Understanding limiting beliefs and their impact.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking “I’m not good enough to achieve that” or “I know I can do an amazing job at this”. Whether positive or negative, these thoughts form the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, what we’re capable of and what we deserve.
Like many of us, you may have been telling yourself a limiting story about who you are. As children we begin forming stories that shape what we believe about ourselves. We form a picture of who we are and we act according to those beliefs.
“The strongest force is the human need to stay consistent to how we define ourselves”- Tony Robbins.
Becoming aware of the stories I had created and challenging them helped me to see myself in a new way. The simple shift of rewriting the stories in your mind can help you to change the way you feel, change the way you act and ultimately help you to begin paving a new path towards your most vibrant self.
Over the years, I have told myself that I wasn’t good enough to be acknowledged and that I wasn’t worth showing up for. Experiences when I was young left me feeling that I wasn’t enough and I carried those thoughts and feelings with me for years, believing the story my younger self curated.
What we believe about ourselves becomes true for us and so my experiences in life reflected my belief of not being good enough to be acknowledged. I felt neglected in my relationships, I felt unseen in my career and I felt stuck in most areas of my life.
Life reflects back to us the stories we tell ourselves. And so instead of trying to frantically fix everything around us, it’s important to heal the root cause: to rewrite our stories.
The impact and power of our beliefs became such an a-ha moment when I read the story below:
A man saw an elephant at a circus tied to a pole with a small rope at its front leg. Confused at why this huge animal that was beyond capable of freeing itself remained tied to the pole, he asked the trainer why the elephant stood there making no attempt to break away from the bonds. The trainer explained that when the elephant was young and small, the rope was enough to hold them. Each time they try to break free, the pole holds them and so they begin to believe they are not capable of releasing themselves. They begin to tell a limiting story, one that makes them think they are too weak. We can see that the elephant can break free at any time. It isn’t the rope that is holding them back, it’s their belief.
Most of us are living life like the elephant. We hold ourselves back, even though we have everything it takes to set ourselves free and to live a vibrant, joy filled life.
So now it’s time to rewrite your story.
Look at an area in your life that you have been holding yourself back and ask yourself why? Usually the answer to why you aren’t where you want to be holds within it the limiting story you have been telling yourself. Are your stories empowering or limiting?
A belief is a sense of certainty and so the best way to disarm a limiting belief is to find evidence that proves the belief wrong. Ask yourself: Is there any example in my life that shows this story isn’t true? For example, I wrote a list of all the ways that I was acknowledged in my life and times that people had shown up for me with love.
Write a list or paragraph of the things you want to achieve, the way you want to live, the qualities you want to uphold. Once you are clear on who you want to be, begin to write a new story that aligns with your vision. I began to write that I was worthy of being acknowledged, that I had value to offer and that I had the ability to help others and be of service.
The mind loves repetition. Cultivate a daily practice of repeating new thoughts, beliefs and stories with emotion. Feel the words, repeating them as you walk, or sit in a visualisation practice and see yourself as the reinvented version of yourself.
I hope these tools and rituals help you to become more aware of the stories that are guiding your life. You become what you think about most of the time. So to begin transforming the trajectory of your life, you must first begin with what you believe about yourself.
This journey is never ending and constantly evolving with you as you grow - so use this as a constant guide to connect you back to your Innermost self.
Sending all my love,
Mia x