Just Because You Believe It Doesn't Make It True: How Beliefs Shape Our Reality

A week or two ago I watched The Theory of Everything for the first time.  This movie (which by the way is the saddest thing ever), documents the early life of famed physicist Stephen Hawking, but is more a heartbreaking love story about the relationship between him and his first wife, Jane Wilde.  It was heart wrenching to see Hawking's demise and to imagine what it would be like to be in Jane's shoes, watching the person you love suffer from a debilitating and degenerative disease. 

Something Hawking's character said about halfway through the film stuck with me, as it had been something I had been thinking about lately.  It was this:  "What one believes in irrelevant in physics".  (I have no idea if Hawking himself actually ever said this or if was just a line in the movie.)

I have been thinking a lot lately about what one believes and how much our beliefs shape our reality.  That is to say, what we believe creates our world and our reality, but may not actually be reality.  Am I talking in riddles or does this make sense to you!? 

As humans with incredibly evolved grey matter, we have the luxury of taking in information from external sources, and then choosing what pieces to retain, what pieces to reject and what pieces to shape to fit the unique network of ideas we have constructed inside those brains of ours.  Unlike lesser evolved animals who simply intake information and process it exactly as is, we color what comes in.  Which is why people hold such vastly varied and different beliefs on so many things.

source/via Pinterest

But, I think what we often forget to realize is that just because we believe something doesn't make it true.  Or untrue for that matter.  Some things simply exist whether we believe in them or not.  Heck for centuries people believed the Earth was flat, or that the Universe revolved around our little blue planet (Narcissistic much?!), but just because everyone on the planet held these beliefs at one point didn't make them so. 

It kind of makes you think, doesn't it? If the entirety of the human race has held false beliefs at one time or another, how many of yours may be faulty?

I know personally, many of my beliefs (about myself, the world, about others) have changed over time, and continue to change as I grow, read, learn, and explore things out of my comfort zone.  This is not to say I'm a weak willed person (quite the contrary, in fact I can be QUITE stubborn) and I do have strong opinions and values, but as I've gotten older I've come to see some beliefs I held as a younger person were simply all in my head. 

I'm not trying to break down any of your beliefs, but I think it's important to go through life with an open mind, and a knowing that the reality we create in our own minds is not always representative of the reality in the outside world.  I think its worthwhile to challenge our own beliefs and question why and how we came to the conclusions we did.  If a man like Stephen Hawking can continually push boundaries against all odds, surely each one of us can too!


Have you ever changed a belief over time?

What made you do so?

A New Perspective

Sometimes a change in scenery is all it takes to change your mind. 

Do you ever find that when you step out of your daily routine, out of your comfort zone, or when you are in new surroundings, your thinking also changes?  I think many times the comfort of our daily schedules and rituals can also keep our brains on an endless loop - like a record that plays the same song over and over.  You desperately need the needle to skip or jump a little to get to the next song and getting away from everything that is familiar is sometimes the only way to get that push.

There are certain things I think about more often than I'd like to admit (and def won't be admitting what they are here!), and I tend to come to the same conclusions about these matters of the heart time after time.  Sometimes it is so so hard to get outside your own head and realize that your thoughts are NOT reality.  You create 'reality' with your thinking, and if you can change your thinking, then you will change your reality!  Easier said than done though right?

For some reason, right before I left for vacation last week, I was hit with a killer wave of nostalgia.  I honestly don't know what brought it on, but there were certain little reminders here and there (down to the cookies they served us on the flight!) that kept bringing me back to a certain time in my life and it was making me really sad.  There were also other big life decisions I had been ruminating on for weeks that I just couldn't seem to make any headway with.

Now, I'm not going to say that everything changed in a week or that I now have the next 10 years of my life planned out, but I started to see that there are definitely other versions of 'reality' that are just as possible as the ones I play out in my head. 

One of the things that helped me gain some new perspective was being amongst so many different, new people, from across the country - from Las Vegas to NY and everywhere in between - from so many different walks of life.  They all had stories that were so different from mine.  This is one of the reasons I love travel - either locally or abroad.  I think meeting different people is key to my development as a human.  Time and again it shows me that my way isn't the only way, and opens me to different points of view.  There are a million different ways to live and its so interesting to see how each person chooses their path.

Another thing that really struck me happened as I was signing the reunion memory book.  Someone had started a page of quotes and one of the scribbled lines read "Just let it go".  Ahh!  Even though I'd been humming that song for months (thanks babysitting charges), I never actually followed the imperative.  But for some reason, while in Missouri, I decided to just let a few things go.  With so many memories tied up in Baltimore, it was like I physically could not let some things go here - they felt anchored to this place and could only be freed somewhere new.

I also believe spending time with my sister and her family helped.  My day-to-day life involves me, Party of One, and while this is ok (for now), it's nice to be surrounded by people I love and who love me and feel that connection.  Sure I have friends, but not having family or a significant other around to share in every day living can make me feel really alone at times, and keeps my brain on that single, endless track.

And lastly, I absolutely believe in the healing power of nature, and the importance of connecting with that source as much as possible. 

Anyway, I feel like some things have changed for me in those neurons firing inside my head and I know it had to do with a change in my environment.  I hadn't taken a single vacation day all year to this point and it was definitely something I needed.  I truly enjoy my job these days, but I just needed some time away from the familiar to rewire the ol brain, and it worked.  I even wrote out a physical 'To-Do' list, something I haven't done in months, and already started crossing things off.  Here's to new realities...

 

Source, via Pinterest

I realize this post probably meant nothing to anyone but me and I'm sorry for being so vague!  Thanks for letting me clear my head and reading anyway :)



Does travel ever change your perspective?

What else do you do to change your thinking when you are really stuck on something?