Recognise & Overcome Limiting Beliefs

Quite often I find myself battling between what is true, what is real, and what is not.

All that I’ve come to find is that something can only be as real as you let it.

Let me explain that to you.

Everything can be real and true.

What we experience becomes our perception, and then our belief.

We subconsciously start to find evidence for what we believe in and that becomes our truth.

For example, if you believe that every man/woman cheats and then you notice a gossip article about how a celebrity couple broke up because one of them cheated, it reinforces your belief that every man/woman does cheat!

We acquire many beliefs throughout our lifetime that come from our environment, families, friends, and most importantly experiences.

Some beliefs are good such as, “I know if I keep exercising, I'll become stronger.”

This belief will keep you going, and you will stay healthy and strong.

But we also form limiting beliefs.

What Are Limiting Beliefs?

We all have limiting beliefs.

Limiting beliefs can be picked up from a very young age over an incident that you now can’t even remember yet it's deep rooted in your mind and it’s the cause of the behaviour that you aren’t fully aware of...

Imagine as a child you lose your toy.

Your parents yell at you for losing it and call you irresponsible.

You then carry the narrative - “I am irresponsible” - into your adulthood and seem to slack at everything.

Using the example mentioned before, if you truly believe that every man/woman cheats it will stop you from having a fulfilling, healthy relationship literally because you don’t believe in one!

You can have limiting beliefs about yourself, the world, life, other people, love, travelling, anything.

These beliefs keep us from reaching our full potential and live how we would truly like to.

The only limit is in your mind.

How To Recognise Limiting Beliefs

It’s the story we tell ourselves, and the explanations we give to external events that become our “devil” voice.

At school our bad grades can be perceived as we are not good at something when in actuality you can become better with practice.

Remember that it’s your perception of an experience that you carry with you.

Nothing can be imbedded in your mind unless you accept it.

What stories do you tell yourself?

Some of these can be recognised in your negative self-talk.

“Who will love me, I have pimples”, “everyone ends up getting divorced, what is the point?”

What do you usually criticise yourself about?

Ask yourself why you “have” to do something or feel the need to do it....

Is it to get approval? Are you trying to prove yourself to somebody?

Why? What is rooted in your mind?

Ask yourself questions such as:

What is challenging me?

Why do I feel like I can't do it?

What makes me think that I am not good enough?

Am I afraid of failure?

Apart from self-reflection, meditating and writing in a diary will help you bring awareness to your thoughts and beliefs as well.

Here are some common examples of limiting beliefs:

Not worthy or not enough
No one likes me

They don’t care
I never do anything right
Nothing is enough
I can’t do this because I am not smart enough, pretty enough etc
I don’t have the time

It’s all taken
I’m too young/old
I don’t deserve it

How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs

Your thoughts, beliefs and experiences are not the truth of the world.

They only affect your reality of the world.

In order to change what you don’t like such as your limiting beliefs, you can change the negative narratives you tell yourself.

To help you overcome your past beliefs you can use affirmations to affirm new positive beliefs that you would rather implement in your life.

For example, your past belief could be “I’m not worthy” you can change it to “I am deserving and enough.”

Of course you won’t just start believing it, at the start you might even feel like you’re lying to yourself.

But how do you feel when you say “I can do it” compared to “I can’t” or “I’m not worthy” compared to “I am worthy?”

Just speaking positive affirmations will enable you to see the outcome differently, gather some confidence and will power to move towards what you truly desire.

This will slowly dissolve the old limiting beliefs.

Our beliefs usually come from our experiences which can only mean that our ways to know how or why are minimal.

Being open to other opinions, stories, and the world can really help see things differently.

Travelling, socialising, and reading books are just some of the ways to become curious.

You are enough. You are loved. Nothing is impossible.

As the old saying goes, “stranger things have happened” so open up your mind and explore!

Having the personal growth mentality will also help you reach your full potential because it’s the belief that you can do better and be better at anything you want!

What limiting beliefs have you recognised? What helped you overcome those beliefs? What helped you the most from this blog?

Read, share, comment, and let me know what you think!