One day, as I sat with one of my friends, I told him, “Hey, you know what, although I have never done it in front of you before, I can fly!”.

My friend believed me because he trusted me and because he was sure that I would never lie. He was sure of this, and so he didn’t doubt what I told him. He didn’t consider one thing; what if I wasn’t a liar but just thought that jumping in the air for three seconds is considered flying??!!

My friend believed that I could fly for more than ten years without even trying to check if that was true or not. This sounds ridiculous, right? You’d be amazed to know that you have probably done what my friend did at one point in your life.

You Do This Too

It’s true; you may have already done this yourself. You may have accepted a belief that someone else passed to you just because you trusted him, or even worse, you may have acquired a belief from someone that you don’t trust and kept it for years!!! Want to see some examples?

• Someone who told you that you are a loser, a failure, or worthless: you considered his opinion a fact and hard-coded it in your mind. Some people may be lacking self-confidence throughout their whole life just because someone labeled them as fools or losers a long time ago!!
• Someone who was told that he couldn’t succeed in life, that he can’t find a good job or that he can’t start his own business. He believed what was told to him and stopped working because he thought there was no hope!!!
• Someone who thinks that there is no God just because he heard it from someone else. Did he test this belief? No!!! Does he have evidence to support his view? No!!! Did he read about the big bang? NO!!! What effort did he make then? nothing, he just heard it from someone he trusts
• Someone who accepts a religion without taking a deep look at other religions. Why would he do that? Because he trusts his parents!!! What if his parents were like my friend who thought that I could fly?!! Yes, it’s hard to question your beliefs, but you must know that your beliefs are no more than repetitive affirmations fed to your mind when you were a child. That’s why the son of a Hindu becomes a Hindu, the son of a Christian becomes a Christian and the son of a Muslim becomes a Muslim. My advice is, do your own research and don’t accept anything unless you make sure of it.
• Your beliefs can even prevent you from recovering after breakups and could keep you broken for years. False beliefs such as “He is my soul mate” can prevent you from recovering for years. In such a case getting over that breakup requires you to get rid of these false beliefs.

I am not trying to make you a skeptic person, but you should seek evidence and proof when it comes to major things like choosing a religion or believing in God. Don’t let someone else fool you into accepting his beliefs without questioning them.

Challenging irrational beliefs

Knowledge can help you challenge incorrect beliefs and prove them wrong. Start educating yourself about the important life issues that concern you. After acquiring enough knowledge, you will realize that many things aren’t as you believed they were.

The next step in challenging a belief is repetition. Once you find a new belief that you believe in, start repeating it repeatedly so that it sticks into your mind.

You had to acquire knowledge first because your mind won’t believe anything you repeat before it makes sure that it’s correct.