Welcome Back!

Nearly there, well done. Just checking in if you have been using the Library section of Bazaar? Once you finish after the next session this is a great way to stay engaged with all things Bazaar, so we would love to have you in it.

Before we begin, how have things been?

Last week we looked at Habits, Small Changes & Big Impact, Problem Solving Solutions and Goal Setting.

This week we’re going to cover a lot of the remainder of new content in Bazaar, looking at Challenging Root Beliefs, Identifying Themes and Managing our Mind.

Before we go any further let’s do our Drill Review for last week.

- What activities did you engage in this week?
- How did you find applying the problem solving solution 5 step method to a problem?
- How are your goals going that you set in week 1?

An explanation for unhelpful thinking is that there may be a strong core belief at the root of it.

Root Beliefs are strongly-held beliefs about ourselves, others, the world, and the future. They develop over longer periods of time but thankfully can be changed.

Have you heard the term ‘touched a nerve’? When someone’s reaction to an event, situation or comment seems dramatic or over the top? Often this occurs because the person’s Root Belief has been disrupted.

Examples

Nelly failed her maths exam for the second time. This really affects her mood. She decides ‘I am rubbish at everything I do’.

Joro forgets to pick up their younger sister from school even though their mum asked them to this morning. This has triggered their Root Belief ‘I am a bad person’.

Femi was due to meet somebody for a date who they had been speaking to for a while and they failed to turn up. This triggers their Root Belief ‘I am unlovable’.

Essentially, Root Beliefs determine how we perceive and interpret the world. Root Beliefs are critical because they determine to what degree we see ourselves as worthy, safe, competent, powerful, and loved. Negative beliefs about ourselves are detrimental to our self-acceptance and self-esteem

Femi was due to meet somebody for a date who they had been speaking to for a while and they failed to turn up. This triggers their Root Belief ‘I am unlovable’.

Essentially, Root Beliefs determine how we perceive and interpret the world. Root Beliefs are critical because they determine to what degree we see ourselves as worthy, safe, competent, powerful, and loved. Negative beliefs about ourselves are detrimental to our self-acceptance and self-esteem

Can you think of any particular events and emotional responses you had to recent events, that are relevant to Root Beliefs you may have? Is there a pattern or underlying theme about how you view yourself? Feel free to make some notes.

You may already have an idea about your own Root Belief(s). Discuss with your mentor and refer to your journal. Please identify two or three Root Beliefs of your own as we will be working on these in the next section.

Reviewing thoughts using thought records can help us Identify Themes and Get to the Roots of them. This can be a really useful method of identifying your own Root Beliefs. We can question our Root Beliefs by asking the question ‘what does this thought mean to me?’ Also, we can explore our thoughts and any recurring themes to tell us more about what we are thinking. See the following example.

Here’s how Oscar used the ‘Getting to the Roots’ technique.

Thought:
‘I am going to lose my boxing fight on Friday.’

What does this mean to me?

Thought:
‘My coach will drop me and I won’t get another fight.’

What does this mean to me?

Thought:
‘I will not be able to qualify as a professional in the future.’

What does this mean to me?

Thought:
‘I won’t be able to afford to live or have a family.’

What does this mean to me?

Inner Belief:
‘Unless I win, I am worthless and have no future.’

This example shows how Oscar’s root belief might affect his mental health, wellbeing, motivation and drive. When falling into these thinking patterns, we must Challenge these Root Beliefs. Ask yourself, am I falling into Twisted Thinking?

A little reminder from week 4…

- Black and White Thinking
- Should and Ought
- Overgeneralising
- Catastrophising
- Glass Half Empty
- Jumping to Conclusions
- Emotional Reasoning
- Mind Reading

Ask yourself, ‘is there evidence for and against my thoughts? Is there another way to look at this? If it is true, what can I do?’

We can apply Twisted Thinking questions to challenging Root Beliefs. Root Beliefs can be true or false, they are NOT facts!

How to Challenge those beliefs:

Stage 1: Write down the Root Belief you want to work with.

Stage 2: Think of a few things you could do to test your Root Belief.

Stage 3: Write down what you would expect would happen if your Root Belief were true.

Stage 4: Carry out an experiment by testing stage 3.

Stage 5: Compare the actual results with your prediction and write this down whilst considering a more balanced and alternative Root Belief which matches your conclusion.

Example: Yasmin thinks she is a boring person.

She decides that she can test this by asking her friends and family what she is like and if they see her in this way.

Yasmin thinks if this Root Belief were to be true she would be unhappy and ashamed.

Yasmin speaks to friends and family to see what they think of her. She also writes down all the things she is interested in and thinks about situations she has faced where she has been out of her comfort zone.

Yasmin has learnt that her Root Belief may be exaggerated as she found out she had so many interesting qualities. Her family and friends told her she was kind, funny, interesting, curious but too hard on herself!

Her more balanced Root Belief is: ‘I’m not perfect but who is?’

Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to refine and expand your identity. Think back to last week, the real reason habits matter is not because they can not just get you better results, but because they can change your beliefs about yourself.

Let’s practise challenging those hard-to-budge unhelpful Root Beliefs. The purpose of challenging them is to find out how true your Root Beliefs are and to adapt our emotional relationship with them. Refer back to Yasmin’s example and try now to challenge a Root Belief you hold.

One way of understanding how the mind works is through learning how to Manage the Mind.

Have a look at your handout now for a useful wheel of emotions. Do you know what each one feels like?

When managing our mind, it takes a conscious effort to be aware of how we respond to certain situations and whether the Sun or Moon hijack our brain. Becoming more aware of the Sun and the Moon will take practice, but it will also help you gain perspective on your psyche, mental health and your emotional wellbeing.

You will be able to grow in regaining control over situations.

Can you think of a time when the Sun took over your brain in response to a certain event? What was that event? What was your thought process? How did you feel? How did you behave? Have a chat with your mentor now and make some notes.

Can you think of a time when the Moon took over your brain in response to a certain event? What was that event? What was your thought process? How did you feel? How did you behave? Have a chat with your mentor now and make some notes.

Session Summary

This week we covered challenging Root Beliefs that are deeply rooted in our mind. Although these Root Beliefs determine a lot of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, we are fortunate enough that they can be changed.

We can consider different forms of Twisted Thinking we learnt earlier on in the course when challenging our Root Beliefs. We learnt about Managing our Mind and how the Sun (the emotional side of our brain) and Moon (the logical side of our brain) can determine how we respond to certain situations.

Drills

Recognise patterns: Continue to identify and recognise patterns in thoughts and investigate whether you have any additional Root Beliefs as an important part of this session’s drills.

Root Beliefs: do not always have to be negative. As part of your drills, identify and bring along to the next session three positive Root Beliefs you hold about yourself.

Remember it is safe and healthy to feel your emotions. Practice doing this during the week.

What are you grateful for?🙏
Write this down now.
✍️

❤️ The path towards greatness will not always be easy but it will be worth the challenge.