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Negative core beliefs (NCBs) sit underneath all psychology, not just sport psychology. They are what we choose to believe about ourselves, other people, and the world. They are responsible for most things that upset us. They rile us up, make us unhappy, and determine our perception of experience. We inherit them from our family of origin and through personal experience.
The "Big 3" negative core beliefs are:
1. I am unlovable
2. I am unworthy
3. I am helpless or incompetent
Everything that distresses us bottoms out in some combination of these. They are the roots of our raw emotional nerves. Our own perceptions, the actions and comments of other people, and situations that test us pluck these nerves through the implication of the Big 3.
Sport performance is a minefield of potential triggers. The Big 3 aren’t objectively true. Neither are the perceived threats they create. We believe them to be true, though. We can be objective intellectually and say, "I know I am lovable, worthy, and capable," but unconsciously, the Big 3 are running the show.
The process that drives what upsets us using the Big 3 is simple and predictable. Something happens externally to us. It can be anything good, bad, or indifferent. We unconsciously filter the experience through our belief system. This causes a psychological, emotional, or physical reaction. Perhaps it’s an off-hand comment by a coach, a sideways glance from a competitor, or falling on one’s face in front of a crowd going after a loose ball. Your belief system crams reality through your filters, knocking off anything that doesn’t line up with what you already believe to be true. This process ushers in a negative thought/feeling loop. This is another of many things that overlap real life and sport performance.
We don’t usually hear the Big 3 directly in our heads. Self-talk operates more directly with our intermediate beliefs as they feed automatic negative thoughts. Intermediate beliefs sit on top of our negative core beliefs. They are our rules and assumptions about self, others, and the world.
They are a mental template we lay across our experiences, guiding our thoughts and influencing our behaviors. Instead of being present in an experience, we are in our preloaded expectations of them.
In identifying intermediate beliefs, look for “shoulds,”
I should ____________ (fill in the blank with your rule or assumption), if not,
I am ____________ (unlovable, unworthy, or incompetent/helpless).
Also look for “if/then” statements like:
If I ____________ (fill in the blank with your rule or assumption),
then I am ____________ (unlovable, unworthy, or incompetent/helpless).
The expectations loaded in our negative beliefs bring them to fruition. It’s not because we have the power to influence the universe. It happens through our confirmation bias. The mind plucks information from the universe, affirming what we believe to be true and ignoring anything that contradicts it. It filters your experience and finds supporting evidence you are unlovable, unworthy, or incompetent. The mind unconsciously knocks the edges off of reality to make it fit your mental models. Perception is hijacked, and reality is bent to fit your predictions. Your mind says, “See, this proves I am unworthy (or unlovable, helpless, or incompetent)!”
When self-talk presents an automatic negative thought, emotional, psychological, and physical responses run free.
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a network of neurons in the brainstem that prioritizes and filters incoming information, determining what to pay attention to and ignore. It’s unconscious, so you don’t notice it, but it’s happening constantly. It's believed that our conscious awareness is limited to about 40 to 60 bits of information per second when there are millions of bits per second or more of input. When setting a clear intention or goal, your RAS to prioritizes information that aligns with it, noticing opportunities, resources, or information that can help you achieve your intention.
This process is part of "manifesting." This typically involves bringing specific desires or intentions into reality through focused thoughts, beliefs, and visualization. It’s thought to be a mystical or metaphysical process. It’s not. Your mind is like radar. It’s now unconsciously looking for and prioritizing information relevant to your intention. Those affirmations were always there… you didn’t conjure them up. You just decided to make noticing them a priority.
With negative thinking and pessimism, RAS manifests against us. Pessimism and negative and limiting beliefs set a negative intention and predict negative outcomes. The RAS will find and affirm our beliefs, no matter what they are. It isn’t thoughtful, precise, or discerning. It finds a blip on the radar that the mind twists, distorts, and shapes to fit the beliefs and expectations we already have. If we think we are unlovable, unworthy, incompetent, or helpless against outside forces, The RAS will find affirmation.
Good things and bad things are always happening, and they always will. Optimism and pessimism are how we explain our experiences to ourselves through either a dark cloud or a silver lining. Each tells our reticular activating system how to perceive things, where to dwell, and what belief to affirm. Pessimism sets a negative expectation that the reticular activating system then searches for and finds out in the world.
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