Beliefs are our acquired mental reflexes, automatic thoughts and conclusions that take place in our judgement bypassing the thinking process.

Common synonyms are: mental stamps, mental labels, prejudices, stereotypes, assumptions.

We formed our beliefs by linking our ideas or opinions with supportive references.

Logical belief creation process:

question > thinking > answer 

 Example: What is a shape of the Earth > based on the pictures from the space and multiple geographic references I read I think > it is a globe. Another example: Why I am not losing weight > I think it is because my body and my metabolism should be slower than average, I heard from a friend of mine that she is overweight, I think I have the very similar situation > my metabolism is too slow.

If we face the same question repeatedly over and over again, we create a shortcut in our brain bypassing thinking, so the final mental reflex looks like:

question > answer

Example:

What is a shape of the Earth > a globe.

Why I am not losing weight > my metabolism is too slow.

No thinking, it is now a direct link question>answer. it is already discovered by you in the past, now you save your mental energy for more important matters. Next time when you face this question your thinking is disconnected. It is just like a knee jerk reflex, no thinking involved, question > predefined answer. Once beliefs are formed, we have tendency to reuse them habitually, bypassing our thinking process.

Beliefs are the statements that we figured out in our mind once, and now they are treated by our consciousness as a decided matter. All our actions are based on various beliefs. They act as building blocks to shape our thoughts, ideas and conclusions. What would happen if you start planning the weight loss program based on your belief that "my metabolism is too slow" instead of "I eat too much"? The resultant plan would be completely different. You would either look for different ways to fix the metabolism versus learning about the proper nutrition.

Beliefs may be formed logically - "The Earth is a globe". Strictly emotionally formed beliefs are formed bypassing out thinking from the beginning:

stimulus > emotion positive (or negative) > pleasure  (or pain)  > repeat it often enough =

stimulus  >  pleasure  or (pain)

Example: desserts > sweet, positive emotion > pleasure (love). After consistent repetition creates an emotional belief  Desserts > I love them

Most beliefs have both components - "I love chocolate ("it is good for me" is a logical link, and a pleasant taste is an emotional component linked to chocolate)

Beliefs can be empowering and disempowering.

We can identify, improve or destroy them depending on our goals.