The power of beliefs, they control your life even when you are not aware of them

What do you think about seashells?

Seashells are good for Feng Shui, they represent protection and are believed to enhance travel luck and strengthen long-distance relationships.

One website cites: “Keeping seashells in a basket will bring much-needed luck in your life. For greater wealth: Decorate a water fountain with seashells. In Feng Shui, a flowing water fountain symbolises money flowing into the house. Adding seashells helps protect that money.”

I was surprised to find out the seashells are good for Feng Shui because one of the “rules” is not to keep “dead things” inside your house, this includes dead flowers, plants, animals and I thought shells were included in that category as well. But apparently not.

How my limiting beliefs got in the way of my beloved Feng Shui practice

Even though I’ve implemented Feng Shui practice at home and follow it very closely because I believe in its power to activate good energy. My set of beliefs are more powerful.

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Most beliefs are formed in our childhood.

My grandfather, who was very superstitious, didn’t like when my brothers and I brought shells to his house. He said it was bad omen. Probably he explained why but it has since escaped my memory.

His house was in front of the beach so you can only imagine how many times my brothers and I brought shells home and he made us throw them out of the house. It worked as reinforcement.

I was reminded of this last month when my son came back from the beach with a pocket full of shells.

“Mummy I got you a surprise!”

My face:

My heart stopped for a little when I saw those shells.

Looking at those shells sparked all the fears associated with keeping shells at home, I only thought of all the bad things that could happen if I let those shells stay.

Thanks to years of inner work I’ve developed the ability to know where the fears come from; I’m not always able to transform or reframe those beliefs on my own but at least I can recognise them.

I had buried the belief that shells are bad deep inside my subconscious mind, it’s not something I think of every day, but I knew if I keep all the shells I’ll be focusing in the negative and worse attracting it.

Beliefs are formed in our childhood and even though we don’t think of them daily, they are present and rule our lives.

It is not messing up with my life and out of all the beliefs I need to reconsider maybe this is not an important one. Our experiences shape the way we live our lives, so pick and choose your battles.

There are harmful beliefs and useful beliefs, if the belief is not hurting you or stopping you from reaching your goals, or holding you back from being successful, then it is fine, keep it.

I could potentially transform this belief by working with a therapist and using a tool from my mindset toolkit.

I could find evidence that shells are actually good, I can rewrite my past, show my brain that it is safe to keep the shells at home.

What did I do with the shells?

As for the shells, I didn’t let the thought worry me. I thanked my son for being so thoughtful in collecting those shells for me and secretly dispose of them in the bin the next day. Thirty days later, at the time of writing this post, no one has asked for the shells yet.