Have you ever been in the company of a toddler who is determined to try and climb the stairs? No matter how many times you try to deter them, they will still crawl, waddle or bum-shuffle to the bottom step and confidently embark on their uphill journey. Even when you install a safety gate, they still strive to climb over it, break it down or squeeze through it. What an amazing way to live! Despite all of our warnings and the physical preventative measures we put in front of them, they still have the drive and motivation to make it to the top. That staircase must look and feel like Mount Everest to them yet they remain unphased. They believe that they can do it and, as a result, they keep trying!
For many of us, as we mature, we slowly start to lose this exciting vision of an unlimited world, a world full of boundless potential. Instead, we begin to view the world and our place in it as limited. Our ‘I can do anything’ attitude diminishes to a ‘I can do certain things’ approach to life.
Our brain is one of the most sophisticated parts of our body and goes a long way at keeping us safe and alive. As a toddler our brain has not fully developed and so when we are on a mission to climb the stairs or get our favourite toy, we fail to assess whether or not there are any obstacles or dangers involved. This is why we need adults to protect us and keep us safe. And so out come the child safety gates and other protective measures. And rightly so. Thanks Mum and Dad! :)
As we grow and mature into self-reliant adults and begin to navigate ourselves through this big scary world, we start to experience a plethora of life events which all have an impact on us in either a good or bad way. As a result of everything that we experience or witness around us, we start to develop our own unique belief system which helps us to evaluate whether something is safe or dangerous, good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, possible or impossible and so on. We then use our belief system to tell us whether we can/can’t, should/shouldn’t, must/mustn’t do something.
Our brain naturally tries to avoid any situation that our belief system deems to be scary or threatening, in both a physical and emotional sense. To encourage us to stay within the safety of our belief systems, we start to build our own set of mental barriers around ourselves.
Of course, some of these barriers are completely logical and are there to stop us entering into situations which we know will cause us serious harm, physically and/or emotionally. However, some of the barriers are unnecessary and are actually stopping us from achieving more fulfilment and wellbeing in life. We therefore have to look through the bars of our mental safety gates and ask ourselves: ‘would my life be better if I was to move passed this barrier?’ If the answer is ‘yes’ then you have confirmed that your belief is illogical and is holding you back for no good reason. It’s therefore time to start breaking down your limiting beliefs.
If we don’t challenge our limiting beliefs then there is the danger that they will become part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we tell ourselves something the more we start to believe it. Our brains are always looking for ways of validating the information that we provide it, including the conversations we have with ourselves. It is constantly scouring our environment for evidence. Our mind is also rather stubborn. It thinks that it is right all of the time. If we try to go against our beliefs then our mind and body hold up a red flag and try to stop us moving forward, to keep us safe. We are bound by the barriers that our own minds have built around us. But all is not lost. If our minds have the power to build these superfluous barriers, it also has the power to knock them down.
So rather than feeling disempowered by our limiting beliefs, we should feel empowered in the knowledge that we also have the ability to dispel these rules that we have placed upon ourselves.
So, here are my top 7 tips for breaking through your limiting beliefs
1// Take responsibility for your own beliefs.
Sometimes people develop limiting beliefs because of the actions or words of other people. Regardless of the reasons for your limiting beliefs, you must accept that it is now your responsibility to manage the way that you view yourself and the world.
2// Bring awareness to your negative self-talk.
We might not even be aware that we have a limiting belief. We need to therefore become aware of the types of things we are saying to ourselves throughout the day. Start to listen to your self-talk and jot down anything that you say to yourself that could be blocking your progress.
3// Gather evidence to disprove your limiting belief.
Look back at your life and make a list of all your past achievements. What have you previously achieved that contradicts your limiting belief? What did you do to help you achieve those things? Ask your friends and family to support you with this. What do they consider to be your top achievements in life so far? What do they think your skills are?
4// Follow inspiring and motivational people.
Most of us have experienced limiting beliefs at some point in our lives. By following the success stories of others, we can sometimes see things from a different perspective and find new ways of challenging our own mental blocks.
5// Visualise how your life could change if you were to move passed your limiting belief.
Think of how it will feel if you were to achieve your goals and dreams. How will it benefit you and your life? How will it benefit the people around you? What other exiting opportunities could pop up if you were to move forward? What else could you achieve if you were able to dispel this mental barrier?
6// Make strong affirmations.
Affirmations are a great way of building positive, more empowering beliefs about yourself. Put simply, affirmations are a sentence or short phrase about something that you believe or want to believe to be true. They are usually written in the present tense to trick your brain and belief system into thinking that what you are affirming is already true. An example would be “I am a confident sales person.” However, it is not enough to simply write affirmations down or say them out loud to yourself in front of the mirror, there has to be feeling and belief behind the words that you write or speak. Even if you don’t believe the affirmation to be true yet, you must still believe that you will believe the affirmation with practise and conviction.
7// Keep practising your new belief.
Once you have dismantled your limiting belief and created a new, empowering belief, keep practising it! The more you practise your belief the more evidence you are providing your brain that it is true. Over time, your new belief will become hardwired into your mind.
We all have so much untapped potential inside of us. It is our limiting beliefs, our unnecessary safety gates and barriers that are stopping us from fulfilling that potential. And so, I urge you to climb over, break down or squeeze through all the illogical barriers you have in your mind. It’s time to climb your staircase, your mountain, and enjoy the view from the top.
So, do you have any limiting beliefs that are stopping you from achieving your true potential?
My name is Andy Downs and I am Life Coach and Manifestation Mentor. Part of my work involves me shining a light on people’s limiting beliefs and helping them untangle their mental blocks so that they can move forward in their life. It is my passion to support people in the discovery of their true potential and purpose in life. Get in touch today and let's start to break down your own mental barriers.
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