticed as they entered the water the panic on the young girls face. The father had put a life jacket on her and he knew that she was safe. However she did not know that at all! She was able to keep her panic under control as long as her dad was holding her. She trusted him to keep her safe as long as he was holding her. However as soon as he would start to let go she would panic and start crying and begging him not to let go of her even in the slightest bit. She had a life and death belief about the water. Water can kill you. The unknown is unsafe and so forth. Again her father knew she was completely safe but she did not know the same truth. I was stricken by how different their belief systems were about the water based on their life experience. As the father worked with this little girl over the next 30 minutes her belief radically changed. She ,through experience, learned that with the life jacket she would not sink and die. She could move about in the pool and even began to feel pride in her learning. She waved to her mother who was watching from the side feeling pride and excitement in her new experience. Her father was very patient and always kind while helping her stretch her belief about the water to a new experience that could possibly save her life one day.
I thought a lot about belief systems as I watched this display of belief systems and how they can be changed when faced with a new experience. How often are we willing to challenge our negative beliefs with a new experience? Most of the time we unconsciously actually create experiences that only support our beliefs. Her belief was that water was dangerous. Was she right? Of course she was. Many people drown every year for a variety of reasons. However one of the most common reasons is not knowing how to swim. So if she held onto her belief and never learned to swim was she really safer? Probably not. She would actually keep herself from learning that which might safe her life some day. So facing and changing her belief about water was the most beneficial thing for her to do.
I challenge all of us to pick a negative belief we have and challenge it with a new experience and see what happens. Does the belief begin to change and shift as new information enters the mind? Did what were afraid of happen really happen? And if it did was it as bad as we thought or was it much milder then we perceived it to be?
If you are having trouble even begin to create a new experience then consider using EFT to help you tap out the fear and create a more positive belief. Keep tapping till you start to feel the fear or resistance lessen so you can move forward and experience something different.
You can check out EFT at:
http://www.emofree.com
