Index

  1. How to acknowledge and let go of limiting beliefs
    • Not judge your limiting beliefs
    • Self-interrogation/Awareness
    • Acknowledgement, forgiveness and letting go
    • Make a choice, setting intentions and taking action
    • Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) and setting intentions
  2. Other things you can do to reprogram your subconscious mind
    • Focus on one thing at a time
    • Mediation and Breathing exercises
    • Seeking help
    • Sleep and morning best time to program mind
  3. Affirmations
  4. Quick summary to dissolve limiting beliefs
  5. Reference
  6. Resources

1) How to acknowledge and let go of limiting beliefs

The following section was inspired by the Experiential Healing method which I learnt in 2018. See resources to find out more information.

1) Not judge your limiting beliefs

Firstly, I think it’s important to say WE ALL have self-limiting beliefs. No one is perfect and never think someone is better or worse off than you. No matter where a person is in their life, they will sure to be going through a battle of their own and no doubt everyone has a self-limiting belief. However, the key thing to move forward and to become a better version of yourself is to acknowledge the beliefs.

The key thing when acknowledging the belief is to NOT judge YOURSELF for having it. Don’t be harsh on yourself or feel there’s something wrong with you, everyone has a self-limiting belief. The key is to acknowledge it and try and find out how it formed in the first place.

2) Self-interrogation/Awareness

One of the best ways to discover your limiting beliefs is by asking yourself questions and journaling. The problem with journaling is people often don’t know what to write or they start writing and don’t try to go deeper. Their excuse are ‘I don’t know what to say’ or ‘that’s all there is’ or ‘this is too much effort’. Also remember this could be another ego defence mechanism of yours.

But I want you to keep writing and going deep as you can. Don’t stop writing even it means you’re writing the same thing over and over again. And if you really stuck, write and ask yourself ‘what else is there that I’m missing’

One of the keys to journaling is to write down whatever that comes to your head and not judge it!

The types of questions you can ask yourself are:

  • What do you want to achieve in life and what stopping you from achieving them.
    • For the what’s stopping you question, I want you to be super honest with yourself and after you write something, try and see if you can expand or go deeper.
    • Also with the what’s stopping you question also write down the feeling you have attached to it
  • What’s your biggest fear? What emotion does this bring up? When did you first experience this fear and what happened?
  • What story do I have attached to my limiting belief?
    • E.g. If your limiting belief was ‘I don’t deserved to be loved’, the response to the above question could be my mother didn’t pay a lot of attention to me when I needed it.
  • List all the beliefs you know you have. Are any of these beliefs beneficial or not. How do you know they are beneficial, what actual evidence is there in your life from what you have experienced (not what other people have experienced).
  • What makes me sad/angry/happy? Why and what make me feel this way.
  • What beliefs do I have that I believe to be true? How does this belief serve me? Can this belief create a spiral of emotions or is it constant?
    • E.g. Q) what beliefs do I have that I believe to be true? 
      • A) I believe people should support each other.
    • Q) How does this belief serve me?                                          
      • A) It allows me to support others and in return I get supported.
    • Q) That’s sounds fair, but that doesn’t mean everyone will be able to support you. Can this belief create a spiral of emotions or is it constant?  
      • A) Well, if I ask someone to help me and they say no then I wouldn’t be happy.
    •  Q: So does the belief serve me?
      • A: No.
  • What kind of thing does your internal dialogue say and how does it make you feel? Is your internal dialogue beneficial or not?
    • So throughout the day take a note of what you say to yourself and how it makes you feel.
  • What beliefs have I got from my parents? Do these empower me or not?
    • There’s always some kind of belief picked up from parents such as ‘I am not good enough’.

If you are finding it too difficult to face up to your beliefs or feel uncomfortable, take 6 deep breaths in and out. Then journal what comes to you. Remember not to judge what come up for you.

3) Acknowledgement, forgiveness and letting go

When you start to acknowledge these beliefs, you start to understand the patterns and things you do in your life. You become more self-aware. Furthermore it allows you to start the journey of forgiving yourself and letting go of these limiting beliefs.

The way you can acknowledge these beliefs is to write down the first time you experienced such a belief. You can do this by creating a timeline of your life and writing down all the time you felt h belief. For example if you are 20 years old, grab a sheet of paper and write out the ages 0-5, 5-10, 11–15, 16–20. You then for each age area write all the times when the belief showed up.

You make be thinking how on earth your meant to remember when you were a baby, but when you start journaling, you will be surprised by just how many scenarios you bring up from your past.

Remember the key to journaling is to write down whatever that comes to your head and not judge it!

When you find the youngest version of yourself that formed the belief, then try and write down the scenario as it happened in which you formed the belief. Also write down what kind of thoughts you were having and notice if there was anyone around you in the scene that caused you to create the belief.

All this should help you to identify and help let go of your limiting belief.

However, if it’s still difficult, imagine yourself in the scene when you developed the belief then try the following (either A, B or both):

  • A) If there was one or more other people in the scene then do this:
    • Imagine that the younger version of yourself in the scene is walking up to the person who caused the belief and start talking to them.
      • Say whatever is coming up for you towards the person that caused you have the belief. Literally say it out loud.
      • I.e. maybe you have hatred toward them (which is completely fine, (don’t judge the emotion that comes up). Then just imagine yourself talking to them and letting it all out.
        • E.g. if you are 5 years old in the scene and your older brother made you feel worthless, then say you might want to say ‘Brother I hate how you treated me when I was younger. I thought you loved me but you made me feel worthless’
    • Once you have said everything you want take a deep breath and think of how the belief helped your life (the gift of the belief) and say them all. There always some kind of benefit.
      • For example, although you have felt worthless, perhaps it allowed you meet better friends or perhaps it led to where you are now in your career, or perhaps it made you work extra hard or perhaps it made you more empathetic towards others.
    • Once you have said that repeat to yourself ‘I am now choosing to let go of the belief that ___________ and feelings associated with this belief’
  • B) If it was just you in the scene then do the following:
    • Imagine that an older version of you was able to step into the scene and talk to the younger self. Now imagine talking to the younger self and do the following:
      • Apologise to your younger self for all the times the belief held them back.
        • E.g. if the belief was ‘I don’t deserve to be happy’, then say to your younger self ‘I’m sorry that you felt you didn’t deserve to be happy’ and continue saying whatever else you would like to get out.
        • Even if it is hatred to your younger self then say it and acknowledge the hatred. Don’t pretend you didn’t hate your younger self, now is your opportunity to let all your suppressed feelings out.
    • Once you have said everything you want take a deep breath and think of how the belief helped your life (the gift of the belief) and say them all. There always some kind of benefit.
      • For example, if you felt worthless think of how feeling helped you in your life (there’s always at least one occasion it helped), perhaps it allowed you meet better friends or perhaps it led to where you are now in your career, or perhaps it made you work extra hard or perhaps it made you more empathetic towards others.
    • Once you have said that repeat to yourself ‘I am now choosing to let go of the belief that ___________ and feelings associated with this belief’

4) Make a choice, setting intentions and taking action

Once you have acknowledged the belief and chosen to let it go, it’s vital to accept where you and make the choice of moving on and setting new intentions of where you want go.

So choose who want to be and what you want to do. Ask yourself the following:

  • What has the belief held you back from doing?
  • What type of person would you like to be if you dont have the limiting belief?
  • Where do you see yourself in five year time/what is a goal you would like to achieve in 5 years? What steps can you do to achieve that goal? What is the one thing you can do this week to help you achieve the goal?

When you answer these questions make sure you can visualise the end result and what it would look like. Literally see, hear, smell and feel everything that would be in your goal.

5) Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) and setting intentions

Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) is found in the base of the brain. Its role is important in controlling your consciousness. Specifically your RAS plays a role in arousal, sleep-wake transition, motor response (e.g. walking) autonomic functions (e.g. breathing), eating, elimination (wees and poos), dreaming.

Additionally, the RAS acts as a filter dampening down the effect of repeated stimuli like loud noise, which allow you to focus, and also helps to prevent your senses from being overloaded. The RAS filters external stimuli such as suppressing repeated stimuli (such as sounds and tastes) so we don’t get sensory overload.

You can think of the RAS as the gatekeeper of the brain. As this part filters out what you pay to attention to and what to disregard. You brain can only process so much at a time.The RAS filters things through that it think is important.

For example when you learn a new word, you keep hearing it everywhere. If you like a certain type of phone, you notice more and more people using it. This is due to the fact that when you first encountered these things, they left an impression, so now the RAS keeps alerting your brain every time you notice them

So how does it know what’s important?

Well it depends on what you focus on the most.

In relation to beliefs, the more your RAS focuses on something it uses it as proof to make a belief stronger or to deny the belief.  Hence, your RAS seeks information and validates your beliefs.  It filters the world through the information you give it, and your beliefs shapes the information you receive.

So ultimately your RAS responds to repetition, imagery and emotion. Hence after you’ve acknowledged the limiting belief and set a new intention, it’s important to REPEATEDLY look at images of what your intention looks like, to visualise it and emotionally feel how it would feel to have accomplished the intention. The more you do this, the more your RAS will focus on achieving the intention.

2) Other things you can do to reprogram you subconscious mind

1) Focus on one thing at a time

Focus on one belief and intention at a time. It might seem good to focus on multiple things at the same time. But focusing on one thing at time, you narrow down your focus and you can accomplish the goals faster.

2) Mediation and Breathing exercises

Meditation can helps to shift your focus away from your conscious thought. This can be useful before journaling and delving into your beliefs. Literally before starting the self- interrogation/ awareness process do 5-10 mintures of mediation.

Mediation also helps focus you to train your mind to maintain focus for a long time without getting distracted.

Sometimes when people think of meditation it can cause resistance and it may be easier to come up with excuses to not do it. So instead, try and think of it as a breathing exercise.  I personally enjoy doing the Wim Hof method, but there are loads of other breathing exercises. The Wim Hof guided mediation is shown in the YouTube link below.

But to summarise you take 30 deep breaths. As you breathe in ensure you are breathing deep. So imagine yourself breathing into your pelvic floor. With the Wim Hof method, on the 30 breath in, you hold it for as long as you can and then you continue the breathing exercise for three rounds. See the link below for more information.

Wim Hof guided breathing exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAhAOTXHeNs&t=153s

3) Seeking help

If you’re finding it hard to do this yourself, don’t be afraid to ask for help from friends. Talk them through the steps and get them to ask the questions, this can make it easier for you. Otherwise there is no shame in seeking for a help from a professional. Remember, this doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you, in contrast it shows you are taking initiative to make your life better. Some people also often learn better with other people’s help.

4) Sleep and morning best time to program mind

Two of the best times to help set new intentions for your subconscious mind are when we wake up in the morning and when we’re going to bed at night. During these times we have a greater influence over our subconscious mind.

Not only this but by focusing on your intention in the morning, you help align you focus for the day as opposed to getting distracted.  This is why I often advice people not to check your social media in the morning, as you are exposed to many different stimuli, instead focus on the one thing you want to achieve.

Meanwhile do the same when you go to sleep at night but also review what went well during the day and feel gratitude for what went well. Also review what went bad and how you could improve this for the next day.

3) Affirmations

Many people love affirmations and use it daily. Affirmations are helpful in directing your focus and helping reprogram you beliefs. However, even if you repeat these affirmations  a million times, if deep down you have strong opposing beliefs to these affirmations, then you’re wasting your time. This is because affirmations are done on a conscious level and are always filtered by the subconscious mind (remember this is where your beliefs lie) because they usually don’t match your belief system. In other words you are actually using these affirmations to mask your opposing beliefs as opposed to delving deep into the root cause of the belief.

For example, if subconsciously you believe you are not good enough, you could make an affirmation saying you are good enough and you are have amazing self-confidence. You could repeat this a million times and feel how it would feel to be enough and confidence.

This may help and allow you redirect you focus when you feeling down. However, unless you delve deeper into what events and circumstance that caused you develop this belief of not feeling good enough in the first place, then you will always feel deep down you are “not good enough” to do something.

It’s almost as if you’re using the affirmations to run away from the feeling of not good enough. Like another ego defence mechanism.

What you need to do is sit down and try and finding the root cause of the inadequacy feeling. That way you can let go and move forwards to feeling you are enough. In addition to this you can use affirmation to help redirect you focus to who you want to become.

To make the affirmations stronger make sure you can actually feel how it will be to achieve whatever you want. You could do this by doing activities which you put off before because of your limiting beliefs. Then the more you do these activities, you can condition your brain to realise actually you are enough.

4) Quick summary to dissolve limiting beliefs

  1. Spend 10-15 min meditating or doing breathing exercises.
  2. Begin the Self-interrogation/Awareness part to identify limiting beliefs and journal down your answers. Remember to not judge what comes for you.
  3. Begin the stage of acknowledging, forgiving and letting go of the beliefs.
  4. Make the choice of letting go and set new intentions and take actions.
  5. Use affirmation and visualisation in the morning when you wake up and at night before you sleep to help focus on your new belief/intentions.

5) References

  • Chris Walton. The gamma mind-set book. Available at-https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gamma-Mindset-Eliminate-Subconscious-Limiting/dp/0956552706 AM&q=gamma+midnset+book&oq=gamma+midnset+book&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i13.1096.2138..2379…0.0..0.280.622.4j0j1……0….1..gws-wiz…….0i71j0i13i30.JkJeJZlbMAk
  • Moseley JB, O’Malley K, Petersen NJ, et al. A controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 11;347(2):81–8.
  • Laupattarakasem W, Laopaiboon M, Laupattarakasem P, Sumananont C. Arthroscopic debridement for knee osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD005118.
  • Louw A, Diener I, Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Puentedura EJ. Sham Surgery in Orthopedics: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Pain Med. 2016 Jul. 
  • Freud, A. (1937). The Ego and the mechanisms of defense, London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis.
  • McLeod, S. A. (2017, May 05). Defense mechanisms. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/defense-mechanisms.html
  • Beck Julie (2017). ‘This Article Won’t Change Your Mind.The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs’. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/this-article-wont-change-your-mind/519093/
  • Shpancer Noam (2018). ‘The Wisdom of Defense Mechanisms- Managing the internal weather: The concept of psychological defenses’. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/insight-therapy/201802/the-wisdom-defense-mechanisms.

6) Resources

If you would like further information or help check out the following

  • One to one coaching with me where I will use tools I have learnt over the course of the last five years (such as Mindfulness and Experiential Healing) to help resolve your limiting beliefs. Send me an email via my website www.jagunathsva.com or message me on Instagram (@jagunath.sva) or Facebook (Jagunath Sva).
  • Learn about Experiential Healing which helps you dive deep and acknowledge your limiting beliefs. For more information on this check out the website http://www.dukesayer.com/