Conventional Beliefs

 

First let us understand what a conventional belief is. It is a belief which people generally stick to on the basis of general opinion or based on what generally is done without questioning them. For example, we would be following a certain diet conventionally without knowing how drastically it could affect us. We just believe whatever we follow generally on daily basis as good or even if we know some belief as bad we do not want to change it because we do not usually ask the question “Am I doing the right thing or not?”

 

Let us understand now why to change the conventional beliefs. Usually it is said that thoughts lead to actions. But it is not just the thoughts as we get many thoughts randomly all the day not every thought is ending up in action. Only the thoughts which we believe! which we accept! are ending up into actions. Hence the beliefs should be worked upon to make our actions better which in turn affects everything else like our health, financial status, achieving our dreams, relationships and so on. Hence changing conventional beliefs is very essential to lead a better life.

 

How to find what conventional beliefs we have? Like Vadivelu tells in a comedy “Ne pudungura aani ellaame theva illaadha aani than!” (whatever nails you are plucking all are unnecessary only!) We have to change the entire thought process and beliefs as the one which is believed today might not be applicable tomorrow and so forth. We have to give close attention to each and every action whatever we do on daily basis and analyze whether we do correctly or conventionally. We can start from the actions of high priority first. For example, when we do exercise we have to ask whether I am doing it correctly or not, when we take food we have to ask whether I am taking the right food or just tasty food, I am taking the right quantity or not, when we talk (especially to spouse) whether we use correct words and grammar or not and so on.

 

What to do when we know we have conventional beliefs? Usually people are comfortable with the known even if it is not giving great results. The mindset is like “Known devil is better than unknown God”. So, there is always a strong hesitation to change a conventional belief. Observe a child when you get a chance to do. She/he accepts new ideas, learns to do new actions in a such a smooth manner because it is open-minded. Anyways we have to train in a certain way to make a child to do new actions but it is still easier compared to adults who have closed mindset. The adults usually strongly believe whatever they do as correct although it could be completely opposite. The first step is to be open-minded. Keep your beliefs aside and listen to the experts. Read good books written by experts.

 

How to implement? What do we do if we want to reach out to the kitchen from hall? We take the first step then the next step and so on. (Not everyone jumps to the kitchen I hope except when you hear whistling cooker when your kid is sleeping) Take the first step today. Change a small conventional belief, change a small habit like start brushing your teeth with the other hand. (Let the other hand get the equal chance as well) Include a better food component in your routine diet. See your working table and remove the things which you do not use often. Use the staircases rather than using lifts.

 

When you start giving attention to each and every action you do, you will notice there is a belief behind that by which your action has become a habit. Just check whether the belief still holds true or not each and every day. Even a software application gets updated regularly. We being a sophisticated animal have to get updated regularly. Take a baby step today towards upgrading your beliefs. Wishing you all the best!