“If you don’t change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?” – William Somerset Maugham
Did you know that the average person makes about 35,000 decisions a day? If that sounds amazing, think about the following…
Right now, you’re deciding whether to continue reading this article or do something else. In other words: At every moment of your life, you’re making individual decisions, and the sum of those decisions and their consequences is what we call OUR REALITY. To make it even more interesting, neuroscientists say that more than 95 percent of our decisions are unconsciously made.
Now the next question arises: what does it depend on what decision you make next, or what influences your decisions the most? Here we come to our beliefs, i.e., the inner programs that determine most of our daily decisions.
***
Our beliefs are like a “mental software” that allows us to see (read: experience) only content that is consistent with this “mental software” They create our expectations and influence our reactions. We can have many hopes, desires, and goals, but we’ll only be able to take the actual steps to achieve them on a regular basis if we free ourselves, at least in part, from the limiting beliefs that don’t support the direction we want to take.
Although we all have many different limiting beliefs, the good news is that most of them are completely irrelevant, and we don’t have to deal with them at all. In other words, you don’t have to get rid of all your limiting beliefs to start creating the life you want. Rather it’s about actively working on letting go of only those beliefs that automatically activate within us when we start taking practical steps toward something important to us RIGHT NOW.
How can you free yourself from such limiting beliefs?
For starters, it’s important to focus on one area of your life for some time. Or, even better, just one goal that you consider a priority.
I’m talking about the goal that is very important to you right now, but at the same time you feel like you’re just talking about it and taking only some of the practical steps that you know you should be taking (given the importance of such a goal).
Then ask yourself the following question:
“What should someone believe deep down that would cause him/her to behave as I do in relation to my goal?”
Then, without thinking much, start writing down the thoughts that come to the surface of your consciousness. Just write them down. Don’t judge them in any way, and in doing so, turn off the “voice of reason” within you. Write down all the thoughts that come to your mind – even the most absurd ones. Don’t think that your limiting beliefs will sound logical and fact-based. Usually, these are the very beliefs that limit you the most on the way to your goal.
Once such limiting beliefs have “crossed over” from your subconscious into your conscious, they no longer represent the “mechanism” that controls your decisions. They’re then no longer facts, but only an option for you to think about and reconsider decisively.
***
Take about 20 to 30 minutes a week for this process and repeat it until you feel that old thinking habits in that particular area of life (related to that particular goal) have lessened their influence on your new choices.
One more thing…
Clients often ask me if it’s necessary to have clearly defined goals, i.e., if it’s possible to work on getting rid of limiting beliefs without clear goals. My answer is that it’s possible, but you must invest ten times more time and energy to achieve the same effect.
And why?
Because all your attention will be scattered randomly in different directions, and because of the lack of clarity about the direction you want to go, you’ll find it difficult to identify what your limiting beliefs are.
No belief is limiting in and of itself. It only becomes limiting when you feel that it’s preventing you from achieving the goal that is truly important to you and that you want to achieve.
2021 © Tomislav Tomic
