In this #WritingAloud post, I am inspired to talk about limiting and powerful beliefs and how taking your time to actually unpick those can free you up to live a healthier, happier, and more meaningful life. This has been quite a revealing insight, and I hope it could help you, too.
First, let’s talk about what generally a belief is. Tony Robbins, in his book ‘Awaken the Giant Within,’ defines a belief as ‘a feeling of certainty about something.’ Most of our beliefs, both limiting and powerful ones, are the result of our generalizations from past experiences. Once we formed those beliefs, our nervous system takes it as an unbreakable rule that cannot be shaken by anything or anyone — but that’s the nervous system’s attitude, and this CAN BE rewired or reprogrammed.
“It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.” — Tony Robbins
If you unconsciously trust your beliefs, you stop doubting them (and you should, I’ll tell you more about it in a bit), you’re letting your own mind block you from vast possibilities the world has to offer. There’s even a term for this: learned helplessness (introduced by Dr. Martin Seligman).
Dr. Martin explains that those who oftentimes failed saw failure not as a lesson or a challenge to overcome and finally achieve a successful outcome, or, as Joe Vitale says, as feedback that’ll train your neuroplasticity, your brain to approach tackling problems you’ve never done before — they saw it simply as a problem and started giving up right away, falling into the trap of victimhood or continuous blaming. They become naysayers to practically everything in their lives, limiting themselves from a pool of abundance and exciting opportunities out there.
These limiting beliefs can be changed. At first, as I’ve already mentioned, you can simply start doubting those. Create a list of all beliefs that you have. The best way is to start journaling; this way you’ll actually see what you are thinking. Mo Gawdat, in his book “Solve for Happy,” says that, first of all, “that little voice in your head is not you!” It’s hard to admit it, but, really, identifying yourself with your thoughts is actually an illusion.
What you have to do is to observe your thoughts, keep watching them as those pass by in your mind and make notes — either just simply note those as in meditations and let go, or write them down to actually see those. After writing them down for quite a number of days, you’ll see that some of them repeat — these would be the foundation of your beliefs.
After this exercise, try to remove your counter beliefs by asking these questions:
— Is it REALLY true?
— Is it true for anybody?
— Is this belief valid or is it still serving me?
Then, you can divide those into two groups: limiting beliefs and powerful beliefs, and work through those by following Tony Robbin’s practical advice I truly recommend applying:
For powerful beliefs, simply write those down as headers, and then add a space below them to reinforce them by adding the details: jot down proofs, reasons, realy WHYs behind the belief.
For example, you’ve decided to become more mindful. You can research health benefits behind mindfulness and meditation, then ask your acquaintance who meditates, why this practice is so beneficial to them and why they still continue, etc. This will create a strong emotional connection to your belief. Lastly, to create even stronger neurological connections, you can go from the opposite and ask yourself “What will happen, if I actually don’t practice it?” Possible answers will be: you’ll be more stressed, you’ll get sick more often, you’ll put your self-awareness on pause — the list might go on and on. I find this even more powerful when I want to reinforce my beliefs.
As far as limiting beliefs, try to identify them first. You can ask the above questions, and if you see those no longer serve you, do this little, but groundbreaking trick: turn those into powerful beliefs! This is how.
For example, your belief is “Oh, I am too old for this.” (In fact, that’s my own belief when I thought it’s too late to start learning playing guitar, or piano. Spoiler alert: I’ve overcome it and am now annoying my neighbors :)). Cross this belief in your notebook, and write a new, powerful one, something like: “It’s never too late to make your dreams come true!” “Life’s given for continuous growth, improvement, and becoming a better version of yourself”, or simply, “It’s never too late for anything!” See, this turn out to be a completely different, more powerful belief, and you can go through all the steps of reinforcing your powerful beliefs as narrated above.
Another great reminder is taken from Joe Vitale’s book “The Miracle” — it’s so worth quoting to finish my post:
“When you take the baby step, the next step becomes apparent. When you take that step, the next step after it becomes apparent.”
Feed and water your powerful beliefs. Don’t surrender by being so afraid to make your first step. Continue growing and expanding your consciousness — ’cause this the gift of your life.
Recommended books to read on the topic:
- Tony Robbins “Awaken the Giant Within”
- Mo Gawdat “Solve for Happy”
- Jo Vitale’s and Dr. Joe Dispenza's books