How To Change Your Limiting Beliefs And Empower Yourself In Life

To change your limiting beliefs you can take several steps. First of all, think that they are the ones who are undermining your self-esteem and your lack of confidence. That vision of the world and of yourself that you have internalized must be reinterpreted again to identify the cognitive and emotional traps that hold back your growth, as well as the possibility of being happy.

It should be noted that this exercise is not exactly easy. Many of those beliefs that boycott us on a daily basis have been with us for almost as long as we can remember. It is in childhood when a good part (not all) of those ideas and interpretations that erode our personal growth are integrated into our minds. Thus, phrases like ‘you are not good for this’ or  ‘better not try that’ are undermining not only our identity, but also our own potential.

On the other hand, something that is curious is the fact that many of those wrong and harmful ideas that reside with us on the journey of life remain in our minds despite being aware that they are not useful. One can be, for example, very intelligent, be a person with a high intellectual capacity. However, if we harbor the belief that we are fallible, that our insecurity prevents us from achieving success, it is very likely that we will never achieve it.

This is basically due to the depth with which the limiting beliefs are integrated. They are seeds that are installed in the depths of our psychological layers. In addition, these dimensions go hand in hand with fears and, therefore, slide before reason or logic. However, with commitment and adapted strategies we can deactivate them.

How to change your limiting beliefs?

The issue of limiting beliefs, and even false beliefs, has surprising aspects. So much so that many of us neglect the importance of everything that is said to us or transmitted to us during childhood and adolescence. Each experience, each phrase and each comment shape a large part of who we are in a shocking way.

An illustrative example on the subject is the one demonstrated by Dr. Elke Geerts, from the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands. If a group of children are led to believe that they are allergic to a food (for example eggs) they will reach adulthood thinking that they are intolerant to that product (even if they are not). What’s more, there have been cases where when eating these foods a reaction has occurred, such as discomfort or vomiting.

What they make us believe shapes us. Now, but not only what is experienced in childhood sets up the realm of limiting beliefs. Also the way in which we ourselves interpret certain experiences in adulthood, can cement new and exhausting false ideas that damage our worth in a remarkable way. An example of this may be suffering an emotional breakdown and telling us that ‘love is not for us’. Let’s see, however, how to change your limiting beliefs.

And you, what limiting belief do you cling to?

Throughout your life cycle, you have been in contact with various sources that may have been the origin of the odd limiting belief. Maybe it was your education, the one your parents passed on to you. It is possible that at school or institute, certain words or experiences took a toll on you. It may also have been an emotional relationship or a tiring job where you suffered great stress.

There is always a trigger that you empowered. There was something that you ended up internalizing and taking for granted; you must identify it and analyze what it is made of in order to disassemble it, to discover how unreal and harmful it is.

Your belief is not the truth, it is the one that you have built. Learn to tear it down!

To understand how to change your limiting beliefs, reflect on this idea. It is true that at some point someone made you believe an idea about yourself. It is true that you yourself, and after some experience, shaped an image that now accompanies you as a chain that limits your steps and your ability to be happy. Now, remember that your belief is not the truth, it is you who has given it strength and it is also you, therefore, who must tear it down.

How to do it?

• Detect the limiting belief. Ask yourself where it comes from and why you gave it so much validity. Has it really been useful to you so far?
• Reflect: how do you see yourself in the future if you continue to accept that idea as valid? How would you like to see / feel in the near future? Do you think that limiting belief will help you achieve what you want?
• Clarify and establish new beliefs that are in tune with what you want to achieve. An example of this would be the following sentence: ‘I know that life is sometimes complicated, but I have psychological resources to deal with difficulties. I deserve to feel good, I deserve what I want and I must strive to achieve it. I am someone valuable ‘

In conclusion, to understand how to change your limiting beliefs, just remember one word: question . Question a good part of that mental baggage that you carry with you, especially the one where the ‘I can not’ accumulate, the ‘this is not for me, if I do this I will fail again, that is very complicated or it is too late for people like me ‘.

Value yourself as you deserve and deactivate those cognitive and emotional universes that put wires to your potential.