I didn't fly and change your core beliefs in this section, we are going to explore what drives those
negative thoughts.
Why do our minds produce those thinking patterns so quickly and effortlessly?
We will dive deeper into the nature of our thought processes and we will find there are deep seated
beliefs that underlie our everyday thoughts and that we can modify through CBT.
Why do we have core beliefs?
Our brains have to process an incredible amount of information.
Imagine you're walking in a big city looking for a restaurant where you are meeting a friend.
When you enter the restaurant, your senses will be bombarded with countless stimuli, people standing,
others setting various rooms and so forth.
If you had to consciously process each stimulus, it would take an enormous amount of time to figure
out the scenario.
Fortunately, our minds contain maps that help us quickly make sense of the situation.
Assuming it's not the first time we've been in a restaurant, we know the person who greets us is the
host.
So we explain that we are meeting a friend who will be joining us shortly.
We're not the least bit surprised when the host hands us a piece of paper after we sit down, which
we know this is a list of the food items and drinks and the prize for each.
Our entire meal will unfold in a predictable way through paying the check and saying goodbye to the
host on the way out.
This example shows that our brains develop shortcuts based on the prior learning.
Once we have knowledge about a certain experience, we can navigate it efficiently.
This ability shows that we bring organized knowledge to the experience, relying on internal model that
guides our behavior.
Cognitive psychologists call these internal models schema or scripts.
If you pay attention throughout your day, you will notice many such scripts you follow getting ready
for work, making food, driving a car and checking out at the grocery store to name a few.
These scripts give rise to the automatic responses that often don't even require conscious thought in
just the same way our minds developmental structures that help us deal with potentially emotional situations
like rejection, success, failure and so forth.
For example, if we experience a small failure like missing our gene and being late to a meeting, we
might think we irresponsible and respond with feelings of guilt and regret.
We might enter the meeting and with words and a behavior that suggests not just I'm sorry, but also
I've done something wrong or about these thoughts, feelings and behaviours result from the core belief
I'm inadequate.
Maintaining a different core belief would give rise to a very different cluster of responses.
If I believe on a fundamental level that I'm a person of worth, I may see my tardiness as regrettable
but not indicative of my overall value.
I would certainly experience less stress on my commute to work, since my worth as a human being does
not relate to whether I'm on time.
Even if my boss pointed out that I'm late, it wouldn't have a major impact on how I felt about myself.
Sometimes our core beliefs then reveal themselves through our assumptions about how others of us.
This process is a type of projection because we project our beliefs about ourselves and to others.
For example, if I make a mistake and assume people think I'm a terrible disappointment, it may be
the case that I see myself as a terrible disappointment, big attention to what you assume others believe
to be true about.
You can help reveal your core beliefs.