I frequently have a pep talk with clients that goes something like this: Your beliefs are just what you believe right now. They are not the Truth. If they are limiting you in any way, let them go.
Here is a short list of some of the limiting beliefs I have shed during my lifetime:
- Only Catholics go to heaven.
- If you’re too smart, men won’t like you.
- It’s important as a woman to have a husband and children.
- Work hard to get ahead.
- (and passed on to me from several generations back) IF you do what you love, they will kill you. (an ancestor who was burned at the stake. bummer.)
- Your family is the one you were born into.
Here is my exercise for you. Sit down someplace quiet and peaceful where you will not be interrupted. Then make a list of everything you believe. Then go back through the list and make note of the ideas that are causing you problems. For example, believing “work hard to get ahead” could turn you into a workaholic. Been there. Done that. Don’t need the t-shirt.
Scratch through the limiting belief and change it to a positive affirmation.
I changed: “I have to work hard to get ahead” to “The more fun I have the more money I make.” Trust me this is a much more satisfying belief.
Okay, try it for yourself. The minute you start working on changing negative beliefs to positive ones, your life is forever improved.