I’m kind of new to the whole Seth thing, and sometimes it’s still a challenge.
Right now I’m coming up against some strong beliefs (some of them core beliefs), and I’m having issues changing them.
Which techniques have people found most effective for changing strong/core beliefs? What personal insights do you have?
Some particular beliefs I’m having trouble with are in the areas of sleep, self worth/self image, and judgments about other people.
I will definitely be launching a Seth/polyphasic sleep topic at some point in the near future here. 
Hello Lena
Work on identifying your beliefs.
The realization will automatically change your beliefs to some extent.
You will notice the different feel to your life 
I have identified a lot of my beliefs, and that has helped some, but it only goes so far. I’m kind of in an in-between place where I’m pretty aware of my beliefs and what beliefs cause what result, but I’m having trouble changing the stronger ones (even using Seth techniques).
The beliefs that you want to change, are you secretly still using them? You may find that you may say you want to change them but they are still serving a purpose in your life. What could also be happening is that by changing them you may also have to change another belief that you like and so the whole thing cancels itself out. There may be a hidden belief somewhere.
Try (before you go to sleep) asking your entity for help and then expect to receive.
What techniques have you used to change the beliefs you want to change?
It is the forward motion that is important here, how much how far, are only indicators of that motion
Oh, I’m definitely still using the beliefs I want to change. I’m aware of myself doing it and I try not to, and I’m not using them as strongly as I was before, but they still influence my life. I suppose they are still serving a purpose.
I’m bad at describing things so hopefully you know what techniques I’m talking about. I’ve mostly used the one where you try to supplant a new belief by repeating it to yourself for five minutes or so, and the one where you talk to yourself about your beliefs so they hopefully fall apart.
I will try to remember that, because you’re right. And I am making progress, moving forward. It’s just difficult sometimes.
When pushing a heavy object
We build up our weight against it and push
Then we build up our weight against it and push again
Enjoy the forward motion
And build up your weight against those pesky beliefs
What I would do?–
Reread “The Nature of Personal Reality”. The theme of the book is exactly the area of problem-solving re: beliefs and core beliefs.
Do predream suggestion nightly. Seth’s all-purpose one is “I want healing dreams” repeated over and over in the last few minutes while falling asleep.
If you are uncovering core beliefs and, using that exercise you mention and the conscious work you are doing, they do not change after a month, Seth says, then there are conflicts or, simply, the need to go deeper–more roots to pull.
How so? As Seth said, few beliefs are intellectual, alone. This means we best attend to the emotional reality connected to such–our feelings and our feeling history–these problem core beliefs typically come from childhood with its various and sundry emotional hurts and wounds–that remain unprocessed, unassimilated, with no closure yet attained. A limiting, fear-based belief is taken in, based on and connected to an experience. The child does not have the ability to figure out complex psychological realities and makes wrong deductions based on its limited ability; or it is unsafe for the child to express how s/he feels. Seth says in NPR that we must do an inventory as adults and purge ourselves of beliefs acquired in childhood.
Not to get lost in the self, but I have found what has actually worked to truly change a core belief is to let come up material around it–feelings, images, memories, etc. I claim feelings I could not before, I speak to me, then, as the child (Seth said we can actually communicate with such), I speak to the parents at the time, say, also, I have dreams (quite a number over time) that move the process forward.
I basically take my own sethian approach to psychotherapy–it deals well with emotional reality and, when done in a sethian way, is the best way, by far, I have found of shifting beliefs at the core level–which is most challenging of all, I have found.
Here in physical reality, things take time. I find that core belief work requires that time to unfold in the least distressing way although usually intense feelings are involved and it can get dramatic, lol.
Sustained desire will get you where you want to go. Patience, my friend, and do make effort to love yourself well and appreciate all the hard work you are doing…for yourself.
Thanks, that helps a lot. I am re-reading NoPR, but it’s slow going, and I’m not really in the thick of it. When I originally read it I bookmarked a ton of pages that I found relevant, so I’ve considered going in and just reading those, but I’m afraid I would miss something.
Giving myself suggestions for dreams is a great idea, I’ll definitely start doing that.
anon38262219’s advice is good. Also try writing down beliefs you have. Dont judge them good or bad, negative or positive. Just write them down either about yourself, or life, or whatever area you are having trouble in. I did that once and when i looked at the list, in a couple of areas, I was able to get to a belief that I didnt know I had. I also saw a pattern that indicated I believed something that I didn’t even realize I believed.
I’ll try that, too. I did some brainstorming like that when I first started the Seth stuff, but it would be good to revisit it.
Do reread all of NPR. You will find that what resonates, now, is different to some degree than what did when you read it before which is a testament to how you’ve changed in the interim. Likely, you will find yourself reading something that resonates which you did not highlight and think “I don’t remember reading this before!” Different aspects in the same book will resonate with you when you are ready to expand in those areas.
Otherwise, when I have a problem/challenge/opportunity (as Seth calls it), I think “What kinds of beliefs must I have to generate this kind of event?” I feel which beliefs I try on for size resonate and pursue those.
Basically, problem beliefs all have a fear component so I use that to hone in, also.
Think about each belief and acknowledge that it is a belief, a mental pattern that can be changed by you. Identify another belief to change it to, usually an opposite belief. As you repeat the new belief to yourself, use imaging to see yourself living your life with that new belief, experiencing the changes. Feel what you’ll be like with that belief predominant. Do it for five to ten minutes a day for as long as it takes and then some. Eventually changing beliefs will be almost like changing clothes.
@Lena Here is something Phil posted in fans and I think its perfect.
He [Ruburt] was frightened at the amount of negative thought that he encountered in himself, and recognized. Now you are not actively to seek out negative thoughts, but to find positive ones. Otherwise you concentrate upon the feared results rather than the desired one.
The negative thoughts can and should be recognized and plucked up as they are encountered, but you do not need a shovel to pluck up one weed at a time, nor hit yourself over the head with a sledgehammer for finding a weed in your garden. This does little to help the gardener but put him out of commission for a while, and it does not pluck any more weeds.
In other words negative thoughts can be recognized and plucked out with no more rancor than you would pluck out weeds in a garden. There is no need blaming yourself that in the past you allowed the weeds to grow, sometimes in your ignorance imagining them to be flowers. Your job now is simply to remove them, and as you remove each one, EASILY, to drop in a seed of positive thought to replace it.
A few fond prayers, such as you have been doing, are fine. But a watched kettle, if you will forgive the mixed metaphors, does not boil. Let the subconscious bring the seed to fruition. It does not need to be watered with tears, with pledges, or told ten times a minute to grow. These things put a shadow over the seed.
Fear of any kind, including fear of fear is destructive. A NEGATIVE THOUGHT GAINS IN POWER TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU FEAR IT, and you had better underline that whole sentence. A better attitude is “Well, there is a negative thought, let’s get rid of it.” Now, mentally, have Ruburt pretend it is simply a weed, and mentally throw it over his shoulder after he has plucked it from the seed of his consciousness.
Session 478 (Deleted), Personal Sessions, Book 1
Thanks, that does help a good deal. Blame and guilt are something I have the tendency to struggle with, so it’s hard for me to just let negative beliefs that I’ve identified go.
As for judging, don’t work on specific judgments. Change the belief that you judge.
I have changed many beliefs, but do they really change, we substitute new for old, in a way we switch allegiance. The difficulty often lies in that there are parts of ourselves that can still identify with and feel justified in holding on to these interpretations, a resistance.
Challenge them, disprove them, undermine them, replace them, but most of all it takes a focus and awareness not to slip back into identification with the old voice of opinion that will regurgitate and so reinforce these old views and gradually the balance shifts… we change…
Getting fluent with dealing with emotional reality is the key.
As Seth remarked, few beliefs are intellectual, alone.
Collect a series of suggestions and make it a habit to use them when navigating emotional reality:
When I am probing feelings, I start with “I will progress safely” and “I am innocent” (if I am feeling not so, lol).
Good if you remember Seth’s points on natural guilt and artificial guilt. If guilt hurts a lot, it is the latter.
You can’t let negative beliefs go until you deal with emotional content. Seth advocated a “natural therapy” to Jane where you probe and follow and let feelings and memories come up. Usually some hurt comes up where we are conflicted–we wish to claim the rightness of our feeling, say, of being hurt in a specific way but believe we are betraying the loved one involved. Achieve emotional closure on old stuff is what has allowed me to move forward in areas where I was stuck and finally get rid of old, painful beliefs.
When you read the later volumes of the Personal Sessions, you see Seth giving a lot of advice to Jane about dealing with emotional reality. For those stubborn beliefs that have resisted change, I think there is strong emotional content underneath it.
I’ve evolved a bunch of suggestions that I use on the fly when I am probing. Dealing with emotional reality is so challenging–intense, at times, to say the least. It’s not surprising so many folks stay away from this territory. Seth’s suggestions make it navigable, though.
“I will react only to constructive suggestions.”
“My future is a bright and fulfilling one.”
Other paraphrased Seth ideas: ‘These are my feelings about reality not the greater reality that exists’,
‘My life has a plan, my life knows what it is doing’, etc.
Probing into feelings that still exist within the self–of anger, fear, shame, guilt–is important. Seth advises us to remember we are not our feelings, they pass through us. We simply have feelings.
These feelings exist and rankle the self to remind us there are matters within the self that need attending to. It is not accidental that we have these feelings. They, if followed, lead us to where we wanted to go all along.
“Expectations are formed by the emotions then, it is obviously the basic emotions
themselves that must be manipulated, since the expectations are the
frameworks formed by the emotions. This is the starting point” The Early Sessions, Book 2,
Session 76, Page 277.
Seth describes the connection between beliefs and emotions. He uses the
words “belief” and “expectation” a lot. Within the reality-creation
view, they are synonymous–what we believe will happen is what we expect
will happen; what we expect will happen is what we believe will happen.
Seth says few beliefs are intellectual, alone. I think the above passage
underlines the imperative to deal with belief work at, usually, the
emotional level, as well.