As we look at others and feel that spark of envy or we think about a long held dream that we’ve always had, we feel those thoughts creeping up. The thoughts that sound like, “Good things never happen to me.” or “I’m not smart enough” or “I don’t have the right credentials” or “Things are always difficult for me”. These are common examples of limiting beliefs that many of us hold. Let us break down this term … Belief: a thought that we hold to be true … Limiting … something that holds us back, keeps us small … limits our experiences. So, a limiting belief is a belief that we hold to be true (about ourselves or about how the world works) that holds us back from experiences or from achieving the things we’ve always wanted.
Where do these beliefs come from? They could originate from an experience in our childhood … maybe in first grade you made a picture and someone laughed at it, then from then on the limiting belief, “I can’t draw” began running in the background. We also can acquire limiting beliefs from those around us. We can hear our parents say things, our culture, our friends and take those beliefs on as truth. For example, “Our family is not the type of people who do ___”, “We can’t afford to go ___”, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, “Women can’t ____”
These limiting beliefs can sometimes be common among many people or they can be completely unique to each person. The thing they all have in common is they are negative, they are limiting, and they aren’t true. Truth is only what you believe it to be. It’s like the famous Henry Ford quote … “If you believe you can or believe you can’t … you are right”.
These beliefs are tricky because often they are running on a loop in our unconscious mind. The most powerful thing we can do for our healing and overall wellness is to start to identify these limiting beliefs. If we can bring these beliefs into our conscious awareness now we have the power to address them and move forward. Limiting beliefs may span across all areas of our lives. You may have many in each area or maybe more in one area of your life. I would recommend just selecting one or two areas of your life that you feel are most significant right now. Once you learn the process of moving through limiting beliefs you can return at any point to address any others that are still lingering or any new ones that may arise.
So are you ready to move forward? Are you ready for the life you’ve always wanted? If so, check out my free worksheet to help you begin identifying these limiting beliefs here:
https://amandakugler.com/free-resources
Good luck!
- Amanda