What are Core Beliefs?

What are Core Beliefs?

A core belief (also called a limiting belief, or an unconscious belief) is a biased conclusion about yourself created when you were a young child.

Imagine a five-year-old child signing a contract that determines everything that happens for the rest of his/her/their life. Seems unreasonable, right? Well, that is what a core belief is – an interpretation created during a vulnerable age when our understanding of reality is skewed and incomplete.

A Core Belief is like a pair of tinted sunglasses we constantly have on.

Have you ever put on a pair of tinted sunglasses, and the world seemed orange, or gray? The core belief tints everything you see in the world (even your own skin) and makes it seem as proof for the core belief. “See? I really am not important, because my boss skipped me at the meeting” or “See? I really am a burden, because you seem bored when I talk to you”.

Our unconscious mind is constantly scanning the environment for proof of what we already know (this is called confirmation bias). When it finds bits of information that fit our preconceived ideas, it zooms our attention onto them and disregards all other information that does not.

The reason our mind does this is to make sense of the world. because as humans making sense equates to safety. This is why we find ourselves in situations that are bad for us, wondering why the heck would I enter this unhealthy situation, again? That’s because on an unconscious level, it makes sense. It’s familiar and it verifies our core belief.

This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy:

I believe I am not good enough -> My mind searches (and finds) proof for this belief -> My belief is strengthened

Core Beliefs are not facts!

Because of this self-fulfilling prophecy which proves what we already know, we continue to only see proof and disregard other information that disproves our conclusion. This makes us think that our Core Belief is a fact, or a truth, but it is no more of a truth than its opposite.