Belief Systems and How They Affect Us

" the dark emotions of grief, fear and despair are in-the body energies mediated by beliefs we have gathered from the culture of family and society around us. Their purpose is not to make us miserable, drive us crazy, or shame, weaken  or defeat us, but to teach us about ourselves, others and the world, open our hearts to compassion, and to help us heal and change our lives. They bring us information and supply us with energy-----the raw material of spiritual empowerment and transformation." Miriam Greenspan

A different way of looking at what we tend to call negative emotions.  Perhaps they do serve a purpose of helping us to learn about ourselves/others/the world, to open our hearts to compassion and help to heal us.  It is certainly a helpful way to look at these emotions. Something at least as important to look at is our belief systems.  We have incorporated belief systems from our family of origin and our culture -- of which we may be unaware.  It is a healing task to look for those belief systems and let go of the ones which do not serve us.  It is our belief systems which cause us to make the choices we make, and -- if we are unaware of what those belief systems are and we have subscribed to a belief that does not serve us, we will continually make choices which are not in our best interest.  A common belief might be:  "money is the root of all evil".  If you have this unconscious belief, it can prevent you from earning the money you might earn otherwise.  What is a belief system that you want to release --- one which does not serve your higher good?