Are Your Beliefs Permanently Gone? Four Tests To Know For Sure

The Lefkoe Institute has had a big marketing problem since its inception 24 years ago.  People don’t believe we can do what we promise to do.

Our unique distinction is that we can help people quickly and permanently eliminate all the relevant beliefs that cause virtually any behavioral or emotional problem in their lives.  But most people have the belief: Change is difficult, takes a long time, and requires a lot of reinforcement.  So telling people what we offer usually results in people expressing skepticism about our claim.

Interestingly enough, when we started helping people eliminate beliefs 24 years ago, most people didn’t see a connection between beliefs and behavior. “What do my beliefs have to do with what I do and feel?” most people would ask.

But as a result of many best-selling books by such popular authors as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, and Joe Vitale now almost everyone in the personal growth field acknowledges that in order to make fundamental permanent change, you have to remove limiting beliefs first.

As a result, almost all the major teachers in this field claim to be able to eliminate beliefs, because it’s what most of their customers are asking for. In some cases they deliver on their promise. Unfortunately, although many of the popular belief-elimination techniques result in feeling as if the belief is gone at the moment, in many cases the beliefs are not eliminated permanently.

Consequently, many people have become skeptical when someone claims they can help them quickly, easily, and permanently eliminate long-held beliefs.  (As one well-known psychologist told me many years ago when I made that claim: “Anyone who says he can permanently eliminate beliefs is a fraud.”)

This is not to say that programs that don’t eliminate beliefs aren’t valuable.  Many of them make a profound difference in people’s lives without eliminating beliefs.

I’d like to suggest four questions you can ask to assure yourself that the belief-elimination process you are using really works.

1.  Does the belief you want to get rid of go away and stay away? You can know a belief is eliminated right after an exercise because the words of the belief no longer feel true; the words feel as if they have no meaning.  That’s not the same as having an insight that has you conclude the belief must be gone because it no longer makes sense to hold the belief or because the belief doesn’t feel as true as it did before.  In this type of situation it can seem as if the belief is really gone, but it really isn’t.  One way to check is to say the words of the belief several days later. Do they feel true, uncomfortable? Do they resonate with you?  Or do the words still feel meaningless? With no energy or discomfort?  If you still feel as if the belief is gone several days later, it probably is.

2.   Did you get rid of some undesirable behavior or feeling after eliminating all the relevant beliefs? Ultimately you don’t care about eliminating beliefs. Eliminating beliefs is a means to an end.  The true test to know that beliefs are  gone is if the problem that the beliefs caused is gone. Because most problems usually are caused by a number of beliefs, you have to eliminate at least 8-10 beliefs to know that any given problem is gone, which then is proof that the beliefs must also be gone. For example, procrastination is caused by 16 beliefs.  A good test that the 16 beliefs have been eliminated is to see if your procrastination disappears and doesn’t come back.  (Actually it is caused by 13 beliefs and three conditionings, but conditioning is not really relevant in this discussion.)

3.  Did you get a guarantee that the beliefs will not come back AND the problem that the beliefs cause will not come back either.

We have helped over 13,000 clients in private sessions and well over 30,000 in on-line and DVD programs eliminate beliefs and problems.  We offer a lifetime guarantee that the problem will not return and have a refund rate of about 10%.  To see just a few of the reviews of our on-line products, go to http://blog.recreateyourlife.com.  To see some video reviews, go to http://bit.ly/3Z10LN.

4.  Is there independent research that proves that the beliefs and the problems are truly eliminated and don’t return?

The most objective way to prove that beliefs and the problems they cause are really gone is an independent study with a control group.  This is the “gold standard” for proof of the effectiveness of a belief-elimination process.

The University of Arizona conducted a study that was published in a peer-reviewed journal, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.

Preliminary Report on Results from”Speaking Without Fear” Study

Prepared by Victoria Cunningham, Ph.D. & Lee Sechrest, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of Arizona

May 20, 2004

“A recent study was conducted to examine the ability of Morty Lefkoe’s ‘The Lefkoe Method’ to reduce or even eliminate fear of speaking in public in a group of forty volunteers recruited from Toastmasters Clubs and other random sources and who reported fairly severe symptoms related to public speaking. Subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group… All treatment sessions were conducted by telephone, and, on average, only three one-hour sessions were required to achieve treatment goals.

“The results support our hypothesis that self-reported fear of speaking in public would be virtually eliminated. Before the experiment, both groups rated their last public speaking experience as an average of about 7 on a 10-point scale on which 1 meant ‘not at all fearful,’ and 10 indicated ‘extremely fearful’. Subjects in the experimental group experienced a reduction of about 5 points to an average score of 1.5, whereas the control group remained unchanged. In addition, after receiving the same treatment, scores for the control group were also reduced by about 5 points to yield an average of 1.5. It is important to note that all subjects rated their post-treatment scores in relation to an actual public speaking experience.

“We also asked subjects about other common physical sensations and cognitive difficulties often associated with speaking in public, e.g., increased heart rate, sweating, dry mouth, quivering voice, stuttering and difficulty staying focused. The results were quite consistent with those from the rating scale: prominent symptoms were reduced for everyone who received the treatment, and the difference between the experimental and control groups was large and statistically significant. Responses to additional questions to gauge individuals’ self-confidence as a speaker also provide evidence that ‘The Lefkoe Method’ was effective in virtually eliminating the fear of public speaking.” (Emphasis added.)

For a copy of the entire study from Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, go to http://www.undoityourself.com/research.html.

A follow up was conducted with the subjects six months later.  The average level of fear was still below 2.

Thanks for reading my blog. Do you agree or disagree with the points I made in this post?  Why?  Do you have something to add?  Your comments will add value for thousands of readers.

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If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to htp://www.recreateyourlife.com/free where you can eliminate one limiting belief free.

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Copyright © 2009 Morty Lefkoe