My experience with Limiting Beliefs

In this blog post, I will share

1. “My experience with Limiting Beliefs
2. “What are Limiting Beliefs“
3. “What to do about Limiting Beliefs“

I feel anxious

I don’t want to do this

Distractions are flowing into my mind. Other things I need to be doing. Other things I could be doing. “Let me just take care of this one thing before I forget” whispers the voice in my head. And I really want to eat something.

And this is on a good day!

On a bad day, I will feel nauseous, dizzy, or have a headache. I will have a weird pain in my leg or back show up. Did I mention that I want to eat everything?

So what is going on with me and with my body?

I am pushing up against my subconscious mind’s idea of safety

My logical mind and my heart really want to make this blog a reality and a success. I want to impact people and encourage them to live their best life. I want to make a difference in the world.

But . . .

My subconscious mind is trying to keep me safe.

You see I was bullied in school and it was better to not be seen or noticed.

I developed into a perfectionist that didn’t finish projects. I went from a confident little girl who was going to conquer the world to a grown woman who is struggling to put words on a page.

And …

I am in this weird place of doing enough work on my limiting beliefs that I know in my head these are limiting beliefs. They are not TRUTH. And feeling in my body the reality of these beliefs, that they are still active and driving the bus. I am in this surreal place of feeling what I am feeling …and experiencing what I am experiencing ….while at the same time watching myself in a detached, external way and thinking “Well, isn’t that interesting?”

So, let’s take a step back and look at what is going on here

First of all what are limiting beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are beliefs or decisions that we make that become ingrained in us. So ingrained that we are no longer aware of the decision or belief. It can manifest as

• This is the way I am
• This is the way the world is
• This is the way things have always been

If we dig down into these statements, they rely on foundational beliefs and decisions. When we are babies we are learning and trying to make sense of this world around us. We take in information and believe it as truth and identify what normal is. This gathering of information and decision-making continues as we grow; adding layers and layers. Our brains hardwire in certain behaviors and habits. These behaviors and habits become subconscious, without our active, thinking brain being involved.

Communication between our conscious mind and our subconscious mind is a two-way street. Every time you have an idea, or an emotion, a memory, or an image from the past — this is the subconscious mind communicating to your conscious mind.

What do we do about Limiting Beliefs?

Well, we have three options:

· We can give up, eat a cookie and say that is just the way I am

· We can power through, grind it out, grit our teeth, beat ourselves up and make ourselves do it

· We can Identify and try and clear the beliefs. Often just being aware of the beliefs is enough to dispel them. Limiting Belief Session is really powerful ……

Now the good news here is that you have a choice. You get to choose the action you want to take. Sometimes, we are not ready to jump in and do the hard work. That is ok. I would encourage you to honor where you are at. You are ok JUST as you are and I love you no matter the choice you make.

However, if you are ready to jump into option #3. And you want to start to remove these pesky limiting beliefs from your life -read on!

How do you clear limiting beliefs?

The basic process to clear limiting beliefs is to

So the first step is to Identify the Limiting Belief. The best way I have found to Identify the limiting belief and begin to replace the belief at the same time is through my program

This is a recorded session that is available on-demand. Click here for more information

In these sessions, we do a relaxation exercise, followed by a memory exercise that brings clarity about why we act the way we do. This clarity allows us to make informed decisions about how we want to show up in our lives. It allows us to make fast and easy changes in our lives without the struggle of fighting ourselves.

This is such a powerful exercise, and I am so glad to be able to share it with you. I am so excited about the breakthroughs that my clients are getting. I want these changes to be available to you. Did I mention that it is FREE through August So sign up for it here

Anchoring New Beliefs

So the best way to anchor new beliefs is with affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements that start with the words “I am”. “I am” statements are so important because shape and maintain our self-identity. For most of us, the voice in our heads is negative. “I am so ______ (fill in the black with your self-defeating term of choice).

With affirmations, we use the same technique but we use it to build ourselves up. In my case of not wanting to be seen, I can use the affirmation: “ I am lovable. It is safe to speak up.” I then write my affirmation on a notecard. I then say it out loud to myself in the morning right before I get up and then again right before I go to bed. It can feel weird at first. It is so totally worth it to help eliminate the limiting belief, keeping me from the life I want to live!

Managing our Emotions and Reactions

So, let’s get real. Participating in my program is not going to magically make all your limiting beliefs just disappear. I WISH I had that much power and skill!

Anytime you do this inner work, your subconscious is going to try to keep you safe. It is going to try to keep you where you have always been. Emotions and reactions are going to come up. From my experience with limiting beliefs, I have found the best thing to do is to sit with those emotions or actions.

• Notice them.
• Scan your body and see where they are sitting.
• Are you feeling pain or discomfort anywhere in your body?

As a general habit, we tend to ignore what is going on in our bodies. We tend to push away any unpleasant emotions. This pushing away tends to increase the intensity of the feeling. This can create secondary problems such as emotional eating. What I would like you to do is sit with the emotion. Feel the emotion in its intensity. Welcome it and don’t judge it. Sounds weird, I know. But what I have found, is that if you do this process the emotion will shift and move in your body. Eventually, the intensity of the emotion will become less and overall, more manageable.

Deep breathing and meditation can also help to eliminate any lingering emotional residue. Now the emotion might not go entirely away but it should be better.

That leads us to the last step:

Take Action Anyway

Whatever we are feeling, we need to take appropriate action. I find that if I just buckle down and get started; that the physical symptoms fade and eventually disappear. I tell myself, “I am just going to get started on this for 15 minutes (or 5 minutes). And then I can take a break and work on something else.” What I find is that once I get started, I can get past the physical and emotional hurdles and tap into my why. Once I can remember that WHY the task gets immensely easier.

And if I am still struggling at the end of the time I set, then I stop and consider the situation. Bumping up to the edge of our comfort zone is difficult. It drains our energy and increases our stress response. We need to realize that we cannot stress ourselves to success. At times like this we may need to take a walk, do some self-care, get a snack and if possible, return to the task to be done.

I have found that what doesn’t work is giving in to the fear and feelings. If I give in and procrastinate or if I allow myself to get distracted, when I do come back the fear and feelings are stronger and the block is bigger. I find that moving forward and tackling a little is the best way to keep the fear and feeling manageable.

If you are having these feelings and physical symptoms then this means that you probably have more work to do on your limiting beliefs. I invite you to participate in (or in another) Overcoming Limiting Belief Session. These sessions will allow you to identify your limiting beliefs and begin the process of overcoming them. You can sign up HERE

One of my favorite Jack Canfield quote is:

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.

It is wasn’t you would already have it!

So, join me in the journey of pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones so that we can live the life of our dreams!

You might also like one of my other blog posts “What are Limiting Beliefs” and “Affirmations to Overcome limiting Beliefs“. In the meantime, I would love to hear your comments about your experience with Limiting Beliefs below.

Keep Dream’n