Jake Burhans explains how beliefs act as mental filters that shape reality. Someone who believes they have social anxiety notices rejection at parties, acts withdrawn, and gets cold responses from others, confirming the belief. The question isn't whether a belief is true, but whether it supports who you want to become.
beliefs aren't true? What if they're just filters that you see reality through? See, we believe that our beliefs are the truth of the world, but really they just are filters that distort our perception. For example, if you believe that you have social anxiety, as you're walking up to a party, your brain is already filtering for data and bits of information to support the dominant belief that you have social anxiety. So you walk into the party, there might be 3 people smiling at you, but your brain completely disregards that information as not important, and it's going to focus on the 2 people that are frowning at you. Once it notices those two people frowning, it's gonna respond with the preloaded emotion of dread, of being closed off, right? Physically, what are you gonna do? You might cross your arms. And then what are other people gonna do? They're gonna be more standoffish and your brain's gonna be like, "See, I told you, you have social anxiety." But why were other people closed off? They were closed off because you were crossing your arms. And it all started with your belief walking into the party that you had social anxiety, which set off this whole cascade of events that made people closed off to you. So it wasn't actually the truth of reality, it was your belief that distorted that perception. So with your beliefs, the question isn't, is this true? The question becomes, what filter am I running, and is that filter supporting who I want to be?
