Overcoming Your Self-Limiting Beliefs

You’ve probably heard this before. I talk about this all the time. But the concept is one that has had such a huge impact on my life, I just have to share it! You are not your thoughts, or your feelings. You are the soul or spirit who has the ability to observe and experience your thoughts and feelings.

When I made this realization, I had already been working for years on my tendency to be very critical with my inner dialogue. But only when I paid attention to it from a spiritual perspective, did I realize how harsh I had really been on myself.

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

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

Your mind is designed to keep you safe. This too often means keeping you confined 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, and play, and, and explore, and experience as much as possible in this lifetime.

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

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 strife and resistance in your life. Where are you resisting the flow? Which thoughts and feelings are lowering your energy vibration?

Basically, instead of automatically ‘buying into’ all the negative, limiting thoughts and feelings you may experience, the idea is to take a step back and objectively check them out first. The most important question this process will hopefully leads to is: how can you shift your perspective about these things, in order to achieve greater harmony with that which you wish to manifest in your life?

I have heard the mind being compared to a garden. According to this analogy, we are the gardeners of our mind. We can choose what we wish 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 ground of our mind.

Your mind is powerful. Instead of indulging low-vibration chains of thought, deal with them as soon as you identify them. Let go of those aspects of your life that you can’t control. Return your focus to what you currently already have to be grateful for, and think of the joyful moments you still intend to experience.

This does not mean 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 what you are feeling. If you’re angry, it’s okay to communicate this in a respectful way. The idea here is to actually let the negative feeling move through you. Look at it, as you experience it, instead of merely reacting, and then let it go.

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

In taking the time to have this discussion with myself, on many occasions, I have discovered some really surprising things about my own limiting beliefs. One of the most painful realizations I had was around my feelings of unworthiness, and how this had held me back for years! I would shy away from opportunities, because I felt I was not worthy of them, and that I would never be good enough. I really did believe 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 shift my perspective. It took time, and I faltered, and even failed at some things. But I’ve been growing, and I can look back and see exactly when that shift took place in me, and how it changed the direction and quality of my life.

I won’t pretend that all of this is easy. But I will say that it’s certainly worth it! With conscious self-awareness we can find greater understanding of ourselves, and where we need to heal and grow, as well as how to be more compassionate with ourselves and others.