Beliefs are much more than intellectual, philosophical or theological concepts that one learns and doesn't disagree with.

Whether secular or religious, your beliefs are the main ingredient of your identity; they are your deep-rooted emotions that you resonate with, trust and cherish the most. Your beliefs  always have a non-cognitive sensory component (which you resonate with) that determines how you perceive life and the world, and a cognitive component that defines who you are.

The cognitive component of your beliefs are the assumptions you make about the world, about yourself, about the meaning and purpose of life. What you believe in from the bottom of your heart defines your identity and gives your actions their moral force and predictability. Your beliefs distort your worldview and cause you to see things not the way they are, but the way you are. You do not believe what you see, but rather, you see what you already believe. Thus, your belief system becomes your personal existential reference that you are not ready to negotiate.

Your belief system is a set of precepts that guide your daily life, modulate and condition your perceptions, your emotions, your thoughts, your words and your actions. Your belief system is the foundation of your pattern of behavior and your identity; it is your view of yourself, others and the world. This vision will not directly impact your career, achievements, wealth or social status, but it will impact the core meaning of all of the above and mainly the sense and purpose of life. It will have a significant impact on your health and the quality of your life.

Even though you inherit the rudiments of the emotional patterns of your primary beliefs which, in turn, will determine the patterns of your deeply rooted attitudes and behaviors, your own belief system results as an interplay of your inherited epigenetic factors and the environmental and cultural conditioning factors. By the time you reach the age of critical questioning, your beliefs are already so ingrained that you no longer recognize them as beliefs. They have become your fundamental truths, your non-negotiable existential landmarks.

The models regarding "how" and mostly "why," the world exists are diverse and very controversial. Also controversial are the few different available models of who you are. Most likely, in the beginning you will intuitively "adopt" rather than really "understand" the most important assumptions about the world and about yourself. Then, everything else is built on top of these fundamental assumptions as a cognitive and logical process of "understanding"

In fact, understanding an intellectual reasoning or argument means that it "makes sense" to you - not necessarily that it "is true". The process of understanding is nothing but the intellectual process of fitting and integrating newly-acquired information or knowledge into an already pre-existing and validated model. By "understanding" you validate the logic and the consistency rather than the truthfulness of a given model.

This is why one is often baffled by such a wide variety of contradictory laic (secular) beliefs. For example, if you have a painful and debilitating condition, such as osteoarthritis of the knee, then according to your beliefs, you have several options to heal your pain:

• If you believe your pain is the result of your cells malfunctioning, you can try to address your pain with an allopathic approach by taking some pills or undergoing a standard surgery.

• If you sincerely believe that your pain has nothing to do with physiology or cellular wear and tear and is rather an overreaction that you should be able to understand and control rationally, you can try a psychotherapy approach. Hopefully, you will eventually learn how to rationally manage your pain.

• If you are a rather open-minded individual, and you have absolutely no preconceived ideas about your pain, or if you believe that your knee pain is an unpleasant sensation with a significant emotional component conditioned by your subconscious mind, then a “sham surgery” or the Somatic Hypnotherapy are your best choices.

Surprisingly, whatever your perception about pain, and whatever your therapy option might be, you’ll probably always notice an improvement in your pain. “The patient gets better because, on some level, he expects to.”  "Our shamans wear white coats instead of feathers. You might have to wait three months for an appointment to see them and they might charge you a lot of money - all of that creates a lot of expectation," said Dr. Amir Raz, professor of psychiatry at McGill University.

Somehow, the force that is empowering your chosen therapy and that stands behind your improvement is nothing but your mind. Since you always draw your power from the deepest reality you are aware of, the best results always comes from the therapeutic approach that you trust the most. This is why no therapy can push you beyond the limits of your beliefs! So, what if your healing path that your beliefs have led you to is far from producing the healing you need?

Could you just pretend to have changed your beliefs and try another approach? Most likely, you have already done this. Disappointed with your first therapeutic choice, you have tried many other approaches, ordered by your level of confidence in each of them. Unfortunately, after each failure, your initial problems seem to have gotten worse. Which was to be expected, because each failure will confirm your suspicion that there's nothing you can do to fix the problem, while adding a new layer of resistance to change.

It's time to understand that nothing will change in your life unless you will change. Even if you have already understood this, how can you change your beliefs, since they are the main ingredient of your identity which you have forged over time by adding rituals, education, propaganda and learnings to your epigenetically inherited luggage? At this point, reading or studying is not a reliable approach because whatever you read or study, you will continue to see, hear and understand only what you already believe.

Of course, you can actively control and remodel the perception of your reality. Watch out! This gift comes with a catch! The “catch” is that you'll have no choice but to inhabit your self-designed world and to live inside your self-elaborated limiting beliefs. Although you are the creator of your reality, your life reality does not necessarily emerge from your desires. For, even though no one wants to be unhappy or sick, there are unhappy and sick people everywhere. Your reality springs from the behavioral programs deeply rooted in your subconscious mind and governed by your beliefs. Your mind tends to create coherence between what you really believe and the life reality you experience.

To keep it simple, it's time to understand that you can think whatever you want! Your life reality always springs from within you. It is true that, as long as you do not experience any feelings, your life is governed by your intentional, rational thoughts. Yet, as soon as strong feelings arise, most likely your feelings will take over your thoughts, your decisions, and ultimately your life. Because, whether you like it or not, your life is guided by your emotional reflexes and your behavior patterns anchored in your subconscious, and governed by your beliefs.

What has the potential to fulfill or haunt your life is the emotional reading of your memories - not the factual memories per se. Therefore, Somatic Hypnotherapy is not intended to overwrite your factual memories, but will permit you to regain your most natural blueprint of your personality, cleansed of pains or unpleasant feelings, freed of fears or performance limitations you have developed over time. This process is possible by changing the emotional reading your subconscious currently has about your past traumatic experiences, and not by changing your memories.

Since your beliefs create your reality, most of the limitations you face in life are self-imposed. What you believe about yourself can keep you locked behind your fears, or open you to love, leading you forward into living your dreams. Your beliefs will always have a huge impact on your life. That is why, whether you believe that Somatic Hypnotherapy can or cannot help you, you are certainly right.

Fighting someone’s beliefs is useless. When talking against someone’s beliefs, you are not perceived as a dialogue partner; you are perceived as a threat. This will foster even more threat in response and will forge stagnation in your life.

Yet you can completely shift your belief system in the blink of an eye! Ask me how and I will be happy to explain to you face to face the shortest way to get there.

The "No Results - No Pay" principle applies to all my therapies.

Contact me and book your appointment today! Let this be the most exciting experience of your life, and I will be happy to help you on your journey.

Disclaimer: The above article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author. It is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute psychological or medical professional advice. I don't diagnose conditions, nor do I interfere with any treatments given by your medical professional.

If you already are under the care of a doctor or under medical treatment, follow the advice and treatment recommended by your doctor. For any medical emergency, call the Info-Santé service by dialing 8-1-1

*The results may vary from person to person.

Somatic Hypnotherapy - 186 Sutton Pl, suite 104, Beaconsfield, Montréal, Qc, H9W5S3