8Discover Your Core Story: By the age of 12, every person forms unconscious beliefs in these three areas: - How to be safe and secure (perhaps even how to survive) - How to garner the love and esteem of those around you - How to control the way others respond to you These core beliefs are powerful, unconscious drivers of personality that often dictate what a person says and does. They are so powerful, in fact, that people are more influenced by their core beliefs than by what they have learned as an adult. Developed by Terry S. Smith, The Core Story tool helps an individual explore their core beliefs. The process, based on the genogram, takes the unconscious and unseen and makes them concrete. The Core Story diagram, similar to a diagram of your family tree, allows you to quickly identify and understand various relationships and traits in your family history that may have had an influence on your behaviors and relational patterns. Understanding your Core Story raises your awareness of your behaviors and empowers you to decide, as an adult, if the beliefs you adopted as a child are appropriate in your life today.