Superstition

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The last few blogs have been about working on being yourself and having the connection and confidence to listen to your own inner gut instinct and intuition. Over the next few blogs we will be looking at things which could be getting in your way of doing this. Most us have a few superstitions, but it doesn’t have a negative impact on our lives, but if we have let these habits get out of control it can affect our anxiety levels and also stop us from being our true selves. The key to life is balance, not too much or too little either, it can be a bit of a tightrope at times but once we find ourselves and are true to ourselves it’s easy. Superstitious behaviour links back to our ritualistic heritage, religions and stereotyped behaviours patterns from the people we lived around.

A superstition is the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific, unrelated behaviours or occurrences. The earliest superstitions were created as a way to deal with ignorance and fear of the unknown. As we have evolved we have let go of many of these, but we still hold on to some of them. These are still around in the 21^st century: don’t walk under ladders, Friday 13^th, four leaf clovers, lucky charms are just a few of the ones we have all heard off. Many of our superstitions are localised, as each country and culture can have their own superstitions. Japanese people think number four is unlucky, in Spain its Tuesday 13^th, in South Korea crows are seen as bad luck, whereas more worldwide black cats crossing your path are to be avoided.

There not real it’s just a long-term habit to think this way, it’s safe to let your superstitions go

Superstitions are a way of attempting to regain control over events in our life and are more common among certain groups of people than others, varying from culture to culture. While most superstitions are harmless, and even may be helpful in encouraging people to achieve their goals, it can also lead to a lack of responsibility in your life. I believe this all goes back to an inability to feel safe and secure inside and we are looking at external things to validate our safety, instead of owning our own feelings. Many believe that superstitious beliefs originated during the earliest days of humanity when we were faced with natural phenomena like thunderstorms and earthquakes, as well as the unpredictability of illness and food supply, by attempting to create a belief system that could be influenced by our actions. The earliest superstitions were most prominent when people were feeling helpless and out of control. Some groups of people are still to this day more prone then other: miners, fishermen, athletes and gamblers are some of these and all tend to be more superstitious than average person; the success of all these occupations tends to be more out of the control of the individual.

Often, superstitions are born from casual coincidence. For example, if an athlete wears a particular pair of socks on a day he performs particularly well, he may continue to wear the same pair of socks in the belief that these were responsible for the success. Future successes reinforce such a belief, in some cases, it is certainly possible that the simple belief in success or failure can influence the outcome. The athlete who cannot find his “lucky socks” may, due to lack of confidence, perform poorly, further reinforcing the belief in the power of the socks. This all relates to the power of our mind. We have seen many amazing things happen by just the belief we can achieve something. So, this being the case, it’s time to stop the old habits of superstition and start empowering our minds with strength and confidence. The blog Believe the Impossible looked at this is more detail and is worth a read again if your struggling with your superstitions.

Empower your mind with positivity, choose strength and confidence above superstition

Finally, superstitions can also be a learned behaviour. Children who watch those around them performing superstitious actions like “knocking on wood” or not walking under ladders may adopt these behaviours. The true origins of certain superstitions can be centuries old, having been passed down from generation to generation through this an observational learning process, plus fables and old wives tales.

Ok, now we can see why we hold these things, it’s time to understand ourselves better and find more practical ways to help deal with our insecurities and fears. I don’t think these things have particularly hindered our evolution in the past, but maybe now they are stopping us from being truly who we are, limiting our ability to feel safe and secure inside.  Understanding our nerves in a certain situation can be a better way of dealing with it. If it’s a test or exam, work on creating a better mind set and belief system.

Use hypnotherapy to help with positive suggestions to help you deal with those difficult things that challenge your mind set, by positively helping. Also by just acknowledging what we’re doing can help us get out of denial and back in the moment. Living truly in the moment is a challenge for all of us.  With the depth of our minds and the history of our emotional evolution trying to pull us back into bad patterns and habits it can be hard.  This is the first time we have chance to be true to ourselves and peeling back these layers may take time, but it will be the best thing you could do.

With many things, it’s not until you’re there do you realise just how good it is to feel this way and I know from my own personal journey the relief it is to be myself. I am not naive enough to think that I have stopped this journey, I am not sure we ever do, but you do get to point when the negative pull is gone and the steps forward are just expanding your own self-awareness and confidence. It’s time to accept our insecurities and change, as living this way only gets worse, leading to rituals and obsessions which for some people have taken over their whole lives. In the next few blogs we will be looking at these in more detail.

Thanks for dropping by,

Sara x