Beliefs - Limiting or Empowering?
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,your thoughts become your words,your words become your actions,your actions become your habits,your habits become your values,your values become your destiny”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Are your beliefs limiting or empowering? Does your belief system enhance your life or constrict it? One way or the other, our beliefs drive our life. Because as Gandhi points out, our beliefs become our thoughts, and eventually our destiny. But how do we really know what beliefs are driving us? I was first introduced to the impact of my limiting beliefs when I did the Silva Method Course. We explored this concept by doing a very simple exercise, which I invite you all to do now. Get a pen and paper and write down the very first thing that pops into your head when you read the following phrases - don't think about it, don't edit, just write the very first word that comes to your mind:
- Life is . . .
- Money is . . .
- Making money is . . .
- Time is . . .
- My health is . . .
- My body is . . .
- My love life is . . .
- I deserve . . .
- There is always too much . . .
- There is never enough . . .
OK, hopefully you have been totally honest and written down the first thing that came into your head. Now look at it - what beliefs are driving your life? Where did you get those beliefs? Louise Thompson talks a lot about beliefs and how they drive your life on her blog, Positive Balance. She puts it simply:
"If at some deep level you believe there will never be enough: you are exactly right, and there never will be. If you believe deep down that life is hard then you will have a hard life. If you believe in miracles you will see miracles everywhere. If you believe life is a struggle then struggle you will."
Most limiting beliefs come from childhood. Either our parents or our teachers said something about life or about us and we accepted it completely. And very possibly, we had many experiences as we grew up that "proved" that belief to be true. But those beliefs do not have to continue to limit us. We can choose to change limiting beliefs, but the first step is identifying them (thus the simple exercise above.) There are literally thousands of sites that talk about eliminating limiting beliefs, but they all agree that the first step has to be identifying what they are.On the flip side is embracing empowering beliefs. And to close I want to share a wonderful TED Talk by an amazing woman named Caroline Casey. Visit her blog, Kanchi, it is inspirational! Caroline Casey is a walking example of empowering beliefs.
"It's extraordinaryhow far belief can take you . . . when you really believe in yourself and everything about you, it's extraordinary what happens . . . being absolutely true to yourself is freedom."
Please take the time to explore your own belief systems - and then take the time to watch this woman who can help us all embrace more empowering beliefs about ourselves. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyBk55G7Keo] I’d love to hear about your beliefs – are they limiting or empowering? Do they make you happier or bring you down? And as always, thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.