How To Change A Limiting Belief In Under One Minute
You can change any belief right now, in this moment.
Ground Picture / Shutterstock At the point you take your first breath, your beliefs begin to shape your perceptions consciously of your environment. Limiting beliefs come through your parents, siblings, and surroundings.
They're shaped and formed into the landscape of your reality and as a result, affect your imagination and behavior. You build upon this landscape, testing as you go.
Here's how to change a limiting belief in under one minute:
1. Belief systems start in childhood
You're constantly learning as you mimic behaviors, take your first steps and respond according to the reaction of your caregivers. If you cry, you get a response and this response can positively or negatively affect you.
Were you loved and nourished, or punished for having feelings and a need to express yourself?
As you follow this continuous feedback loop of behavior, you create the makeup of your identity matrix. This is a continuous cycle as you move through your adolescent teenage years and into adulthood.
2. Your thoughts aren't "stuck"
Many people grow up to believe that because of events and situations that happened early in life, some beliefs are simply stuck forever. This is a huge misconception and can easily create a tangle of confusion and self-doubt.
The need to desperately search for that one time that charged you emotionally could result in a lifetime of delay.
The simple belief that you have to constantly search the depth of your psyche to un-pick everything for the golden nuggets is a fallacy in itself. It causes you to sabotage and limit the conscious actions you want to take to change a behavior or habit.
Some familiar conscious beliefs may go like this:
- “I'm no good at math because my teacher said so.”
- “I'll always be fat; it runs in my family.”
- “I'll never be a good dancer. I've got two left feet."
- “I always lose out.”
- “I seem to attract bad people. What’s wrong with me?”
- “I'll never have enough money to buy ___.”
For the more physical manifestations such as anxiety, often beliefs perpetuate and reinforce the subconscious response to fear and worry, and as a result, create secondary problems such as heart palpitations, shaking, or panic.
Here are some examples of typical subconscious beliefs that come up and may need drawing out through therapy or coaching:
- “I'm vulnerable to my surroundings.”
- “I don't feel like I'm in control”
- “I'm losing control.”
- “I don’t feel safe.”
- “I fear for the safety of others.”
- “I don't trust people.”
What if you could change these self-fulfilling prophecies? How would it feel to be free of the struggle? What would the sweet taste of that freedom feel like?
The truth is, if you’re living your life unconsciously and driven by unhelpful beliefs, your habits will follow.
And so the cycle begins: Your beliefs drive your emotions, your emotions drive your habits, and your habits drive your beliefs. This perpetuating cycle reinforces a feedback loop that can be hugely sabotaging.
Ultimately, changes in your beliefs will override and transform your behavior and habits. So, this is the place to start if you want to make big changes in your health, love life, career, and overall life. The art of personal reframing is the key here.
3. You can change any belief right now, at this moment
This may come as a surprise to some and a gentle reminder to others. It's important that you take time to tune in to the depths of your mind and self to bring out the beliefs that could be holding you back so you can change them.
Just as the sun shines its light onto a full moon, suddenly all that's hidden is revealed. As with the natural cycles of life, you can evolve at any given moment if you choose to.
You can create epiphanies and miracles instantaneously, completely within your power.
4. How to change your beliefs fast
There's no complicated formula to changing beliefs, but the challenging part could be drawing out the pesky sabotaging beliefs that are momentarily hidden.
The best way to solve this is to monitor your thoughts. At the point of wanting to take action but not doing it, tune in to the thoughts and feelings going through your mind.
Procrastination is a great example of your beliefs blocking any progress. If you search within it, there could be fear at a very subtle level. Something so minimal that once you identify it, you can flip it around in record time by simply changing it!
If you know what your limiting beliefs are, when you catch yourself thinking or saying them, instantly flip and reframe them to the opposite of what you want.
An example could be, “I can’t be bothered to go to the gym, but I know it’s good for me.” Suddenly, a struggle is created between two conflicting beliefs. Whatever choice you make could cause you pain.
Stop for a moment and tune in, imagine going to the gym, and imagine how you’ll feel afterward. Is that enough to make you go? The feeling of achievement and success is an amazing way to reinforce positive beliefs that stick and form a habit.
A belief can be changed in seconds. The more energy you give it, the stronger it becomes. It takes a little practice and repetition but it works.
Caroline Rushforth is a certified NLP Coach and Life Coach with over 10 years of experience helping super-caring women who are overwhelmed with worry, negative thoughts, and low self-esteem.