Freedom's Path by Susan L.

  Core beliefs are understandings about ourselves that impact how we think and how we behave. They can be positive or negative.
  How do I recognise a toxic core belief? I have learned to follow the trail that begins when I have a negative thought about myself, usually behind the word "too". For example, voicing the idea that I am too fat is only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath that idea is a whole cluster of other ideas, each connected to the other. 'I am too fat"= unattractive = a disgrace = weak = unmotivated = undeserving, and so forth...it can get rather complicated sometimes. "Un" words feature a lot.
  I have found at the centre of one of these clusters is a core idea, like a foul seed that all these other false understandings grow from. It always amazes me where they began. Echoes of childhood taunts  often feature. "Sticks and stones can break my bones and names, they hurt and haunt me."
  The devil loves to build on these ideas because there are so many open doors. Life lessons hammer home the same understandings time and again. The devil is not creative, he can only work with what is there.
  Undoing is God's gift. Uncovering is also in His realm. His "un" words are verbs, actions of His love, grace and ability to heal us. The freedom comes as I repent of believing these negative core ideas and in making the choice to forgive those who had helped create and sustain them. Some of the most harmful beliefs were packaged in generational baggage, passed down through the ages. My own attitudes about my gender stretched as far back as Eve!
  As for the weight thing, coupled with abandonment issues prayer had revealed, the Lord showed me that I thought myself unlovable. He's repaired my heart and mind. The "un" is gone. And that's where my journey started, with the breakthrough, life changing, idea that yes, yes and yes!  I am worth loving!
  And that's a core belief to treasure.
  "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man." Eph 3:16