How to REALLY Dismantle the Limiting Beliefs That Keep Your Life Small

I’m not good enough.  Good things never last.  The world is unsafe.  If you win, it means I lose.  I have to earn what I want.   I’m too this.  I’m not enough that.  Women only want men with money.  Men only want the skinny, young things.  This disease is incurable.  I have to take care of myself because nobody else will.  I need a college degree to do what I want.  Money doesn’t fall from the sky.  I don’t deserve love, happiness, success, etc…

Any of these sound familiar?  If you haven’t guessed yet, these are but a few of the limiting beliefs that plague us as human beings.  Unrecognized and unchallenged, they define our very life.  They become our truth.  They become our reality.  We inherit beliefs from our parents.  We develop beliefs from our experiences.  We absorb beliefs from our environments.  We are infected by beliefs through our media.  Although these beliefs are not necessarily truths, we live our lives as if they were. And whatever is true for you, IS TRUE (for you) because your consciousness creates your reality. 

The idea that one must break through limiting beliefs in order to allow greater possibilities is well known among those who pursue personal growth.  However, real success in accomplishing this feat still eludes many.  This is because true change requires a blend of knowing what to do as well as knowing how to go about it. What follows are the keys to successfully dismantling limiting beliefs so as to open your life to infinite possibilities!

Meet Your Inner Witness

The first step is awareness.  In order to start recognizing the beliefs that limit you, you must begin using a very powerful part of your consciousness known as your inner witness.  Imagine that there are two parts of you: the you that lives your life and the you that observes you living your life.  The observer part of you stands outside of you and notices what you’re doing, how you’re feeling, and what you’re thinking.  It will inform you of your limiting beliefs.  So, what does the witness look for?  A good place to start is to have your inner witness watch for two clues:  cause-and-effect-thinking and judgment. 

Erroneous Cause-and-Effect-Thinking

Cause-and-effect-thinking will sound like this in your mind:  In order to be more prosperous, I must get a better job.  In order to have a relationship, I must lose weight.  In order to feel freedom, I must get this person out of my life.  Whenever we think we know how something should unfold in order to achieve a result, we may be caught in a limiting belief.  It all depends on whether you live life from the limited personality level or from the broader soul perspective.  The personality level sees the world only through the five human senses.  The soul perspective understands that the Universe can provide in ways we may have never imagined. 

Good/Bad Judgments

To judge something is to name it.  As soon as we observe something and give it a name, we have judged it.  And because we are infinitely powerful creators, the way we judge something is the way we will experience it.  When we call something good, we will experience it as good.  When we call something bad we experience it as bad.   When your inner witness catches you judging something as good or bad, explore the judgment to see if there is a limiting belief there.     

Transforming Your Limiting Beliefs

Once you begin to recognize your limiting beliefs, then you can begin to transform them by practicing any number of belief-altering techniques.  However, it takes more than technique to transform your beliefs.  To successfully expand your consciousness you must embrace the growth opportunity as a discipline.  If you think that you can break through deeply ingrained beliefs, societal paradigms or long-practiced bad habits by sporadically dabbling in self-actualization exercises, you’ll be disappointed.  A long-term commitment that incorporates daily practice is the only thing that will steadily guide and direct your awareness toward greater possibility.  The following guidelines will help you set yourself up for success.

Cultivate the Right Attitude

Maintaining an open mind and an attitude of willingness is essential to releasing limiting beliefs.  If you find yourself succumbing to the voices of impossibility, doubt and skepticism, that’s a sign that your mind is closing and your limited perspective is winning.  A good vaccine that wards off the mind-closing virus is to keep asking yourself, “what if...?”  What if there was a way to do what I love without a college degree?  What if there was a woman out there who could love me exactly as I am?  What if there was a way for me to change careers without causing my family financial hardship?  When you ask questions of possibility, the Universe answers.

Fill Your Bag of Tricks

In addition to nurturing open-mindedness and willingness, an experimental mind-set is most productive.  When it comes to transforming limiting beliefs there are many tools and techniques that work.  However, what works for one person, might not work for another.  And what works for you one day, might not work for you another day.  So, the best approach is to fill your bag of tricks.  Affirmations, coaching, mentoring, 'acting as if', prayer, meditation, energy healing, journal writing, study, contemplation, visualization, and counseling are among the plethora of belief-altering methods available.  With discipline as your foundation and the willingness to experiment, you will find the tools that will work for you over the long-haul journey of expanding your consciousness.

Accept the Fact That Self-Sabotage Happens

Left to our own devices, many of us will default to our old ways.  It’s natural.  It’s to be expected.  So, rather than letting this natural human tendency defeat you, understand it.  Accept it.  And put in place the safety net that will catch you when you fall.  If you know that your motivation tends to fizzle into nothingness, or that it doesn’t take much for your mind to plummet toward scarcity and negativity, make a commitment that will keep you accountable, forward moving and exposed to new information.  Sign up for a class.  Pay for six months of coaching in advance.  Create or find a support group.  Volunteer or find employment where you’ll work closely with people who exemplify the expansion you desire.

Dismantling the limiting beliefs that keep your life small is not only possible, but with the right mind-set and life structure in place, it is inevitable.  And, as many a self-help guru has taught, you will discover that when you change your mind, you do indeed change your life.