A belief It is an idea that is considered true and valid by the person who holds it. We often take beliefs and add them to our mental map without questioning where they come from or whether they are true or false.
It is important to know what our beliefs are because they are thoughts that guide our lives. If we find it difficult to change certain unhealthy attitudes or habits, it is possible that there are beliefs that are supporting that behavior and preventing change. This is what we call limiting beliefs.
In this post I will show you the 5 steps that you have to follow to change those limiting beliefs and reprogram your mind to help you achieve your goals.
Limiting Belief VS Empowering Belief
The limiting beliefs They are those thoughts that, by their nature, prevent you from carrying out certain actions or behaviors that would benefit you physically, psychologically, emotionally or socially.
The empowering beliefs They are those that encourage or provoke behaviors that take you where you want to go, or lead you to your desired goal.
Beliefs cause us to behave in a certain way. In this way, the same belief can be empowering or limiting depending on the situation in which we find ourselves.
For example, thinking “I will never be able to speak in public” can have a positive effect on us which is to protect us from public opinion, but becomes a limiting belief if we were to speak in public. If we had to go on stage, that belief would only prevent us from doing it well, because one condition of beliefs is that they tend to come true. So, in that case, your whole body would make your inability a reality so that it would be true that “you are not good at public speaking.”
As you see, Beliefs guide our lives and our daily behaviors. But there is good news and that is that if our beliefs are not helping us (if they are limiting beliefs) can be changed for others that serve us in our lives.
What do you choose to believe?
There is a phenomenon studied by psychology called “The Pygmalion effect” or also known as “The self-fulfilling prophecy”.
It consists, broadly speaking, in that if you believe in something (about your own ability) a lot of time and with great desire, that something ends up being real.
That is to say, if you think you will never be able to learn English, you will never be able to; if you think you are a disaster in love, you will be; if you think you will not be able to pass that exam, you will not be able to.
As you can see, your mind wants the world to be guided by what it knows and predicts, which are its beliefs. However, if those beliefs were empowering (they focused us on the goal we want to achieve), they would also be fulfilled by the same effect of the self-fulfilling prophecy.
According to the above, Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you'll be right.. So… What do you choose to believe?
- “Watch your thoughts because they become your words”
- Be careful with your words because they become your actions.
- Take care of your actions because they become your habits
- Take care of your habits because they become your character
- Take care of your character because it becomes your destiny.”
After these phrases, I am sure that you want to change those beliefs that are limiting your potential and preventing you from developing 100%. That is why I bring you a technique to change those limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs.
Try a free session
Resolve your family conflicts and improve your relationships with the professional help of a psychologist.
Make an appointment
Take-away technique: changing limiting beliefs
I am dedicated to helping people achieve the life they want. I do this through take-away techniques (“takeaway” techniques) to put into practice right away and see changes in your life.
This is my technique of 5 steps to change your limiting beliefs.
- Detect the limiting thought or belief. You need to specifically identify which limiting belief you want to change. To give you a clue, they are always behind some behavior you want to change and to find them you could ask yourself: “Why did I do this?” or “Why do I maintain this habit?”
- Become aware of the results we get with itTo know if it is a limiting belief, you need to know what consequences you have by thinking that. What are you missing? What are you gaining by thinking that?
- Realize your positive intention: What is good about that belief that makes you maintain that thought? Look, surely somewhere and at some time that thought had a benefit for you. Maybe it protected you from some danger, maybe from not making a fool of yourself… It is important that you know what positive intention your limiting belief has before changing it.
- Choose a new empowering thought or belief. It must have the same positive intention as the previous limiting belief. If the previous belief was intended to protect you, the new empowering belief must maintain that protective intention.
- Replace the old belief with the new one and practice itOnly with practice and repetition will we achieve sufficient neural connections for the new thought to take hold and direct our lives. You need to consciously think about the new belief for a while until it becomes unconscious and automatic and guides your behavior from now on.
I hope you put this change of limiting beliefs into practice as soon as possible. When you do, you will see how your life changes for the better and you will be on the path to become your best version. I'm looking forward to hearing the results you get.
Keep fighting for your dreams. See you at the top.
About the author of this article
Ana Vico is psychologist in the Balearic Islands. It is dedicated to personal development and improving the quality of life. Its training and services are based on positive psychology, coaching, emotional intelligence, personal development, problem solving, etc. It does all this with tools of Psychology, Coaching, NLP and Mindfulness, among others.
Why choose
At we have been experts in online therapy since 2012. Throughout our career we have helped more than 2,000 patients overcome various emotional problems. If you are interested in seeking the help of an online psychologist, you can request a free first session by clicking on the button below.
- We have been leaders in online psychological care since 2012.
- First informational appointment free.
- Online therapy from 40 euros per session.
- Team of senior psychologists, with decades of experience.
- All the therapy we offer is via videoconference. 100% confidential.
- The same psychologist will attend to you throughout the treatment.
- At you do not lose the money for the sessions. If you cannot connect or are not there, the session is postponed to another day.
- Attention in Spanish, English and Catalan.