Where do our core beliefs come from? Think about the things you truly hold dear, are passionate about, are willing to fight for. The basic tenets that define what you are all about. You've probably already been able to rattle off 3 or 4 of these right off the top of your head. That's great. But where did these core beliefs come from, what was their source? Did you learn them from your parents or your peer group? Did you carefully hone them over a period of many years to turn them from carbon into diamond? When I talk to folks about the things that they have very strong opinions about, they have the ability to defend them with such strong convictions that it is clear that these beliefs are woven into their fabric. They are an organic part of them. This has always amazed me. I seem to work so much differently than anyone else that I have come across. In fact, it seems that I did not come with any core beliefs factory installed on my hard drive. The oddest look comes over my face (kind of like I have gas) when someone catches me off guard and asks me what I think or feel about something. I have no thoughts or feelings most of the time on any given topic until I first find out what others believe so that I have a pool of ideas to choose from. I approach it like making selections from a chinese menu. I take one idea from column A, another from column B, and form the ideas of others into something that only then becomes a part of me. I think that I require some boundary conditions defined by other people before I can define what I believe. Am I alone in my strategy or am I a robot from the planet CrEmi-NuGat V?
