Cognative Reframing · The Peaceful Path

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Cognative Reframing

Releasing Old Childhood Beliefs – A Few Approaches That Actually Work

Ive also recorded a short 15 minute guided meditation for you 🙏

It's a big deal when you can look back and realise that certain beliefs you've carried for years used to be completely unconscious. Just surfacing them into awareness is real progress, so give yourself credit for that.

But awareness alone doesn't always move the belief out of the body, right?

Here are a few approaches that have helped me and others I've worked with...

1. Somatic work (body‑based) over "thinking it through"Old beliefs live in the nervous system, not just in thoughts. Try something like Somatic Experiencing (the book Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine is a good start) or simple body scans where you ask: "Where do I feel 'I'm not safe' or 'I'm not enough' in my body right now?" Then breathe into that spot without trying to fix it.

2. Internal Family Systems (IFS)IFS is gold for childhood stuff. The basic move: notice the part of you that holds an old belief, thank it for trying to protect you, and ask the younger part what it needed back then that it didn't get. Jay Earley's book Self‑Therapy is a great introduction.

3. Writing + ritual: Write the belief out in second person ("You are bad," "You have to earn love"). Then write back to it as your adult self. Then physically destroy the page, burn, shred, or tear it while saying out loud: "That was never mine to carry."

4. Small, repeated actions that contradict the belief. If the belief is "I'm invisible," start deliberately taking up a tiny bit more space, hand up first in a meeting, ordering the thing you actually want at a cafe. Beliefs loosen when you live the counter‑evidence, not just think it.

Resources worth exploring:

Homecoming by John Bradshaw (classic for childhood work)
It Didn't Start With You by Mark Wolynn (for inherited family patterns)
YouTube: "Tara Brach + childhood beliefs"; her RAIN meditation is gentle and effective
The Work by Byron Katie, free worksheets on her website for a structured approach

One last thing to remember.... go slow. Your system put those beliefs there to help you survive something. Releasing them isn't a fight; it's an unburdening.

Some days it's a whisper, not an explosion. That's still movement.

You're on the right track. Keep going.

What's helped you reframe or release an old belief?

Drop your experience below – let's learn from each other.

With Love ❤️

Always

Mark

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Cognative Reframing