Limiting Beliefs Summary
Limiting beliefs serve as filters of your reality. You see the reality in a different way than others because you have different beliefs than other people. The same situation is viewed differently by different people. That’s why the situation that you find funny might be completely depressing to others.
We form beliefs because they simplify our lives. If you, for example, got burnt by a hot stove, next time when the stove is hot you won’t touch it because you believe that you will get burnt. This is the example of a positive belief that simplifies your life and protects you.
However, when you get a limiting belief, your life loses its richness because you are not able to perceive it correctly. For example, if you got hurt in a relationship and you start believing that all men/women are the same, this belief will not allow you to see men/women that do not fit into your belief system.
Many people mistakenly look at the world and think that what they see is the real world. However limiting beliefs colour their lives in the way that is only true to them. It’s very hard for such people to understand that the life that they perceive is only so because of their limiting beliefs.
How To Recognise Limiting Beliefs
You can notice your own negative beliefs when you catch yourself saying things such as:
“Life is …”
“I am a … person”
“Earning money is …”
“I cannot do this because …”
If you find yourself repeating some kind of phrase all the time, you should realise that it’s a belief that you have. If the belief is positive, for example, you keep repeating how lucky you are, you should not touch it because it serves you. However, if you find yourself repeating disempowering or negative statements such as I am a loser, you should change such belief.
You should also understand that your every opinion and the way you see the world is so because of your beliefs. If you don’t like something, it means you have some kind of limiting belief about that thing. If you find something depressing, this is so because of your beliefs.
Some of the beliefs are hard to discover because they were formed at a very young age. Some of your beliefs were taken from your parents and they no longer serve you, however they keep filtering your experiences their own way because you fail to notice and eliminate them.
No matter how long you had some belief for, you can always eliminate it because your active beliefs are in your conscious mind. They can be hidden under some innocent looking thoughts (for example, He thinks that only because of his fancy car he can show off is a hidden belief about money), but such beliefs can still be uncovered by analysing thoughts as such.
So to uncover your negative beliefs you have to pay attention to your daily thoughts and if some thought is negative, ask yourself why you think in such a negative way. This will uncover your belief.
Try to also remember what your parents used to say to you in the areas that you are struggling with. If, for example, you have difficulties with money, maybe your parents used to say phrases such as Money is hard to earn, Money doesn’t grow on trees or I cannot afford this.
It may take some time to uncover your beliefs, but it will be time well spent. The quality of your life depends on it. Spend some time now uncovering and eliminating them and you will improve your life experience to a great extent.
How To Get Rid Of Limiting Beliefs
Eliminate all your negative thoughts now and you will get the life that you deserve and want. It really is that simple. Negative feelings are reinforced by repetition of the thoughts that trigger unhappy feelings. If we stop repeating them, the feelings die. That really is it.
Our brain is a mass of millions of neural pathways Every thought, belief, feeling and action that we take creates new connections Each time we repeat one of these thoughts or actions, that specific neural pathway is reinforced. Each neural pathway gets physically bigger through repetition and this is how habit is formed. Every time we repeat that behavior, we strengthen that neural pathway/ As you practice positive thoughts and beliefs, your neural pathways will grow and being positive and happy will become second nature to you.
Once you uncover some of your negative beliefs, write them down and read them aloud. If, whilst reading some statement, you get a negative feeling in your solar plexus (the area above the stomach), it means that you have just uncovered an active limiting belief that is affecting your life experience.
Now you should understand that you are not a child anymore and that you have a free will. You can choose whether to keep such belief or to eliminate it. It is up to you. Simply say to yourself that you no longer choose to belief in this and that from now on you will look for the evidence that would show that the contrary to your belief is true.
Also, you should start affirming and believing in the belief, which is opposite to your limiting belief. You should have faith that the opposite belief is true and that it will color your life experience in a much richer way than the previous belief.
For example, if you used to think It’s impossible for me to earn a lot of money, you should now affirm I find it easy to earn large amounts of money. Whenever you earn money, affirm that this is the evidence of your new belief.
Keep in mind that you believe something to be true because of the facts that seem to support such belief. For example, if you believe that you are unlucky, you look for the facts that prove you to be unlucky. But by doing so you miss out on the facts that show that this is not the case. So if you believe that you are unlucky, you will only see the facts that support this belief. To change your beliefs, open your mind and start searching for the facts that deny them.
If you have some kind of limiting belief that was transferred to you by your parents, you should not blame them for that. Your parents didn’t know that their beliefs were limiting and affected your life experience. They did what they thought was best and they shouldn’t be held responsible for who you are today.
You have an absolute freedom to choose the way you want to live and you can choose your own beliefs and ways to behave. You should hold responsible only yourself for the person you have become. If you give this responsibility to others, you lose the power to change your life. And that’s not a wise choice to make.
When you fully take responsibility for your own self and forgive parents and other people that you used to hold anger/resentment towards, your limiting beliefs that were transferred to you will dissolve. All you will need to do then is keep reaffirming the opposite beliefs and look for their manifestations .
Some Important Beliefs:
Believe in yourself
Believe in the power of beliefs
Believe in your imagination and the power of creativity
Believe in making a difference
Believe in being happy and having fun
Believe in being grateful and helping others
Believe there is no such thing as failure, only feedback and outcomes
Believe you can do it
Believe in living life to the full
These are, of course, positive beliefs. But, now that you know how beliefs and thoughts can affect your life, you can get rid of, or reshape any negative ones that are holding you back.
