{"id":54991,"date":"2021-12-01T21:36:35","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T01:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=54991"},"modified":"2021-12-04T22:04:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T02:04:16","slug":"importance-of-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Beliefs: Your Key to Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What do you believe to be true about the world and yourself? How well do you realize the importance of beliefs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Fifth Agreement<\/a><\/em>, Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz discuss the importance of beliefs. They also explain that beliefs determine happiness\u2014and how wrong beliefs cause damage to ourselves and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about the importance of beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Beliefs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the authors, even if words aren\u2019t universal and their meanings are variable, they do have a powerful effect on us. The words we use to describe ourselves, our environment, and the people around us set the tone of our perceived world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The segment of our personal language we use to describe ourselves or our world\u2014both vocally and internally\u2014is called \u201cself-talk,\u201d and it heavily <\/em>affects our mood<\/a>. This speaks to the importance of beliefs. People who use their internal voice to attack themselves are more likely to be depressed or anxious. When your internal voice keeps telling you, \u201cI\u2019m too stupid to do this,\u201d or, \u201cI\u2019m too ugly to be loved,\u201d you stop feeling hopeful about your future. As a result, you\u2019re less likely to invest in that future by taking care of yourself or focusing on long-term goals\u2014which, like the authors say, can profoundly impact your life.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Believe What We \u201cKnow\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The authors believe that if our personal language is full of criticism and judgment, we live in a world where acceptance must be earned and everyone\u2019s pressured to live up to a standard. On the other hand, if the words we use to describe our reality are warm, loving, and cheerful, we feel more hopeful, loved, and worthy. And if we take the underlying cultural implications of the words we use as gospel, accepting them as concrete knowledge rather than subjective interpretations of reality, our perspective is aligned with the beliefs of our culture, and deviation from those beliefs will trouble us. This understanding helps us grasp the importance of beliefs in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Why are we so quick to accept cultural beliefs (which very well might be wrong beliefs) as objective truth rather than subjective interpretations? It may be because we feel the need to conform to a group standard in order to fit in and find acceptance<\/a>. Research shows that this compulsion to conform to the beliefs and norms of the group is so powerful that it can cause us to develop prejudice against others\u2014and that outside of an environment in which we think we\u2019re supposed<\/em> to be prejudiced, we often behave very differently<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the curse of knowledge<\/a>, as the Toltec explain it. The more we know\u2014the more we agree to believe and accept as fact\u2014the less free will we have, because the more our view of the world is restricted<\/strong>. For instance, if our culture teaches us, through language, that it\u2019s bad to be fat, and we believe that<\/em>, we\u2019re no longer free to be both fat and content. When we\u2019re fat, we believe we must be ashamed of it, and that we can\u2019t be happy with ourselves as we are. Our knowledge becomes a judge that lives in our head, pointing out every way in which we fail to live up to what we\u2019ve learned to believe we should be.<\/strong> This illustrates the importance of beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: In the early 2000s, the link between belief and perception or behavior was clarified by several studies centering around the then-popular debate regarding the existence of free will. The results of this research can arguably be extrapolated to show that other<\/em> beliefs or \u201cknowledge\u201d can change the way we approach our lives and relationships: Researchers found that people who believed there was no such thing as \u201cfree will\u201d were more likely to cheat, steal, and make excuses to avoid helping others<\/a>. In contrast, those who did<\/em> believe in free will were more generous, worked harder, and felt life was more meaningful.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belief Determines Happiness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What is the importance of beliefs in our lives? The naguals\u2019 point is largely that it\u2019s our belief<\/em> that matters most<\/strong>\u2014how deeply we believe the things we \u201cknow\u201d informs how much power those beliefs have over us. This is particularly important given most of our beliefs come from our society; we don\u2019t choose<\/em> those, so much of our perception of reality<\/a> is out of our control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, a core point the authors make is that in most cases, societal standards, norms, and beliefs are both deeply unhealthy and totally fabricated.<\/strong> The benchmarks we use to determine who\u2019s good, bad, successful, unsuccessful are social constructs. In most cases, they\u2019re nonsense, and they matter only because we\u2019ve agreed they do. In short, the naguals suggest, we wouldn\u2019t feel<\/em> deficient if we weren\u2019t taught to believe<\/em> we\u2019re deficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\u2014the naguals say\u2014just because we believed everything our culture taught us as we grew up, when we didn\u2019t have the capacity to doubt, doesn\u2019t mean we have to keep believing it now. If each of us lives in our own subjective reality, why not interpret that reality in a way that encourages us to be happy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive Psychology<\/a>: Four Happiness-Killing Mindsets<\/strong>

The naguals don\u2019t explicitly state which<\/em> societally-advocated beliefs get in the way of our happiness, but positive psychologists (those who study happiness) weigh in on the importance of beliefs and identify four particularly damaging beliefs<\/a> that prevent us from being happy. Each one identifies a success condition that\u2019s impossible to achieve, and ties our value or satisfaction to our ability to achieve it.

To be sustainably happy, positive psychologists say, we must discard the following wrong beliefs:

Perfectionism: \u201cI can and should attain perfection.\u201d<\/strong> When you hold this belief, you attempt to meet unrealistic expectations<\/a> and intangible goals. You can\u2019t be happy unless you\u2019re perfect and consistently generate perfect results.

Social Comparison<\/a>: \u201cI must compare favorably to others.\u201d<\/strong> When you hold this belief, you compare your attributes to those of others and focus on the ways in which you fall short. You can\u2019t be happy when you\u2019re not the best.

Materialism: \u201cI\u2019m only worth as much as I have.\u201d<\/strong> When you hold this belief, you can\u2019t be happy because there\u2019s always more to accumulate. Worse, if you lose your possessions, you lose what makes you feel valuable, so you\u2019re always at risk.

Maximizing<\/a>: \u201cI can always do better.\u201d<\/strong> When you hold this belief, you can\u2019t enjoy what you have because it\u2019s inferior to what you could<\/em> have. There\u2019s always a better job, a more attractive partner, or a faster car.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once we grasp the importance of beliefs, we can more easily identify wrong beliefs and work to set them straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you believe to be true about the world and yourself? How well do you realize the importance of beliefs? In The Fifth Agreement, Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz discuss the importance of beliefs. They also explain that beliefs determine happiness\u2014and how wrong beliefs cause damage to ourselves and others. 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