Look at your list of beliefs and for every one that
you would like to change or let go of, ask yourself
the question:
A Life of Essence Series
“what has this belief taught me about
myself?” and “for what purpose have I kept
this belief?”
An insight series into expressing who you are and living
that to your greatest ability.
In many cases you may find that it comes back to
being kept safe. For example, if one of your beliefs
was “I’m just not good enough”, this belief may
have kept you safe by keeping you from taking
action that would cause you to stand out from
the crowd, therefore bringing attention that was
challenging or confronting for you.
Are you in your own way?
Identifying the beliefs that are holding you back
By Delyse Wright
Life Coach & NLP Prac.
D
o you find yourself
caught up in the trap
of self sabotage?
Making the same bad decisions,
running the same patterns of
behavior as before?
Understanding what we
believe about ourselves is an
essential step in getting to
know ourselves better, regaining
control of our thoughts and
creating the life we love.
Everything in our life is a
reflection of our thoughts and
our beliefs. We draw to us what
we are focusing on most in our
lives. Take a moment to reflect on
what is in your life right now.
Do you never seem
to be getting ahead
financially?
Look to your beliefs around
money and observe where your
focus is. If you are telling yourself
that you never have enough, that
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the bills just keep rolling in, that
as soon as you make a dollar, 2 go
out on bills… what do you think
you are going to experience in
your life around your finances?
Lack, because that’s where your
focus is.
A lot of our beliefs stem back to
our childhood days where we
have taken on board beliefs from
our parents, siblings, school
teachers – those people closest
to us and the ones we look up to
for guidance. There is no blame
here, it is simply what is.
I once had a belief that if I went
around with only good beliefs I
would be seen as a ‘Pollyanna’,
living life through rose coloured
glasses with no grasp of reality.
How dull! How limiting for myself
and for those around me. Once I
realized how silly that belief was,
I chose to accept beliefs that
would nurture, support, challenge
and inspire me. There’s nothing
‘Pollyanna-ish’ about that, it’s
inspiring and empowering.
There are a few ways to identify
your beliefs, my favorite way is to
make a list of topics based on the
wheel of life:
Relationships with others
Relationship with self
Wealth & Abundance
Health
Family
Environment (your home)
Friends & Mentors
Career
Creativity
Under each heading make a list of
all those beliefs you associate to
each heading. For example under
relationships you may have:
“It’s difficult to find the right
man/woman”
“we never seem to have time
for fun anymore”
You may find that not
all beliefs are negative, we often have a
mixture of supportive and limiting beliefs.
For example, under Family you may have
“My son/daughter inspires me every day”
Try and get down at least 8-10 beliefs under each
topic but don’t spend too much time thinking about
and completing this exercise. Go with your gut and
with the first thoughts that come into your mind,
you’ll find that they are the most accurate and true
to you.
Once completed, take a look at your list. Did you
find you have more limiting beliefs than supportive?
What insight does your list of beliefs give you
about yourself? Can you see how any of these
beliefs have assisted you in creating the life you are
currently living?
Are there some beliefs you would like to change?
Any you would like to let go of all together? Any
you would like to keep?
Changing or releasing a belief is easy. Simply
observing the fact that it is no longer serving you
sends a message to your unconscious mind that it
is no longer wanted.
But what serves you more, taking action that
would open up new possibilities, opportunities and
relationships or taking no action at all and missing
the chance to shine?
“To get somethi