What we’re covering today:
A limiting belief is a state of mind or belief about yourself that restricts you in some way. And these beliefs are often false accusations you make about yourself that can cause many negative results.
Essentially, they are the lies you tell yourself, and if you allow them to continue, they define you. You deserve so much more than that!
So, today I want to talk a little about limiting beliefs, how they harm us (because they DO harm us), and what we can do about them.
Why this is important to you:
One of the reasons why it’s so important to be aware of your limiting beliefs is that they dramatically influence how you think. They affect what you believe about yourself, what you feel about your potential, and what you think about your ability to achieve that potential. They are unconscious barriers that hold each of us back.
And the whacky thing is that we put energy into them. We put fuel into them and essentially say to our mind, “This is what I want to find.” So the danger is that we’re not even aware we’re doing it. And that’s why it is such a problem.
Belief is powerful; it can move mountains for you to make things happen, but it can also work in the other direction.
Think about the placebo effect we’ve heard stories about and have seen articles written on, where somebody believes they’re getting the medicine that can cure them. What happens is that the body can kick in and heal itself even when the medicine isn’t delivered, but the individual has the belief that they were given the medication. That is the power of belief and the danger of these limiting beliefs.
What can you do instead?
So, how do you change limiting beliefs? How do you release limiting beliefs? And that’s what I believe happens. You don’t power through them; you release them. Something has to shift so that you let go of them.
The first thing to remember when releasing limiting beliefs is that this is an unconscious process. These are things that you aren’t aware of and need to become aware of and bring into the light.
And so, how do you do that?
All learning behavior and change happen at the unconscious level, so we need to bring this into the conscious by paying attention to our language—the external language you speak and the internal language you think.
Limiting beliefs will show up when you hear language like, “I’m not…” I’m not good enough; I’m not pretty enough; I’m not smart enough; I’m not talented enough.
A couple of weeks ago, I was facilitating a leadership training, and one of the women in the room said, I don’t know why I’m here. She said, I look at all these people in the room and don’t know why I’m here. And I said, listen, if you’re here, you’re here for a reason. You enrolled in this program, were accepted, your organization believes in you, and you’re meant to be in this room. So, believe that you are in this room for a reason.
What else can you do? Pay attention to the phrase, “I don’t…” I don’t have the skills; I don’t have enough experience; I don’t have what it takes. Don’t forget the phrase “I can’t…” I can’t put myself out there; I could never do something like that; that’s not for me.
When you hear this type of language, that is probably an indicator of a limiting belief swirling around somewhere.
My grandson is so enamored with diggers (excavators), and what I say to my clients is, when you hear language like that, dig there. Dig there because there’s something underneath it that is holding you back. There’s a story or a lie that you’re telling yourself.
Because limiting beliefs are like layers of an onion, they will start coming up more frequently when you start paying attention. Then, you have an opportunity to release them and, unburdened by these limiting beliefs, take yourself to your next level.
Here’s the Strategy:
So, how do you release them? At a very high level, my strategy is this.
It’s three parts. Catch it, challenge it, change it.
Catch it. When you catch yourself saying that language, thinking those thoughts, that’s a win because you’ve brought it from the unconscious into the conscious, and then you can actually do something about it.
Challenge it. A limiting belief is a lie, so challenge the lie. Is it, in fact, true? Because sometimes we accept it without even questioning it. Is it a fact? Could you do it if you wanted to? Is this something that, if you were able to work with someone and learn a new skill, you could, in fact, accomplish whatever it is that you’re holding yourself back from? Is it factually true?
And then, finally, change it. What is a belief that you would like to have instead? Work to think in another direction. The limiting belief is where you don’t want to be; where do you want to be instead? Change it. What would you change that belief to that would allow you to feel better and show up in a better way?
One of the things I do for my well-being and my clients well-being is a higher-self release, an experiential meditation that I have created that connects you with your higher self to release the negative stories you tell yourself. You do this by connecting with God, or The Universe, the collective, the oneness, whatever is divine or Source for you.
And you’ve heard the phrase, give it over to God, right? So, this is essentially the same thing. It’s a process that allows you to light up the limiting beliefs in your body because we tell limiting beliefs where to reside and carry them in our body, and we can release them.
I’ve created a meditation I use with my clients, and I would love for you to have that. And all you have to do is experience it. You just have to listen and allow yourself to go through the process. It’s really very, very easy. You can go to www.clarityrelease.com, and there is a playlist of negative emotion releases and limiting belief release meditation, and I would love to gift that to you.
I hope you’ll get the playlist and start letting go of the limiting beliefs holding you back. So send me a message, and let me know how it goes, okay?
Until the next time, here is wishing you all the clarity you deserve!
