How to overcome Limiting Beliefs
Limiting belief is something we believe to be accurate, restricting us to more than one way we can accept. The limiting belief could be yourself. These Beliefs may.
- Hold you from seeing different opportunities presented to us daily.
- Preventing you from seeing your own gifts or accepting the gifts offered to us.
- Keep focusing on the negative aspects of your circumstances.
They come from other people like parents, teachers, peer group, friends, family, cousins, uncle, and Aunts. In fact, from anyone who ever exerted, or still exerts any influence over us. These beliefs are formed in childhood and during adolescence
Perhaps a throwaway remark from a teacher or friend, such as, what silly answer!” made you think twice about raising your hand again in class for fear of ridicule and humiliation.
Do you remember the last time you formed strong beliefs about yourself or your situation? I can guarantee you that those beliefs still influence your behaviour today. If you have received positive encouragement from your parents, teachers and peers, you will have the foundation of good, healthy and positive self-beliefs.
If you were subjected to criticism, ridicule, comparison at or blame, either real or perceived as such, then your belief pattern will be more damaging and disempowering. All children receive some negative messages. Behavioural scientists and child psychologists generally accept that children, under the age of five, receive ten or more negative phrases from their parents for every single positive one. Now think of it this way: if you receive 10 negative and 1 Positive remarks. Which will impact you most?
Even though some of these remarks are for the child’s own protection the subconscious mind accepts all negative messages with equal value, whether they are for their own good or not. The impact of these early messages is so strong that child psychologists now recognise ‘verbal abuse’ as a significant issue and an identified syndrome when dealing with troubled children.
Very often there is a push from others to conform. For many, this is difficult to resist because of the strong need to seek approval, fit in, and be accepted.
Thus, initial self-image originates from your reaction to the attitudes that other people have towards us