How do you discover your limiting beliefs?
Spending a lot of time talking about this always brings up that inevitable question:
We all have limiting beliefs that are holding us back in life.
In order to help us understand how to discover our limiting beliefs we first have to look at what a belief is.
WHAT IS A BELIEF?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines belief as:
“Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion.”
You’ll notice that the above definition means that beliefs are subjective. That means we can believe something that others may not believs is true.
For example you may believe you are not a nice person, but everyone around you could believe that you are an amazingly nice person.
WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT YOURSELF IS TRUE
What I mean by the statement above is that it doesn’t matter what other people say, if you believe it then it is true.
For example, you might absolutely believe that you will never be able to lose weight, while one thousand other people will tell you that they know otherwise. However, because you believe that statement, your body will respond in kind and help you NOT to lose weight. That’s a shocker, isn’t it? What you tell yourself, you are really communicating to your body, as well.
The truth is what you tell yourself is true, what you tell your body is true, what you tell your mind is true, but where does the truth come from?
WHERE DOES THE TRUTH COME FROM?
It has everything to do with our conscious and subconscious mind and how we talk to ourselves. We feed the subconscious mind with ideas that are, at best, half-formed, and the subconscious mind tries to prove what your conscious mind has told it.
In a study in 2002 reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Levy et al., it was found that people over the age of fifty who had more positive beliefs about aging lived, on average, 7.5 years longer than people with negative beliefs about ageing. Nearly eight years longer!! That is the power of the mind. What has to happen for one to live an extra 7.5 years? Obviously, lots of things are going on in the body and the mind, but it shows a clear correlation between the two. (Download the study here: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-832261.pdf)
That’s pretty crazy right. You could live another 7.5 years simply by having a more positive attitude toward aging.
Discover A Limiting Belief
The easy part about changing a limiting belief is changing it. The hard part is discovering a limiting belief.
Fortunately I have a quick way to find out what your limiting beliefs are.
Quick Way to Find Your Limiting Beliefs
First I would like you to think of a goal you have in your personal or business life.
When you have chosen one goal, next ask yourself what would I have to believe to achieve that goal?
Your subconscious mind will then churn out a number of things you would have to believe.
Here’s an example.
When I first thought about writing the book The Belief Principle I asked what would I have to believe in order to make that happen:
- I have enough knowledge to write the book
- I am a good enough writer
- I have the discipline to write a book
- I have good research skills
- I can find the time to write a book
- People need a book like this
That’s just some of the beliefs I would need to have. I struggled with being a good enough writer to write it and that’s the limiting belief I had.
So you see you can discover your limiting beliefs very quickly by asking that one simple question.
So I have to ask you at this point:
What are your limiting beliefs?
Add a comment below and share what limiting beliefs you have or if you have any questions please add them below.
Other posts you might like on this topic
How Do Positive Affirmations Work On Your Beliefs?
A Quick Way to Discover Your Personal Beliefs
Why Your Beliefs Are Formed By Seven Years Of Age
Limiting Beliefs: What Are They And How Can You Overcome Them?
What Are Your Biggest Limiting beliefs?
