What do you Truly Believe?

How do you feel when someone says to you, "you are very courageous", or "you have amazing talent." Do you find yourself feeling uncomfortable in your own skin, offer a weak thank you and then quickly change the subject? Have you ever wondered why you react this way? I admit, I have experienced the same types of feelings and reactions.

This last month has been a defining and refining experience for me in the area of Limiting Beliefs. By definition, limiting beliefs are negative messages that were spoken to us from parents, siblings, teachers, friends, religion, etc. In turn, we internalized them as Truth and made them our own. They may have aided us in creating our life story around them. They are like ropes tied around our bodies, tight and constricting in our childhood, but looser in our adulthood. Yet they are still there keeping us bound from fully expressing who we are now and what we are to become.

Limiting Beliefs sound like, "you don't catch on very quickly do you," or being consistently told to "be quiet." They may have been audible or modeled through actions. Such as, unrealistic expectations laid out for you to meet and in turn, if you did not meet them to a tee, you believed you were not good enough or felt guilty.

You may be wondering how limiting beliefs show up or create our life story. Let's go back to the example given earlier. The statement, "you are very courageous," sounds harmless and very complementary doesn't it. I am certain the person that gave the compliment was sincere. For many, the idea of being courageous is a trigger that links to one of our limiting beliefs. We may have been told to make sure we never look or sound self-important, or we were shown how to never believe in ourselves because we were not given ample praise and encouragement. Can you see how this innocent compliment is linked to a limiting belief that creates part of the story of our life?

The amazing gift is that we are not destined to stay in this belief system. We can turn them around based on our willingness to identify them, name them for what they are and re-write our story with Truth and evidence.

How to begin your journey:
· Shift your attitude to one of being willing and open to take a realistic look at your limiting beliefs.
· Identify what your limiting beliefs are. Write them down in a journal in concise sentences. You don't have to identify who, when or why, just what they were.

Ask yourself:
· How is this belief showing up and running my life now?
· How is this belief keeping me bound or stuck in my life?
· Who would I be without this belief?

Recognize and name these beliefs for what they are -LIES, LIES LIES!!! And a means to keep you from fully evolving into who you are.

Re-write your beliefs. For example, if you believe you are not good enough, your New Belief becomes:
· I am good enough, I am perfect for who I am in this moment and time.
My Truth is:
· I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
· I am a precious child of God, His hands made me and formed me.

My evidence is: (name at least three)
· I am married to a wonderful man that loves me.
· I have many friends and they enjoy my company.
· I have touched (name their names) lives because of God's unique gifts that He gave to me.

Write your Truth and evidence on a card and keep it with you. Read it often and notice what shows up in your life.