Beliefs Beneath The Surface. Help Your Clients Change Their Beliefs, and Clear Their Path, Forward. Part 4 of 4
In this Expert Series, we’re examining BELIEFS – what they are, how they function, and how they impact your client’s behavior (… and your own).
Depending on whether they are negative or positive, beliefs create our limitations, or they create possibilities. The belief, “I can’t play the piano,” creates a barrier against learning, practicing, and getting better. The belief, “I can learn to play the piano” creates the possibility of becoming an accomplished pianist.
The most important thing to know about beliefs is that they can be changed.
It is often said, “Your beliefs create your reality.” Said more accurately, beliefs act like colored lenses in front of our eyes. They filter out everything but a limited range of possibilities. If you change your belief filter, you suddenly can see different options. When you help your clients clear their beliefs, their possibilities become unlimited (or more accurately, limited only by their other remaining beliefs).
We have already discussed where beliefs come from, how they function, and how they impact our lives. Beliefs are not just a mental phenomenon. They are multidimensional, multi-sensory experiences that affect all aspects of our psyche. They can appear as thoughts, physical sensations, emotional feelings, urges, drives, or invisible barriers. To clear them completely, you need a process that similarly touches all aspects of the psyche.
As a professional coach and a teacher of coaches, it is my belief that every coach should have a tool for transforming beliefs available, for all those moments when beliefs pop up during a session with a client.
There are many traditional techniques for belief-change. Some are based on conscious, mental processing or inquiry. Byron Katie’s “The Work,” for example, helps you recognize that a belief is not true – but it doesn’t appear to delete the belief in the subconscious mind, nor does it touch the higher self, or super-conscious mind. These conscious recognition techniques produce results that are partially effective, or temporary because it is our subconscious mind that drives most of our behavior, regardless of our conscious realizations.
Some belief-change methods employ muscle testing, which is a highly subjective art. It consequently has the potential of facilitator-caused bias or error. Practitioners of these methods claim that this is not so, but I am not aware of any scientific studies that validate their claims. Some people do report permanent relief from these methods, however.
Many belief-change methods employ tapping on acupuncture points while saying “clearing phrases” out loud. Although tapping is much too “woo-woo” for some people, some techniques, such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) have been scientifically validated in long-term studies, so it is clear that they are impacting the subconscious mind. One advantage of these tapping techniques is that they are easy to learn and apply.
One of the best-known techniques for belief-change is NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Originally designed to model and change patterns of mental and emotional behavior, it has been widely used and promoted since the 1970s. Learning the processes can take many years, however, and its effectiveness seems to be based entirely on the facilitator’s skill level – so results seem inconsistent.
The methodology I prefer and recommend is the Clear Beliefs Process. I am its creator, so take my prejudice into consideration when exploring this method. It is designed to work with all three levels of the mind – the subconscious, conscious, and super-conscious. It uses guided visualization, which is inherently multidimensional and multisensory. It taps into all parts of the psyche, so it is rapid, effective, and permanent. The method can be learned in ten weeks of study and practice. One great advantage for the coach is that it can be used either in person or over the phone.
Your clients will present you with the challenges they face every day in their lives, and they are looking to you for your help and guidance. When you can help them clear their limiting and negative beliefs, you can sweep away the obstacles, resistance, and blocks that have prevented them from moving forward. In my experience as a coach, there is no greater gift.
To learn more about beliefs and the Clear Beliefs Process, download the free 20-page eBook
>>> “Clear Your Beliefs” <<<
About the Author:
Lion Goodman is the creator of the Clear Beliefs Process, and the instructor for Impact Coaching Academy’s “Clear Beliefs Coach Training (37.5 ICF CCEs).” The training includes methodologies for clearing limiting and negative beliefs from the core of the psyche, clearing resistance and blocks to forward progress, and techniques for communicating directly with the subconscious mind. For more information visit >>> Impact’s Coaching Academy <<<
The Expert Series is brought to you by choice Magazine as part of our ongoing efforts to bring opportunities for learning and growth to the coaching community. Delivered in four parts every two weeks, each series covers useful topics for business development and coaching insights, serving the needs of leaders in all areas and walks of life. Archived copies of previous series can be found here.
