This is a whiteboard animation for, what I call, the “Tree of Belief Theory”. The goal is to help you understand the “root cause” of your decisions, identify your “tree of belief”, then free yourself from the limiting belief system so that you can make better decisions.
If a person experiences a significant, traumatic event, they usually form a belief based on their experience. That belief is like a seed. That “seed of belief” is dropped in to the soil of the subconscious (unconscious) mind.
Neurologists and Neuro-scientists suspect that the subconscious mind controls 90% of all our behavior. Thus, the subconscious mind is in the driver’s seat, controlling your actions, while the conscious mind is in the passenger seat, assuming it’s position of control but have little effect on the steering or direction or speed of the vehicle.
Eventually, if left undisturbed (and unrecognized), that “seed of belief” that sits somewhere in “the soil of the subconscious” takes root, develops a root system that stretches through the soil of the subconscious, searching for nutrients, feeding itself in order to grow. Over time, that seed springs forth into a young tree that breaks the surface, rising from the “soil of the subconscious” in to the “conscious” realm of air and sunlight.
What started out as relatively small and seemingly insignificant has grown into something that can now be seen–a young plant, a young tree. This “tree of belief” has sprung forth from the “seeds of belief”.
The tree continues to grow, tall, strong, thick, with firm roots and a solid trunk, with twisting branches that house all sorts of creatures and thick bushy leaves that protect birds nest from predators.
The person who dropped or unintentionally planted those seeds of belief, years earlier, sees the tree of belief that’s sprung forth. It’s formidable. It’s deeply rooted in the soil of their subconscious. It’s housing a variety of creatures and insects. It’s generating oxygen. It’s good, right?
Well, of course, this tree is a metaphor.
The person who planted or dropped those seeds finds themselves continuing to make decisions that do not benefit him. In fact, their choices produce disastrous results and negative outcomes, but they “keep making those choices”. Why is that?
Here’s why:
That person is attached to that “tree of belief”. They are attached to that tree of belief by a “string of memory” or “branch of memory”. As they are attached to that tree, by that string of memory, they have limited movement. Unknowingly, they circle that tree. As they circle that tree, tethered by that “string of memory”, what happens next?
A narrative is formed.
What is a narrative? It is a story.
However, this narrative is their self-story. As they continue to circle that tree, their self-story (the story they tell themselves) forms an identity. As they circle the tree, the identify becomes a pattern that leads to decisions that lead to lifestyle to destiny.
Essentially, they circle that “tree of belief” as they are “tethered by a string of memory” and as they circle that tree of belief they look for evidence to confirm their beliefs–not necessarily what they want to believe but what they feel they “need to believe” in order to find evidence to justify the reasons for dropping those seeds or planting those seeds in the first place, years earlier.
Even if the belief provides them with an impoverished model (way of seeing) the world, at this point they are likely to be comfortable and familiar with it. Also, the pattern they continue to run provides them with a narrative, a self-story, an identity.
What is a story. A story is a promise of what’s to come next. That self-story becomes a promise of “what’s to come next”. And “what’s to come next” is something they are used to getting, so they continue in circles.
The need for consistency, if given the priority, may inhibit the ability to change, the ability for variety, for spontaneity, for introducing the opportunity to participate in new experiences.
One of the best ways to cut that “string of memory” that is connected to a limiting belief system is to introduce a pattern break.
Here’s a few ways to introduce a pattern break:
1. Prayer (petition to a higher power)
2. Meditation (looking inward for an insight, answer, discovery)
3. Introduce new habits – continue habits for 90 days
I highly recommend #1 and #3 in order to produce significant changes that yield beneficial results.
For more information about self-development, please visit: https://www.KrisKemp.com
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