“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Have you ever wondered, “What exactly are limiting beliefs, and why does it matter?” Well, if you are looking to attract more success and happiness into your life, then it really matters.
For better or worse, your beliefs shape your reality. They are your innermost beliefs about yourself, the world, and other people.
By identifying the invisible forces that drive your thoughts, behaviors, and actions, you can harness beliefs that empower your life.
DISCLOSURE: In my article, I've mentioned a few products and services in an effort to help you lead a better life. Some of them are affiliate links. This means that every time you click and make a purchase, I’ll be compensated at no extra cost to you. This will help me to continue to provide you with useful (and free) articles in the future.
If you look in the mirror and ask yourself…
“Am I happy with the life that I’m living right now?”
…and the answer is an honest-to-goodness “yes,” you have discovered true happiness and your place in the universe.
What if your answer is “no?”
Then you should spend some time questioning your existing belief system. Nothing controls the direction of your life as much as your core beliefs. Finding out what they are will help you take control of your life.
Your belief system is one of the most powerful influences on any decision you make in life. These beliefs have an impact on your happiness, success, and personal fulfilment in all aspects of your life.
Your beliefs and perception of reality are shaped by your upbringing and experiences.
Once they are developed, it means that they are deeply rooted in your subconscious mind. And changing your belief system isn’t going to be an easy task.
If you believe that “nobody likes me,” your mind will find ways to further validate that belief. Even if someone is being nice to you, your mind will disqualify the authenticity of the act. You will presume that he or she has an ulterior motive.
Whether you realize it or not, you’ll be constantly affirming your beliefs.
James Clear, the author of the New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, calls this an identity-based habit:
“The basic idea is that the beliefs you have about yourself can drive your long-term behavior. Maybe you can trick yourself into going to the gym or eating healthy once or twice, but if you don’t shift your underlying identity, then it’s hard to stick with long-term changes.”
Since your beliefs strongly impact how you approach life, it’s important to make sure they’re positive and empowering. When your core beliefs start to hinder your progress in life, it’s time to put a stop to it.
The parts of your belief system that have a negative impact on your life are known as limiting beliefs. These are negative assumptions about yourself, others, and the world that are buried deep within your subconscious mind.
Many of these limiting beliefs stem from your early years. During childhood, you soaked up every experience that came your way, regardless of whether they were good or bad.
However, these beliefs are not only acquired through your own experience but also through people of authority in your life. It’s common for kids to adopt beliefs from well-meaning parents and teachers.
You have most likely (unintentionally) absorbed the beliefs that your parents, teachers, and other authoritative people have instilled in you.
Nina Cooke, a business mindset coach, put it succinctly:
“Many limiting beliefs are created in our childhood. Devastatingly, they become part of our identity… Mistakenly, we think these stories are keeping us safe, protecting us from rejection and humiliation. The reality is, they’re just stories we make up in our heads by attaching made-up meanings to events. And they cost us dearly all our lives.”
Just because you believe something about yourself doesn’t make it true. But, over a period of time, these beliefs start to brew in your subconscious.
What you believe has an impact on how you perceive events, how you feel, and how you act. And, in many cases, those beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies.
The “Dean of Personal Development,” Earl Nightingale, once said:
“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.”
Ask yourself from time to time, “Does this belief serve me?” If it does, stick to it. As for those beliefs that keep you stuck or impede your progress, replace them with ones that empower you.
Making small shifts in your belief system is all it takes to transform your life. The quality of your belief system determines the quality of your life.
You can change any limiting beliefs you want and convert them into empowering beliefs. All you need to do is “rewrite” the way those beliefs are encoded in the subconscious mind.
This way of altering your beliefs is right out of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)* playbook. Inspired by Kent Sayre’s book, Unstoppable Confidence, it involves changing the structure of the belief and thereby changing the belief.
Let’s break down the procedure so you can see how it works before you start:
* NLP is a psychological technique for influencing your brain’s (Neuro) processing of the words you use (Linguistic) and how that impacts your past, present, and future (Programming).
Close your eyes and recall something that you once believed to be true. You may have been taught as a child that chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years if swallowed. As you become older, you begin to have doubts about this.
A doubt can be considered as a belief that something “is not so” or not how you originally perceived it to be. Think about your doubts about chewing gum (or something else about which you have always been doubtful since childhood).
Take note of everything that is connected to that belief. Pay attention to the belief’s structure. You have mental images, sounds, and feelings that are linked to your beliefs.
Start by observing the many visual aspects of the belief. Make a mental note of your observation. How would you describe this belief of yours that used to be true?
What shape is it? Is it flat, square, round, or three-dimensional? Does it have a color? Is it clear or out of focus? How bright is it? What size is it? Where is the location of the belief? Does it have a frame around it?
Now, let’s move to the auditory description of this belief. Listen to the sounds that are connected with the belief that used to be true while keeping your eyes closed.
Pay special attention to the sound qualities of this belief of yours that used to be true. Are you able to describe it?
Where is the location of the sounds? Is it a voice of doubt? Are there any other sounds? Can you discern the volume of the sound?
You can stop your visualization now and open your eyes. To ensure that you are back in the present moment, take a deep breath and look around.
Then, either take a few steps to center yourself or name three items that you see around you.
Once you feel fully present, think of something that you’re absolutely certain to be true. It could be something as simple as “the sky is very bright right now.”
Now, you’ll undertake a visualization exercise similar to the one you did for doubting belief. Consider a belief in which you are totally certain to be true.
Keep track of anything you see in your mind that is connected to that belief. Observe the many visual features of the belief once more and make a mental note.
What words would you use to describe this belief that you know to be absolutely true?
What shape is it? Is it flat, square, round, or three-dimensional? Does it have a color? Is it clear or out of focus? How bright is it? What size is it? Where is the location of the belief? Does it have a frame around it?
Again, moving to the auditory description of this belief, tune into the sounds that are associated with your belief. Keep your eyes closed and listen to the sounds that are connected with this belief that is absolutely true.
Pay special attention to the sound qualities of this belief that is absolutely true. Are you able to describe it?
Where is the location of the sounds? Is it a voice of doubt? Are there any other sounds? Can you discern the volume of the sound?
Stop your visualization now and open your eyes. Take a deep breath and look around. To ensure that you are back in the present moment, take a few steps to center yourself.
This will help you return to a neutral state of mind.
Let’s work on a limiting belief. Think of a limiting belief that has been impeding your progress in life. For example, “I can never save money” or “nobody at work likes me.”
Close your eyes and take note of all the visual and auditory aspects of the belief that you have selected. This exercise is very similar to the one you did previously.
The next thing you will be doing is tweaking that limiting belief. This is accomplished by matching the visual and auditory qualities of the belief against those of doubt.
Take your time when you match the visual and auditory qualities of the two. You would want to make sure that the limiting belief’s features are as close to those of doubt as possible.
Your limiting belief is now encoded with something that you doubt or no longer believe. If done correctly, you’ll discover that this limiting belief is no longer something you believe.
You can open your eyes and take a deep breath. Look around you and point at three objects at random to bring yourself back to the present moment.
Now that you have successfully removed a limiting belief, think of an empowering belief that has always served you. Allow this belief to take the place of the limiting belief that you have just removed.
You can program new and empowering thoughts into your subconscious mind using the same method. Begin with new ones that you believe in and work your way up to bigger and better ones.
Start with a degree of belief that you are comfortable with. For example, instead of going from “I’m not confident” to “I’m highly confident,” work on it gradually.
Begin with, “Every day, I gain greater confidence.”
Close your eyes again and imagine the belief in which you want to totally believe. Allow yourself to become aware of the visual and auditory elements of that belief.
Then start changing every aspect of that belief to match the visual and auditory attributes of the strong belief (from #2 above). Upon completion, you’ll think about your empowering belief in the same way you think about your other deeply held beliefs.
Just make sure your new empowering belief matches up closely with your existing deeply held beliefs as much as possible. (In terms of visual and auditory aspects).
Beliefs help us to navigate our way through life. Now that you’ve learned how to tweak your belief system to triumph in life, why not adopt the empowering ones?
Identify and reframe any limiting thoughts you have in your life into empowering ones. Slowly but steadily, as the quality of your thoughts improves, your life will begin to take a more positive turn.
As the world’s most recognized self-help guru, Tony Robbins, aptly put it:
“The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself.”
It is what you tell yourself that determines what you believe. This can have a significant impact on how you perceive the world and how you feel.
Change your life’s narrative and live triumphantly.
Like this article? Then you might want to read this:
READ NEXT
