It's Time To Free Your Self Limiting Beliefs

What do you believe to be true about yourself and others? How did you gain those beliefs? Did you inherit them growing up, or were they acquired through life experiences? Chances are you got them from a combination of your own life experiences and inherited beliefs. Ask yourself, are your beliefs propelling you forward - or holding you back?

The beliefs we hold about ourselves and others directly affect the quality of our life and relationships - in working and non-working ways. My youngest daughter was the one who made me keenly aware of how my non-working beliefs were standing in the way of allowing me to have an authentic relationship with her - and preventing me from living life fully. The topic was discussed frequently enough that we eventually began referring to them as 'SLBs' rather than saying the words 'self limiting beliefs'. After diligent exploration and open assessment of how I was thinking and viewing parts of my life, I got clear on the beliefs that were helping me and those that were hurting me. Those that were serving who I wanted to become got stronger and those that were no longer serving me were slowly and surely weeded out.

Have you taken the time to assess how your beliefs are serving you? We often hold onto self limiting beliefs because they are familiar and we use them at times as a form of protection from conscious or sub-conscious goals and wishes. Sometimes a self limiting belief can prevent us from not getting something that we dearly want. For example, we may want to find a mate but the 'loyal soldier' in our mind talks without permission telling us things like, "you're not handsome or pretty enough for someone like her or him," or; "you'll just wind up getting hurt anyway;" or "it's too much work - I'm already too busy as it is - how would I fit a relationship into my schedule?"

These are all stories we may tell ourselves to prevent us from going after that one thing we hold dear and would cherish if we allowed ourselves to be open to admit we want it, get clear on what we want, and take conscious steps to achieve it. Why do we allow ourselves to do this? When you assess it logically, it looks cruel. Why do we punish ourselves like this? Mainly because we have not taken the time to get to the root of the belief and explore how it is serving or no longer serving us.

One way to identify your self limiting beliefs is to be aware of your non-supportive or critical 'inner talk.' Jot down the thoughts or false beliefs that come to you as you consider various situations such as going after anything that is important to you. The self doubts that bubble up are directly tied to your self limiting beliefs. Once you can identify them - they can be weeded out like weeds in a garden - and you can replace them with beautiful flowers that are waiting to bloom from within you.

What are some ways to eliminate self limiting beliefs? Once you have jotted them down or spoken them out loud - they are visible and tangible. They are no longer swirling around in a circle going around and around in your mind. Awareness and consciousness of the limiting belief is the first step.

Once you have identified the false belief, you can dialogue with it. You can write a love letter to yourself and your limiting beliefs. I did this and found it extremely effective. In this process, I wrote a letter thanking my self limiting beliefs for protecting me up to that point. I acknowledged how they had served me in the past and consciously released them going forward as no longer serving me no longer part of me.

This was a very freeing experience. It absolutely changed my inner belief and operating system. I no longer hold beliefs that used to regularly creep into my thinking. I seldom have limiting thoughts now, and if I do, I have learned to stop the thought just as quickly as it tries to break the ground into the sunlight. I do that by replacing that thought with an empowering thought. For example, if I am thinking about a new endeavor that I am working on and feel discouraged in some way, the natural inclination is to doubt myself and whether I can really do it. As soon as that type of thinking surfaces, I reconnect with the feelings and thoughts around why I am doing this in the first place. That immediately turns the thought around from defeating to empowering.

Sometimes if a belief has been torturing or beating you down for a long period of time, you may need the help of a professional to determine where that belief stems from or how to eliminate it. The presence of someone experienced at exploring and guiding others with the elimination of self limiting beliefs is what is in order. As a life coach, I am experienced at helping free people from the thoughts that bind them.

Just like me, you too can be free from limiting beliefs and become empowered to move in the direction of what you truly want in life. If you are not living the life you want or have goals that you don't see a way to achieve, the beliefs that you hold are likely influencing your ability to achieve what you want. Take action and begin living the life you want. I would be honored to work with you.