ESSAY: SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS

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How does superstitious beliefs become part of Filipino lives? In the Philippines, a
handful of superstitious beliefs exist that are very famous amongst the natives. These beliefs are
typically introduced to them at a very early age through children's books or bedtime stories. It is
believed that if natives aren't careful to follow them, a curse will befall them.
Some of the superstitious beliefs are still evident in our daily endeavor, some of which
are the belief in sweeping the floor and crossing of the black cat that causes bad luck. The belief
in sweeping the floor particularly applies to some of our family member. It stems from the belief
of some Filipinos that sweeping means you are trying to banish the spirit of the dead from the
household. Sweeping at a wake is also believed to result in another death of a family member.
Another one is the belief that if a black cat crosses your path then it is inauspicious. It is also
believed that you should let somebody else pass before you do. In this way, you can keep bad
luck at bay and the first person will have it on them. These two superstitions, nowadays are still
evident in our family. There was a time that one of the members in our family have had
experienced sweeping the floor during night. Out of curiosity and not knowing that it’s one of
the superstitions, she continued to do such, until she caught the attention of our visitors that time
that it came to conclusion that such belief still exists and that there’s no wrong concept if one
believes.
Every time we see black cat which crosses along our path/way, we tend to think of the
fact that it’s just a normal occurrence but there was a time that a certain old woman told us that it
brings bad luck to those were able to see it upon crossing. With the foregoing notions, I guess,
there’s no wrong idea on believing such superstitions. In fact, it’s a part of our culture that one
must recognize. But it doesn’t mean, we rely and firmly believe on them, it’s just that allowing
them to be a part of our beliefs during ancient time, we still need to find scientific bases for those
superstitions. Not all the time it can affect our daily means of living especially when it comes to
comparison of the possible results it can bring to us. Sometimes, this can trigger obsessive
thoughts or anxiety, among other OCD symptoms. This is sometimes referred to as “magical
thinking” OCD. People who have other mental health conditions, such as generalized anxiety
disorder, can also be negatively impacted by superstitions. Believe it or not, being superstitious
can affect your behavior and state of mind, influencing everything from your preparation for and
performance on a particular challenge to your responsiveness to placebos.
In other words, these superstitions are just part of our culture. Once they take hold,
superstitions are often maintained and reinforced by a confirmation bias, a tendency to remember
information that confirms what you already believe and to discount information that doesn't jibe
with that. "Once a hypothesis comes to mind, people look for ways to support that. Thus, we
should be very careful in recognizing notions about superstitions.