What Louise Believed

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We are responsible for every experience in our lives: good or bad

“Each one of us creates our experiences by the thoughts we think and the words we speak and the beliefs we hold … What we think about ourselves and the world becomes true for us.”

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Our subconscious accepts whatever we choose to believe

“If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become the truth for you. If you believe that you're too short, too fat, too thin, too tall … then those beliefs will become true for you.

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Remember that we're dealing with thoughts, and thoughts can be changed. We have unlimited choices about what we can think, and the point of power is always in the present moment. What are you thinking in the present moment? Is it positive or negative? Do you want this thought to be creating your future?”

 

We formed most of our beliefs when we were children

Most of what we know about ourselves and the world we learned from the adults around us. And, if those adults were unhappy, frightened, guilty, or angry, then we learned a lot of negative things about ourselves and the world.

 

As adults we tend to recreate the emotional environment of our early home life. We also tend to recreate relationships similar to the ones we had with our mother and father. If we were highly criticized as children, we are likely to seek out people who will criticize us. If we were loved and praised as children, we will form loving relationships.

 

Louise stresses that it’s important not to blame your parents. If your mother or father didn't know how to love themselves, it would have been impossible for them to teach you how to love yourself. They were coping as best they could with the information they had. 

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Thoughts produce feelings, and thoughts can be changed

A negative thought such as my nose is too big produces a feeling, such as, “I hate myself.” Thoughts, however can be changed. Change the thought, and the feeling must go. The past has no power over you. It doesn't matter how long we've been in a negative pattern. We can be free in this moment.

 

We choose our thoughts

We may habitually think the same thought over and over so that it doesn't seem as if we're choosing the thought. But we did make the original choice. We can refuse to think certain thoughts. How often have you refused to think a positive thought about yourself? You can also refuse to think a negative thought about yourself.

 

Everyone believes "I'm not good enough!" 

Louise found that everyone she worked with suffered from self-hatred or guilt to one degree or another. So she asked, “For whom are you not good enough? And by whose standards?”

 

She found that resentment, criticism, guilt, and fear were the root cause of most people’s problems, and that by and large, these feelings came from blaming others for our problems. If we took responsibility for everything in our lives, then there would be no one to blame. 

 

“Whatever is happening "out there" is only a mirror of our own inner thinking.”

She stressed that you can’t condone other people's poor behavior, but it's our own belief system that attracts this behavior to us. There's some thought in you that attracts people who exhibit abusive behavior. If you find that people are constantly mistreating you, then this is your belief pattern. When you change the thought that attracts this behavior, it will stop.

 

We can change our attitudes toward the past

The past is over and done and can't be changed. We can however, change our thoughts about the past. It’s foolish for us to punish ourselves in the present moment because someone hurt us long ago.

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If we choose to believe that we're helpless victims and that it's all hopeless, then the Universe will support us in that belief. Our worst opinions of ourselves will be confirmed. If we choose to believe that we're responsible for our experiences, the good and the so-called bad, then we have the opportunity to outgrow the effects of the past. 

 

Freedom comes though forgiveness

We may not know how to forgive, and we may not want to forgive; but if we're willing to forgive, we may begin the healing process. It's imperative for our own healing that we release the past and forgive everyone.

I'm not saying that it's all right that someone behaved in a misguided way. However, we must be aware that the past is over. We only carry the hurt and the memory in our mind.

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This is what we want to let go of - the pain we're continuing to cause ourselves because we won't forgive. Forgiveness means giving up, letting go. We understand our own pain so well, yet it's hard for most of us to understand the pain of someone who treated us badly. That person we need to forgive was also in pain. And they're only mirroring what we believed about ourselves. They were doing the best they could, given the knowledge, understanding, and awareness they possessed at the time.