Dr. Mort Orman here and this week, I’m explaining how it can be very helpful, in terms of challenging your beliefs and reducing your stress, to think of your mind as an elevator. In my first article in this three-part series, I talked about the “elevator” being located on the Main Floor and how most of our conscious opinions and beliefs reside on this floor. Today, in this second article (Mind As An Elevator Part 2) I’m going to talk about taking the elevator to the first level down (Lower Level 1).
Your Mind As An Elevator Part 2: What’s On Lower Level 1?
Isn’t it fun to go into a large, multi-level department store and look at the list of items that are featured on each of the various floors?
There may be clothing items, gifts and housewares located on the Main Floor, kitchen appliances and electronics on Lower Level 1, and furniture, bedding and auto supplies on the Ground Floor.
Well, our minds are like a giant, multi-level department store as well.
We’ve already mentioned that the Main Floor contains most of our conscious beliefs, opinions, attitudes and other things we are aware we believe.
The Main Floor also contains a wide array of other opinions and beliefs that have been put forth by other people. Some of these we may agree with, while others we might reject or even find offensive.
But what if we hop into our trusty mental elevator and go down one floor to Lower Level 1? What do you suppose we would find being offered there?
Deeper Core Philosophies
What we have on the next floor down in our minds, below our conscious beliefs, is a level of much deeper and broader core philosophies.
While the Main Floor of our minds might contain thousands and thousands of specific opinions and beliefs, the first level down contains a much smaller number of deep core philosophies.
Some of these we may be consciously aware of, while other we may not.
For example, if you were born and raised in America, you most likely have several core philosophies on this level that were passed on to you from our Founding Fathers.
To be an American means that you share certain core philosophies like:
- Innocent until proven guilty
- Basic freedoms should not be restricted
- Equality under the law
- Every adult should have the right to vote
- Every citizen should have the right to a fair trial
- Honesty and integrity are important
On the other hand, if you were born and raised in other countries or societies around the world, you may share some of these core philosophies and not others.
Our Beliefs Will Always Be Consistent With Our Core Philosophies
The importance of this lower level of core philosophies is that they give rise to our higher level (Main Floor) specific opinions and beliefs, because it is very unlikely that any of us will embrace a new belief that is completely inconsistent with one of our deeper core philosophies.
So while you might argue and debate what “equality under the law” should look like or how it should be implemented in various situations, it’s unlikely you will accept any idea that goes directly against your basic equality philosophy.
Similarly, if one of your core philosophies is that alternative healthcare is superior to traditional medical treatments, there may be hundreds of different alternative modalities you might be attracted to, but very few if any traditional medical approaches.
In much the same way, our minds sort and filter what beliefs we adopt based on how consistent or inconsistent they are with our deeper core philosophies.
And when it comes to challenging and letting go of a faulty or incorrect belief, it is very difficult to do this is the underlying core philosophy is not recognized, challenged and updated as well.
This is one reason why it is very hard for us to change or replace our existing conscious beliefs.
It’s because we don’t go one floor down (on our mental elevator) and examine the deeper core philosophies that might be keeping it in place.
That’s Not The Whole Story
But it gets even worse.
There’s another big reason why we find it difficult to challenge and change our strongly held surface-level beliefs.
This is because there is one more floor down (in our minds) which we rarely if ever visit.
What do you suppose might be lurking there?
Tune in to my third and final part of this series to find out.
To your health, happiness and success,
Dr. Mort Orman, M.D.. International Speaker, Author And Founder Of The Stress Mastery Academy | http://DocOrman.com
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