Overcoming limiting beliefs
Lets cut straight to the chase.
Every single human subscribes to limiting beliefs. At some point or another we arrive at the precipice of where we think our reality meets our limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs serve as a sort of impassable mental landscape that transcends beyond the merely mental belief system to impact our physical, emotional, and even spiritual capacities.
In this article we are going to descend into the roots of how we develop limiting beliefs, how to identify with clarity and honesty exactly where those limiting beliefs dwell, and to overcome such limiting beliefs around the topics of self worth, money, and even sex.
Shall we?
What are limiting beliefs exactly?
To understand limiting beliefs, lets first take a small step back into understanding simply beliefs so we can then take 100 steps forward.
A belief is a thought that we choose to identify with.
The thought could originate from somewhere inside of your mind or be advertised to you from outside your mind via other people, media, etc… The origin of the thought on some level is important yet is also ancillary to utilizing beliefs for your benefit. The importance in understanding what constitutes a belief is that we consciously choose to reinforce the thought by identifying with it. In other words, even if the thought is not original to us, we take ownership of it through entertaining it, inviting it deeper into our consciousness, and choosing to identify with it.
So a limiting belief is simply a thought believed in that reinforces an identity of separation between you and what you believe is possible in your life.
Limiting beliefs represent the discrepancy between reality now and the reality we think is reasonable. Limiting beliefs hinge on reason and rationality, and utilize all of the sneaky tools within our mind to reinforce a sense of reason that in all reality is sub-par to what we are actually capable of us.
Limiting beliefs undercut all potential and subsequently prevent us from exploring anything that we deem lives beyond that perception of potential.
It all comes down to perception.
“ALL is MIND, the universe in mental.” – the Kybalion
Limiting beliefs about self-worth.
Our limiting are a reflection of our perception of self. Beliefs create identity, and identity is merely perceived.
Why then does it seem like it’s easier to perceive our self-worth to be lower than it does to be higher?
Great question. The answer is discipline. To perceive our self-worth to be low does not require any discipline to re-inforce it. There is a subtle choice involved that quickly becomes rooted in our underlying identity that prompts choices to perceive low self-worth on autopilot. After some time, we don’t even realize that we have chosen that identity, it just becomes naturally what we see largely without the need to consciously support it.
So limiting beliefs that cultivate low self-worth will become a self-sustained cycle.
On the other hand, beliefs that cultivate high self-worth require some level of discipline to begin; however, over time the discipline can also be programmed into a self-sustained cycle. The desire to want to believe the positive inside of you is a continual choice; therefore, that choice can become perception of identity where that choice can run on autopilot sim
The distinction I wish to make is that cultivating high self-worth and low self-worth are both rooted in choice. Although high self-worth requires discipline, that does not necessarily make it more unapproachable or even difficult. Where does the perception of difficulty go when you love the task at hand?
So if it all starts with a choice, then that one single choice requires the same amount of energy whether it is A or B. Our mind will want to project into what happens after the choice, that is natural; however to understand the power of choice is to understand the power of moving one little step at a time.Whatever is behind the choice is secondary, because all limiting beliefs are cultivated in the present moment. Those moments stack on top of each other until it becomes unclear where the origin is. Know that the origin is a single choice, and the only the only choice you ever need to consider is as follows,
“Does this choice encourage me to become better than I am now, or does it discourage me from becoming better than I am now?
I like to think of better as a quality that represents the person you want to become. Ultimately, if we are fully conscious of who we want to become, we will not desire to become someone of low self-worth, we will naturally want to be a better version of ourselves each and every moment, not without its fluctuations but merely with the drive to become the person you know you can be.
How to Identify Limiting Beliefs.
The most clear way to identify limiting beliefs is to look upon your decision making process.
Limiting beliefs become a system encoded within us.
The belief system becomes embodied and therefore has an impact on all of our expressions. When a thought is reinforced to the extent of being a conviction, that thought is stored in the body and experienced through nervous system responses when stimuli prompts the idea behind the thought.
So when we make decisions, our nervous system will respond based on the limiting beliefs that are rooted in our mind and body.
Limiting beliefs can be identified by a dense feeling and perhaps a colder energy that arises when prompted with a certain decision.
For example, if you are presented with a business opportunity and all you need to do is meet for coffee to discuss if you are the right fit for the opportunity, what then is your feeling?
Is your feeling one of which that is a little bit nervous yet a little bit excited because you know you are ready for such an opportunity, or is your feeling one of which that immediately tries to find justification to sabotage the situation?
“Oh no, there is someone better for the opportunity.”
“I’m not ready.”
“I’m not good enough to be able to do that.”
These are all limiting beliefs that are expressed from deep within your mind and body.
Another example, someone you are attracted to and have been interested in asks if you would like to go for a walk on the beach. You go for a walk together on the beach and that person shares a desire to get to know you more deeply and to spend more time together because that person feels the same way about you.
Is your feeling one that leans toward,
“Im not good enough for that person”
“Im not beautiful enough”
“What if it doesn’t work out”
Again, these are all limiting beliefs that manifest into your life through certain decision making experiences. Use this as a guide to look into your life and identify where these types of limiting beliefs arise in your life. The big examples are clearly opportunities and relationships, but limiting beliefs can show up in many shapes and sizes.
Look to something you have always wanted to do, and what is keeping you from taking the steps towards doing that. If you believe that somebody else can do it, you can do it, its just your own system of beliefs that have constructed that are preventing you from doing it.
The only one who can truly limit you, is you.
Overcoming limiting beliefs
There is no separation between the “you” now and “the you” that you want to be.
Limiting beliefs all come down to the amount of separation you wish to keep between who you are now and the life that you want to life. There is certainly comfort in the safety of that separation, some parts of us feels like we are safe not living out our dreams because in that manner we don’t have to worry about failing or hurting ourselves.
Although limiting beliefs are perception based, when embodied they do present us with very real and tangible obstacles that we must face.
Nothing exists outside the self.
The limiting beliefs that we choose to embody exists inside of us. The obstacles that we face in life are our own limiting beliefs elaborating themselves by manifesting into our outside environment through certain experiences, relationships, and fears. These obstacles are a reflection of what we choose to see inside of our own self.
With limiting beliefs it seems like we are starting off on the wrong foot. We believe that we are not good enough to experience something, so the moment that such a something appears we are already inclined to shut it down. This much is very true.
The most difficult part in overcoming limiting beliefs is when you first become very conscious of your limiting beliefs and wish to overcome them.
When we observe our limiting belief manifesting into a certain moment in front of us, it is the most difficult to break the pattern of identifying with that limiting belief because it has been habitual to identify with it. The identification has largely been unconscious and unquestioned.
The silly fact lives behind that question, “When was the last time I questioned this belief about myself? When was the last time I questioned the behavior that comes from the belief?”
The truth is,
We don’t question these beliefs and behaviors. They are so engrained in our perception and habits, they largely go undetected on the conscious level.
But thankfully we have Carl Jung, “Make the unconscious conscious!”
By observing and taking note on when our limiting beliefs arise and from where they arise from, we are making portions of our unconscious available to be observed consciously. This is where all healing takes place. This is where the space is made for miracles.
From the space of making the unconscious now conscious, you hold all the power. You hold the power to look into the depths of the belief, the power to forgive yourself for holding on to that belief, and the power to consciously walk down a new path, a new path with new beliefs. You hold the power to ask yourself, “Who is the type of person I want to become, and how can I focus on creating beliefs that align with this person?’
Interestingly enough,
For us to subscribe to a certain limiting belief, there must also be an equal and opposite more expanding belief.
This is the Principle of Polarity coupled with the Principle of Rhythm as described in, “The Kybalion,”
Every down must also have an up, just as the tide ebbing must thereafter have a tide flowing.
So, the Belief that will expand who you are already exists within you. In fact, now that you are conscious of these things, the tide is rising and amplifying the intensity of your awareness on them. If you are this far into the article, these truths are resonating with you as clearly you embody the belief that you can become better, and are becoming better.
Your journey of overcoming limiting beliefs starts now.
Every time your old program of limitations presents you with the habit of feeling like you are not good enough, replace that now with an, “I am good enough.”
Every time you feel like you aren’t worthy enough, replace that with, “I am worthy enough.”
At every moment when the old pattern of limiting beliefs come up, observe them, and replace them with the equal and opposite belief that will help you become more of the person you know you can be.
Your choice to reinforce a new identity that encourages your growth and expansion will be rewarded with more opportunities that align with that growth ad expansion, and therefore more opportunities for you to affirm who you are now becoming.
You create the new and improved feedback loop of who you want to become. Yes, this requires discipline and the willingness to become a better person, and it will require you breaking old habits by replacing them with new ones, but this will undoubtedly be a transformation that makes you truly WANT to transform.
When you taste the power of overcoming limiting beliefs, there is no going back. Sure we might fall into habits from time to time, but the type of person we feel like we are becoming is deeply more invigorated and inspired in life. That quality is immeasurable and irreplaceable.
