Believing Patterns
Your Core Beliefs about Self, Others, and the World

Adler said each person has "Life Tasks" to accomplish. Not to do so successfully results in incomplete, socially-useless living. They are Marriage Community, and Work. In LEAP we expand and rearrange them, and call them the six "core beliefs" which are the foundation of your existence. So when life causes you to doubt, fear, or question, it is to these fundamental Beliefs that you turn for certainty and reassurance, and to maintain continuity throughout your life.

What you believe specifically in these six areas often result from specific events in childhood. Adlerians call them "Early Recollections." they serve as memorable "turning points" or "Ah hah!" experiences in which you said to yourself, in effect, "So THIS is the way the world is!" At our deepest Self, we maintain our core beliefs as they were when we developed them as children. We are reluctant to change them based on new experience or information, because we fear that, if we did, we might become someone entirely different!

Self — Early in life we decided certain things about ourselves and how to see ourselves in terms of power, competency, "self image," how far we would go, how successful we would be, and much more.

Love — From early experiences with others we decided what They are like, how much to trust them, who to love and how much, the quality of our love (selfish, self-giving, etc.) This special bond would apply only to a few: partner, parents, children, our closest friends.

Others/Community — From relationships with siblings and playmates, we created beliefs about what Others are like, how much to trust them, whether to be a leader or a follower, to compete or cooperate, etc. Such Others include extended family, neighbors, acquaintances, coworkers, community/nation, and "humanity."

Work — Here, Work is seen as our way to contribute to, improve, and give back to the human community which accepted us at birth, nurtured us, and of which we are a part. This includes what Adler called "Social Interest," our active concern for others, seen in such ideas as "brotherly love" and "The Golden Rule."

World — This set of beliefs is our mental description of what the world is like, based on childhood experiences with it: safe or dangerous? friendly or threatening? stable or chaotic? Our view determines how much control we believe we have over our lives, whether we are bold or timid, etc.

Mystery/Limits — Here are beliefs arising from uncertainty, fear, and our ability to manage our lives successfully, based on childhood experiences. They include ideas about life and death, moral behavior, personal values, religious or spiritual beliefs, our physical and mental capacities and limits, failure, fear of being lost or abandoned, fear of death, and much more.

Some ways to think about your "Believing" patterns:

How do you see the world: safe? dangerous? exciting? an adventure? boring? Can you make connections to any events or thoughts about the world from your childhood?

Which limits bother you most: Ultimate, such as death? Physical, such as aging or a handicap? Emotional, such as controlling? Intellectual, as in not knowing answers? What do you to about limits: let them win? try harder? get help?

What do you like most and least about yourself? Does this come from someone else (Parent, sibling, partner?) or have you decided this for yourself? What would your life be like if you could change just one thing about yourself?