Don't Let Your Beliefs Hold You Back
... in trying to escape and never tries again. You might laugh at the elephant, and you might even think that it's being irrational to imprison itself. This is exactly how beliefs work in humans. Everyone I've ever met, including you, has irrational beliefs. We are particularly good at building prisons for ourselves. In 1955, Dr. Albert Ellis identified 12 common irrational beliefs. Most of us hold some or all of these beliefs. For example: I think I am most happy when I am inert or inactive when I am in fact happiest when I am engaged. Elephants are in very good company ... how I see and experience the world around me. I have "concepts about the world and a concept is merely a belief and a belief is merely an opinion I have a particular loyalty to.* My beliefs can be very useful as a way of understanding the world around me as long as my beliefs are based on reality and I can tinker with them when they aren't. I have beliefs about everything. I have beliefs about who I am, my place in the world, my job, about my children, the elderly, or politicians. When I meet someone for the first time, my ...
Tags: assumptions | beliefs | irrational beliefs | model of the world | reality | solutions |
Tags: assumptions | beliefs | irrational beliefs | model of the world | reality | solutions |