Based on our previous discussions in the previous lessons, you may have identified some of these limiting beliefs in your own life, and now you may be wondering what you can do to not have these hold you back from your true self and your full potential. We will look into that more in this lesson.
Before we explore our options together, let’s first consider the mechanics of a limiting belief. Even when we feel that these are ingrained, they still manifest in a way in which we can shift the dial or work around them. When you think of something that you want to do, and right thereafter you feel discouraged, or think about how it cannot happen or how someone will not approve – those are most likely indicators of a belief that sprung up. And if it hinders your pursuing of the things that you want, then these can be labeled as *limiting beliefs*.
A belief affects us by way of thought of which you may be consciously aware or not. And it works in a manner of an automated trigger or hook. Thoughts are great at matching themselves up with other related thoughts, so if you are thinking of something that you really want, but it contradicts a belief that you have, then it will be matched up with a contradicting thought on that subject. So thoughts get matched up based on the subject that you focus on. Another way that thoughts often get matched up is through the emotional states at which they exists. For example, if you feel annoyed, the type of thoughts that come to you are generally ones which further that emotional state.
Even though it may feel as if the belief-thought works in a way that you cannot isolate, there are a few tricks that you can use to isolate the belief-thought, to some degree. That is the first step in transmuting a belief – being able to identify it. So when you are in a situation where you feel like you get a thought about something you want, and then it is followed by a form of disappointment, doubt, frustration etc., you want to ask yourself “why do I feel disappointed?”. You may get to your answer at that point or you may need to go further. For example you may think “I’m disappointed because I will never get to do that”. Then you can follow that up with “Why do I think that I will never get to do that?”. And depending on that answer, you may have an idea of the belief, or you may need to continue the process to get to the core of it.
Now, let’s assume that you’ve drilled down to the core of the limitation, being the belief. Where do you go from here? What you need to remember is that something does not typically instantly become a belief. Another manner in which you can think of a belief, is a thought that you have been energising over time, often from an early age, with a lot of reinforcement from your circumstances or society, and as a result it has a lot of momentum behind it. That is why it may feel so difficult to make any progress in a direction which is in opposition to that momentum. Therefore, just as a ship cannot change its direction 180 degrees in an instant, you typically cannot undo or transform a belief in an instant. There are a variety of ways in which you can overcome the limitations of such a belief, and we will discuss a few of these actions here together.
Our first option is to look at the belief-thoughts in a way in which we transform the belief. That means that we want to steer the belief in the direction of it no longer being a limitation on what we believe we can achieve. What would that look like practically? As soon as you realise that you had a negative belief-thought, you can soften that thought by applying the steps of the transformational thought process. You can then repeat the process everytime you become aware of the belief-thought, and in that way chip away at it over time, until it no longer holds you back. In that way you can see why it isn’t always necessary to remove each limiting belief in its totality, but rather soften it to an extent where it is no longer stronger than your belief in what you can achieve. It is important to remember here that you need to be on stable footing in your thoughts when you do transformational thought work. The reason being, that when you dig into the limiting belief, you can get yourself adding momentum in the direction of the belief. Think here of the analogy of a lifesaver that should only go into the sea and try and help someone if he or she is secure themselves, otherwise you just end up with two people in trouble. Further to that, you have a bigger chance of staying in your own alignment if you do not over-expose your thoughts to get to the root of the limiting belief every time. When you are stable, go in, soften the thought and leave it there. The next time you encounter the thought it would already be in a softer place, and you can soften it once more.
In certain circumstances you may be able to side-step something that triggers the activation of the limiting belief. This can potentially happen when you can think of most things relating to something that you are interested in without triggering the belief-thought. There may, however, be specific aspects thereof which cause the activation of the limiting belief-thought. In these circumstances, it can be useful to know the trigger and to avoid it for now, while still gaining momentum in the direction of this thing that you want. A few things can happen if you follow this route – either you gain so much momentum in the direction of the thing that you want that it overcomes the effect of the belief-thought, or it progresses until it reaches a point where you have to let go of the belief. This scenario of side-stepping the trigger only works if you can gain momentum of the thing that you want. If the belief is very active and is in opposition to the fundamentals of the thing that you are wanting to have in your life, you will not be able to get much momentum going, and will first have to soften the belief-thought. And having two forces pulling you in opposition of each other will leave you more or less in one place, but with frustration or feeling ‘stuck’.
In some cases, when a belief is so instilled or forms part of a network of beliefs that are limiting, the easiest route may be not to try and release all of the beliefs that oppose the thing that you want, but avoid the activation of the belief-thought(s). The initial step of then moving in the direction of what you want, is to focus your energy (mind) on the positive aspects (pull-factors) of your pure desires, i.e. think about why you want it. Think about how you would feel if you had, deliberately focus on thoughts that match that feeling of having the thing that you want. The reason being that thoughts that match that feeling help to flow energy to those things that match that emotional state. As you then progress, and you realise that you encounter a limiting thought, you can deactivate it by directing your attention to something else, or if you are stable in your alignment at that point, you can apply the transformational thought process.
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