Unbalanced core beliefs can be responsible for some awfully bad forecasts about what is going to happen especially if your belief map is upside down! When two human beings (with opposite core beliefs) start to feel vulnerable about each other, their inner selves immediately gear up for trouble, each predicting dire consequences and issuing storm warnings about what the other person is thinking, feeling and what the other person is going to do next that could cause trouble. Even if these predictions are incorrect, as they usually are, the effect of the negative energy generated is to increase the chance of trouble. The bad reaction that the selves predicted comes true, but it probably would not have happened at all if the selves had not reacted to the prediction! (as illustrated in the two case studies below )

This is the selves' way of preparing you for trouble, but often their kind of protection then triggers the other person's own negative core beliefs and their reaction ends up actually helping bring about the very result our selves predicted. The ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ trap is much the same as if each time we carried an umbrella to protect us from rain it actually increased the chance of a storm.

When two human beings (with opposite core beliefs) start to feel vulnerable about each other, their two belief systems immediately gear up for trouble, each predicting dire consequences and issuing storm warnings about what the other person is thinking, feeling and what the other person is going to do next that could cause trouble. Even if these predictions are incorrect, as they usually are, the effect of the negative energy generated is to increase the chance of trouble. The bad reaction that was forecast comes true, but it probably would not have happened at all if it were not for the prediction!

Unbalanced core beliefs can be responsible for some awfully bad forecasts about what is going to happen. In Jack’s and Jill’s story and Clive’s case (below) notice how their individual belief systems set up negative forecasts, self-fulfilling negative predictions, misinterpretations and misunderstandings.
In these two case studies I am not looking at the core beliefs themselves, but rather what Person A’s expectations and supporting beliefs help them to predict what Person B’s thoughts, feelings, motives and their expectations would be like. In each case was person A was sure that whatever Person B was going to do would cause Person A to feel pain and vulnerability. Meanwhile person B was making the opposite prediction that person A was going to do things that would make B feel pain and vulnerability.

Case A - Jack and Jill

Jill has a core issue about losing control. Her supporting beliefs tell her ‘You have to fight to avoid being controlled by others’. Jill’s new partner Jack has a core issue about trust and an expectation that ‘You cannot trust people who have secrets. You’re vulnerable unless you know everything that is going on’. Jack notices that Jill seems worried about something, but when he asks, she insists there is ‘nothing wrong’. Jack’s worries about ‘secrets’ immediately ignites one of his medium strength controlling inner protector characters (inner selves) that tries to force Jill to explain what is worrying. However, the more he increases the pressure the less Jill feels like talking to him.

Jill is understandably triggered by Jack’s persistent pressure and since her most common 'F' reaction patterns are to fight control by others, out comes one of her rebel characters who helps her ‘clam up’ even more. That, in turn, triggers Jack’s vulnerability, as his one-below selves become even more sure that Jill must have a ‘secret’ she won’t talk about. Jack panics. He becomes even more obsessive trying to get Jill to confess her ‘secret’ but with no success.

The outcome is a massive negative bonding pattern (in ordinary terms a really bad fight). Jill packs her bags and leaves, to escape Jack’s control. She now has the ‘concrete evidence’ to support what her negative core belief had already predicted for her. That was that Jack would turn out to be another obsessive controller like all her previous partners.
Jack, meanwhile will be absolutely certain that Jill’s leaving proves she cannot be trusted just as his belief warned him. Now he has the evidence! Both Jack and Jill have had their beliefs ‘come true’ just as predicted, but can you see how their polarised inner protector characters (inner selves) working with the supporting beliefs were behind so much of the triggered behaviour. In reality, Jill can almost always be trusted (she didn’t even have a secret - she was just very tired) and Jack has lost the chance to have a happy relationship with her. Had that happened, Jack would have discovered that Jill was extremely trustworthy and Jill would have discovered that Jack is by nature not at all a controlling person (except when his negative core beliefs are triggered.)

Case B - Uninteresting Clive

Clive is a maths teacher, with an unbalanced belief from childhood that his ideas are dull and uninteresting. His compensating skills (I’m going to make myself interesting) helped him to become a teacher, but to be honest his maths lectures are still a bit boring. What triggers Clive, more than anything else are students who say they ‘just can’t get interested’ in maths so whenever he hears the trigger word ‘uninteresting’ he gets agitated. His beliefs also tell him that how interesting he really is will be decided by other people, not by him. So whenever he is triggered he argues with the students and tries to get ‘better’ answers from them that would tell him he is becoming more interesting.

As Nikki Nemerouf describes it - Clive's behaviour in desperately seeking to get appreciation from other people, is the very thing that is preventing himself from getting more appreciation. At the same time as he is trying to get them to give him a better answer about his teaching, he is blaming his students for the problem.

Clive’s automatic intention which includes trying to help hide the pain of his core belief is actually making the pain worse. Fewer and fewer students give him feedback on the uninteresting aspects of his lectures, so he misses the chance to make improvements. He puts less effort in to preparing for classes so as time goes by they become even more boring.

In the end his negative prediction is brought to reality by his behaviour which was supposed to stop the prediction coming true!

Warning! - Fighting about ‘truth’ or ‘reality’
An out of balance negative belief system can also result in an increase in the number of ‘disempowering selves’ which support information or events that ‘fit in’ with an unbalanced or negative core belief while rejecting data to the contrary. A self-fulfilling prophecy just adds to the chance of this happening, by providing supporting evidence that ‘proves’ the unbalanced belief must be true.

Don’t fight about reality while ‘under the influence’ of an unbalanced belief
In a situation like this, you might think and feel that you are in touch with reality but your observations will be based on the unreliable data. The false unbalanced beliefs and their supporting polarised selves are not known for presenting accurate information. The only thing you can be sure of, in this situation, is that once you have been triggered you are likely to be out of polarity and out of touch with your reality. Not only will your view of the world, and others in it, be distorted but to make matters worse you will be unable to see that distortion.

From that point I have introduced some alternate concepts, in particular the connection between core belief work and the psychology of the inner selves (voice dialogue) as taught by Dr. Hal and Dr. Sidra Stone. I have found that dialoguing with the beliefs themselves as "characters" inside us is one of the most useful skills (often the critical factor) in clarifying, and balancing old core beliefs.

I thank Earl Cass and Anthony Nutting for their support and expert suggestions and my thanks to my ex-wife and friend Rozz Nutting for permitting me to include extracts from her own book on the core belief process.

With appreciation - John Nutting