Supporting vs. Limiting Beliefs: How to Change Your Mindset to Change Your Life
Table of Contents
A belief is a thought that’s been repeated so much so that it no longer requires any effort to think that thought. It becomes a part of you.
It now has a neuropathway installed that is in charge of bringing into reality that specific thought. At this point, it is subconscious.
Beliefs can be of 2 types:
- Beliefs that serve you (supporting beliefs) or
- Limiting beliefs (beliefs that don’t serve you)
Supporting Beliefs: What Are They and What Benefits Do They Bring?
The first category refers to any thought to which you pay attention to and give energy off, that, in return, will serve you and your purpose/goal. These are great feeling thoughts.
Positive thoughts, for example, can become beliefs that serve you. The only difference between them and supporting beliefs it that if you think positively and not FEEL the same way, they remain just some statements you agree with that have not appeared to be true in your real life.
Let me give you an example of that so you better understand where the line is drawn between positive/wishful thinking vs reality:
- Positive thinking: Money comes easily and quickly in my life. It takes no unnatural effort for me to attract money in my life.
- Reality: I work 40 + hours a day to make ends meet. The money I earn barely covers my rent, food, and other living expenses. Why is it so hard to attract more money in my life?
In this case scenario, it will be difficult for the person repeating on and on those positive statements and have them be reflected back in his/her reality. Why? Because that person, on a more deep, spiritual level, does not feel that these statements are true to his/her life.
Remember, beliefs are like convictions. You don’t just agree with them, you ARE them.
You think the thought, but you also have no ounce of doubt in your bones that it is not real.
Here’s another example, one in which these positive statements are also core beliefs:
- Positive thinking: I BELIEVE and know to be true that, no matter how short I am on money, at the end of the day I will come up with creative ideas to earn more.
- Reality: My reality reflects back exactly different case scenarios in which these statements are confirmed.
That is a supporting belief. It serves me and my purpose.
But if I think that, no matter what, at the end of the day I can meet my financial obligations, yet I don’t BELIEVE this, it’s just positive thinking. It’s just a thought I give mental attention and energy to, but I don’t feel it to be true. And my reality will reflect back what I feel to be true.
It’s not a supporting belief until it becomes part of you and you don’t have to actively think the though anymore or have any doubt whatsoever that it is not true to your life.
Examples of supporting beliefs:
- I will know the answer to my problem when the right time comes
- I receive all the good that this life has to offer me
- I live in no time and no space; therefore, I accomplish everything I set my mind to do
- Possibility always finds me
- Money comes easily and naturally in my life. It requires no great effort for me to attract this energy in my life
- I make a difference in this world and my existence is important
- I let go easily of what doesn’t serve me and hold no resistance to change
- No matter what happens to my body, I KNOW that my body is in perfect balance and syntropy
- I am worthy of love every second of my life
- I choose harmony, peace, and balance in my mind and I express them in my life
- I love myself and my body, and I know I am enough
- I am open to new opportunities and I receive abundance from known and unknown sources in my life
- I find love wherever I go, and I know that I am loved and I am loving
- I conquer challenges with excitement and ease; there is a gift to be discovered at every step of the process
- I am safe
- I trust myself and I trust the process
Notice how many of these supporting beliefs possess the verb TO BE (I am… ).
Limiting beliefs: What Are They and How Do They Serve?
Like their name says, limiting beliefs are beliefs that don’t serve us and limit our experience of the human life we have.
They make us feel unworthy, weak, incompetent, and make us a victim in our own life.
Our natural state is that of a creator, not a victim! For this reason alone, limiting beliefs keep us at bay, far from our true potential.
They are dangerous, because if you give power to one, much like a slippery-slope, it will easily make you give power to likewise thoughts as well.
This is why falling in a depression happens faster than getting out of one.
Examples of limiting beliefs
- Relationships are hard work and all people use you
- All great men are taken
- Women are less than men
- I never have enough time
- My pain is normal, it will never go away
- I don’t matter in this universe and my existence is not important
- You must work HARD in order to get what you wish for
- I’m like my parents, I’ll never change
- Life is hard, cruel, and unfair
- Nothing ever works in my favour
- God doesn’t love me
- I have a special place reserved in hell; I might as well never change for the better
- I was a bad person, I don’t deserve this
- Only obedient, good kids deserve a Christmas present
- I am not safe, the world is a dangerous place, and nobody should be trusted
- No matter what I do, I can’t get myself out of this situation
The above examples can stir feelings of unworthiness, victimization, helplessness, despair, shame, guilt, or even anger. Generally, whatever you’d put under the “negative” emotions label.
How did limited beliefs get in my brain?
This question alone is one of the greatest questions one can ask. It gives rise to awareness, which, in turn, restores power back into the subject’s hands.
The answer? Let’s use a little anatomy to explain the process better.
The brain
The brain is a sum of 2 components: the conscious brain and the subconscious brain.
Conscious brain
The conscious brain, or the prefrontal cortex, is an action brain.
It carries out executive functions.
It is used to think, plan, and act.
It is used to create dreams and bring them into reality.
And it is also the difference between humans and animals, with a bigger prefrontal cortex than the other species on the planet.
Subconscious brain
The subconscious brain, our cerebellum, is a habit brain.
It learns through repetition.
Behaviors such as walking, talking, standing up, sitting down, etc. are stored in there.
They are actions repeated so often that you don’t have to actively think to do them. You don’t actively think how to raise your leg anymore! Or how to run! Or how to swim! You just do it!
“So then how did I end up with such limited beliefs?”
From age 0 to 7 a child is in theta brain waves. Those are the brain waves when you sleep, when you are hypnotized, or when you meditate.
In those brain waves, the body is fully relaxed, and the mind is much like a sponge. It absorbs any information without analyzing it and stores it DIRECTLY into the subconscious brain.
So, while you were a kid, a lot of limited beliefs were passed by your parents, down into your subconscious brain.
You don’t have an analytical brain developed yet (the part of your brain that develops somewhere around the ages 8-14 and differentiates what is true to what is not. For example, it is the analytical brain that discovers Santa is not real). Without it, you accept, surrender, and believe any thought you come in contact with.
For example, if mommy and daddy are fighting over money and you hear things like “there isn’t enough money!”, “how are we going to raise this child up?”, “it’s hard to make money even with full time jobs and night shifts!”, you’ll end up, in time and through their repetition, making neural pathways in your brain that support these thoughts. You’ll later grow up and subconsciously look for outside evidence in your life to support those beliefs!
This is also why you can FEEL unworthy of receiving something, even if you THINK you deserve it. Deep, deep down, you still have some limited beliefs regarding yourself and what you think you are worth in life.
And with all the positive thinking you can do with your conscious brain, so long as you don’t feel it, it’s not going to work.
Therefore, you have to change these limited beliefs if you want to experience a greater and better level of life.
Steps to change limited beliefs into supporting beliefs
Step 1:
Identify your limited belief.
With your conscious brain, make an effort to pay attention to the thoughts you give rise to in your brain.
If these thoughts don’t make you feel good, make sure to not have them slip by your analytical mind the next time.
It doesn’t matter where they come from (as most of them are not yours anyway), it matters that you chase them to the core, see where they come from, and leave them behind.
Step 2:
Replace it with a supporting belief.
Choose a better feeling thought.
One that you believe will bring great change in your life.
One that serves and supports you.
Step 3:
Practice feeling that belief to be true so much until it becomes a part of you.
Just like a person going to the cinema, the movie played is called “your life”. You get to be the main actor and you are in full control of everything. If you don’t like the script, change it.
And just like an actor, practice being an abundant person, or a stress-free person, or whatever it is you’d like to be.
Step 4:
Look for any outside confirmation in your life of the new supporting belief.
This will reinforce your belief even more, and it will make pruning new synaptic neurons faster.
It will give a sense of excitement when the new belief you chose actually played out in your life, and it will inspire you to do this process again.
Final thoughts
As with anything in life, internal change can only be made once you have the awareness of what it is you don’t like and what it is you want to create. This is why Step 1 is crucial.
For a better understanding of awareness and easy steps to become more aware, read my article here.
Having said that, I wish you a pleasant, enjoyable ride into changing beliefs and improving your life!
P.S: I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dolores Cannon that applies to just about any area of life: Believe Achieve! Doubt, You’re Out!
