Limiting beliefs: what are they, and how do they affect me?

Limiting beliefs: what are they, and how do they affect me? The power of the mind is inexhaustible: our ideas shape the way we relate to the world and move forward in our life cycle. Your beliefs can give you a push towards positive changes in your life, but they can also limit and not allow you to move forward.

The brain is one part of the body that most influences our performance and our success. For this reason, train it to have positive thoughts that guarantee your growth and success in life.

In this article, you will learn what limiting beliefs are and how they affect you so that you can change your mindset in a better way and achieve the success you want so much.

But first, what are limiting beliefs?

A belief is an idea through which we filter reality. These ideas can be positive, neutral, or limiting, and precisely the latter is the type that may affect how you interact with others.

Limiting beliefs are a way of seeing the world and reality that prevents a person from moving towards their goals and growing as an individual. Despite not being based on reality, it is an idea that remains validated for whoever thinks it and configures how it relates to the world.

These beliefs can range from very complex to talking about simple things: “I am not going to a party because I will not have a good time;” “I don’t want to fix a problem because I always break things and everything goes wrong;” “I can’t trust anyone because everyone is selfish and tries to deceive me”; etc

We gain limiting beliefs from childhood or later through people’s opinions who place authority on us or our own experiences and predisposes us to miss opportunities or not to take steps to solve problems.

They relate to fear and determine many of the areas of our life: from work or studies (“why am I going to try if it is very difficult and I will surely fail”) to our family relationships.

However, and although these beliefs can limit your life completely, it is difficult to realize that we have them and try to change them.

How do limiting beliefs affect me?

Sometimes limiting beliefs are deep, and it is difficult to change them simply by putting other affirmations in their place or establishing a plan of action. We can often activate a defense mechanism that rejects the direct suggestions that the psychologist tries to promote because they are in direct contradiction with the pre-existing belief system. In those cases, it is necessary to resort to other techniques, such as hypnosis, which allows overcoming the barriers of the unconscious to promote the desired change.

In other cases, limiting beliefs carry a heavy emotional burden, as they form from traumatic experiences. So, even if we know that a certain thought is false from an intellectual point of view, we will continue to believe in it. It is necessary to resort to tools that allow you to release the emotional discomfort associated with the belief, such as the EFT technique.

How can I remove limiting beliefs from my life?

To eliminate these limiting beliefs (those that tell us “I can’t” or “I’m worth nothing” …), we go through a process with different phases:

Detect belief

This is the first step. It is a complex process in which you need to observe the words you use and your actions to discover these limiting ideas.

Try to change it through different techniques

The second step. The change in limiting beliefs can happen through questioning the authority from which that idea got imposed on you (a teacher who did not believe in us, a malicious comment from someone we love, etc.).

Likewise, it will also be essential to analyze your limiting beliefs to determine the best thing that can happen to you if you continue with that belief or the best that can happen to you if you believe otherwise.

Imagine, for example, the power that the thought of “I do everything wrong” can have in your life and try to project how your life would change if you thought that “there are many things that you do well.”

Consolidate belief

The last step. Through behavioral work, we will work on language and actions so that you can consolidate your new beliefs.

The power of analyzing your limiting beliefs is incredible: in the same way that they condition and restrict your life, they can lead you to turn your relationships and your life trajectory upside down, causing a ripple effect that is reflected in your family and the rest of your environment.

Think of a limiting belief that you think may affect you and prevent you from reaching your goals.