Self Limiting Beliefs – Learn to Break Free

Limiting beliefs have a strange way of creeping up on us – they surface in many different ways. Even when believe it-strict beliefs of any kind support us, sometimes a limiting belief can stop in its tracks and rear its ugly head at just the wrong time, or even when least expected. Here’s what I mean: last week I was having a conversation with a friend about something I had said previously. In my mind, I had meant to say that fear is always worse than the object of our fear, but the conversation went haywire, and I ended up saying something else that brought on this entire chain reaction.

I began to explain that although fear itself was not a bad thing in and of itself, it was a belief, and a very “self-limiting” one at that. My friend was quite taken aback by this revelation and asked me why I would make such a bold claim in the first place. I then explained that although fear itself was not a bad thing in and of itself, it was an overly focused, narrow view of what could happen if we allowed ourselves to look beyond the safety wall of our self-limiting beliefs.

Let me explain. All self-limiting beliefs are basically just an attempt to control the outside environment around us, instead of controlling our own behavior. It is an unhealthy form of slavery and like any form of slavery, it tends to get worse and more out of control as time goes on.

A self-limiting belief is an overly focused, controlled view of any given situation. For example, let’s say that you have a bad habit of fidgeting your hands while you are cooking. You have a new belief that, if you do not control your hands, it will result in a burning stove, or a piece of cake falling off the top of the microwave oven. With your new belief, the idea of a clean stove and a piece of cake being burned is no longer as frightening or intimidating as it was when you first held that belief.

The same principle applies to all forms of limiting beliefs, including those that are self-imposed. In fact, the more firmly you clench down on any single belief, the tighter it gets around you. You become paralyzed in your ability to do anything beyond that which you strictly must, in fear of doing something that will make you mad, hurt yourself, or even end up hurting others.

This is why a very smart and wise person once said, “The difference between smart enough is where you stop before you start.” The difference between self-limiting beliefs and common limiting beliefs is where you stop before you begin. You have to break through that mental barricade and take the necessary actions in order to create the life you truly want.

You need to break through your mental prison in order to reach an empowered place where you can make the changes you need to create in your life. You first need to come to a place where you accept that everything is only temporary, but you also learn that you don’t need anything outside of yourself to make a change. Once you get to this point, then you can work on unleashing the power of your sub-conscious mind. Once you learn to release your limiting beliefs, you open yourself up to countless possibilities that could not otherwise be achieved.

No one is born with all-knowing information that they can use to better their lives, but people are able to use their subconscious minds to achieve amazing results. Just because you were taught all kinds of different ways to act doesn’t mean you should hold these beliefs around forever. Your reality is your reality, and everyone else’s reality is their reality. You have to realize that you’re the boss and you need to learn how to let go of any self-limiting beliefs you may have.