Overcoming Your Self-Limiting Beliefs

You’ve probably heard this before. I talk about it all the time. But this concept has had such an impact on my life that I just have to keep sharing it!

You are not your thoughts or your emotions. You are the soul or spirit that has the ability to observe and experience your thoughts and feelings.

When I came to this realization, I had been working for years on my tendency to be very critical of my inner dialogue. But it was only when I looked at it from a spiritual perspective that I realized how hard I had been on myself.

Our minds are constantly full of inner chatter that, left unattended, can become a toxic breeding ground for fear, self-judgment, and limiting belief patterns. Once I realized that as a spiritual being I was separate from my thoughts and feelings, I began to observe them more objectively.

As a natural consequence, I found myself asking some very compelling questions. What was I believing about these thoughts? What kind of emotions do these thoughts evoke? This kind of self-reflection opens up a conversation with your heart, your soul, your higher self.

Your mind is designed to keep you safe. Too often this means keeping you within your comfort zones and self-limiting beliefs. Your heart and soul, on the other hand, want you to grow and expand. The higher self wants you to learn, play, explore and experience as much as possible in this lifetime.

Taking an honest and compassionate look at your thoughts can help you understand where you may be holding yourself back. It will show you how you may be creating unnecessary conflict and resistance in your life. Where are you resisting flow? What thoughts and feelings are lowering your energy vibration?

You begin to fly when you let go of self-limiting beliefs and allow your mind and aspirations to rise to greater heights ~ Brian Tracy

Rather than automatically “buying into” all the negative, limiting thoughts and feelings you may be experiencing, take a step back and look at them objectively. The most important question this process will hopefully lead to is: How can you shift your perspective on these things to achieve greater harmony with what you wish to manifest in your life?

I have heard the mind compared to a garden. In this analogy, we are the gardeners of our mind. We can choose what we want to plant in our mental garden. We can plant beautiful flowers and nutritious food, or we can allow weeds and thorns to overtake the fertile soil of our mind.

Your mind is powerful. Instead of indulging in low vibration thought patterns, deal with them as you recognize them. Let go of those aspects of your life that you can’t control. Return your focus to what you already have to be grateful for, and think of the joyful moments you have yet to experience.

This does not mean that you should never have a negative thought or feeling. These shadows are a natural part of the human experience. It’s important to honor those thoughts and feelings. If you’re sad, it’s okay to cry or express your feelings. If you’re angry, it’s okay to communicate that in a respectful way. The idea here is to actually let the negative emotion move through you. Look at it as you are experiencing it, rather than just reacting to it, and then let it go.

In taking the time to have this conversation with myself on many occasions, I have discovered some truly surprising things about my own limiting beliefs. One of the most painful realizations I had was about my feelings of unworthiness and how they had been holding me back for years! I would shy away from opportunities because I felt that I was not worthy of them and that I would never be good enough. I really believed that!

Once I realized how I had completely shut down some of the things that were most important to me in life, I found the motivation to change my perspective. It took time, and I stumbled and even failed at some things. But I’ve grown, and I can look back and see exactly when this shift took place in me and how it changed the direction and quality of my life.

Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

So, how can you begin to shift your own mindset? How can you begin to step out of the trap of negative self-talk and into the expansiveness of your soul’s wisdom?

Practice mindfulness – Become aware of your thoughts. Observe them without attachment or judgment. Meditation can help create space between your awareness and your mental chatter.

Reframe your inner dialogue – When you find yourself in self-criticism, stop. Ask yourself, “Is this thought helping me to grow, or is it holding me back?” If it’s limiting, challenge it and replace it with a more empowering belief.

Journal your thoughts and emotions – Writing down your thoughts can help you process and understand them better. It also allows you to track your progress in changing your mindset.

Cultivate self-compassion – Treat yourself with the same kindness and patience you would show a dear friend. You deserve love and understanding, especially from yourself.

Explore shadow work – Delve into the hidden aspects of yourself that you may have suppressed or ignored. Shadow work allows you to confront your fears, heal old wounds, and integrate all parts of yourself, leading to deeper self-awareness and transformation.

Surround yourself with positivity – Spend time with people who uplift you. Engage in activities that bring you joy and inspiration. What you expose yourself to has a profound effect on your mindset.

Be of service – Volunteering, charity work, or activism can shift your focus outward and connect you to a greater purpose. Helping others not only uplifts them, but also nourishes your own spirit and fosters a deep sense of personal power, purpose and agency.

Embrace growth and change – Accept that discomfort is part of transformation. Your soul has come here to experience, to learn, and to expand beyond limitations. Embrace the journey with an open heart.

Get a psychic reading – Sometimes an outside spiritual perspective can be incredibly helpful. A psychic reading can provide insight into your energy, patterns, and potential pathways, bringing clarity, reassurance and empowerment to your journey.

Seek spiritual support – Ask your ancestors, spirit guides, angels, and the divine to inspire, enlighten, and empower you in becoming the best version of yourself. Opening yourself to higher wisdom and guidance will help you navigate life’s challenges with greater confidence and align you with your soul’s highest path.

Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve ~ Mary Kay Ash

As you continue on this path of awareness and self-discovery, you will notice profound changes in how you respond to challenges, how you view yourself, and how you interact with the world around you. Your thoughts are not who you are – they are merely passing clouds in the vast sky of your consciousness. You, as the observer, have the power to choose which thoughts to energize and which to let fade.

I’m not going to pretend that any of this is easy. But I will say that it’s definitely worth it! With conscious self-awareness, we can find greater understanding of ourselves, where we need to heal and grow, and how to be more compassionate with ourselves and others. In doing so, we align more deeply with our true essence – a soul that is whole, radiant, and limitless.