Your beliefs create the foundation of your reality. If the world is a horrible place and everything sucks, do you think that’s an objective reality, or a personal hell you’ve created for yourself? Maybe life is full of amazing opportunities, adventures, people, connections, and things to learn. You’ve created a great life for yourself because your beliefs facilitated that reality, and made it possible.
This is the power of belief systems. They shape your reality, and facilitate the experience you’re having here. Needless to say, your beliefs have a huge influence on your life. That’s why you need to do some summer cleaning to discard stubborn belief systems that aren’t serving you, and cultivate healthier ones that make your reality a better place to live in.
Here we’re going to dive into your belief systems. We’re going to identify the beliefs that aren’t serving you, discard them to clear up space, and construct healthier belief systems that enhance your life experience.
The difference between beliefs and perception
Your perception refers to your understanding of the world via your senses which create a life-like picture of it. Beliefs are a conscious acceptance that something exists, or should be done in a certain way.
Your belief systems are more cognitive than your perceptions. Perceiving something is a rather automated process, while beliefs generally require more thought and introspection. Belief systems tend to revolve around the future and future ideals, while perception is momentary, and experienced in the now.
For example, you might believe that the world is getting worse, based on your observations, research, and critical thinking. You might however perceive the notion of ‘worse’ as being associated with more crime, pollution, corruption, and less virtuous people. See the difference there?
You might believe in the existence of a spirit realm, but you might not perceive it, because there is no sensory input you can get to validate its existence. If you develop your spiritual body, maybe you will be able to perceive spiritual concepts, and they will become a tangible part of your reality, because you’re perceiving them.
With this distinction, perceptions and beliefs are related to one another, but they are still separate. Changing the way you perceive things is a different process than changing your belief systems.
What are limiting belief systems?
Not all belief systems are bad, as belief systems help us function in the real world. You’re not going to steal from someone or hurt an innocent animal, because your belief systems tell you it’s wrong. Perhaps you believe that you deserve more in life, which drives you to achieve more. These are examples of beliefs that serve you, because they’re encouraging you to make the most of your life experience, and they’re good in nature.
When belief systems actively prevent you from expanding as a person, that’s when they become a problem. Limiting belief systems are deeply rooted ideas that act as barriers towards reaching your full potential. They’re mental blockages that have developed at some point in your life, which stop you from thriving.
Do you feel like you’re just a nobody, that all the good jobs have already been taken, that you don’t have enough money to have a good life, or feel like you can never get ahead in life? Are these beliefs inspiring you to have a great life and cultivating joy? I didn’t think so.
Most of us have some sort of limiting beliefs. Perhaps it comes in the form of commitment, where you hold yourself back from enjoying an amazing romantic life, out of fear that it won’t work out. Maybe you sabotage good opportunities that come your way because you feel you’re not worthy, or capable. With all these mental barriers, it can be hard to get anywhere in life, because consciously or unconsciously, you hold yourself back.
Until you come to the realization that you have as much potential as anyone else out there, you’ll remain confined in a prison of your own thoughts. When you’re sick of living in the same grind you’ve always known, use this frustration to define what you want in life, and how you’re going to change your situation.
Are you a victim of the world, or are you a creator of your own reality?
Below are some examples of limiting belief systems which work against you, and positive belief systems which serve you. Look at your own belief systems and see if anything resonates with you.
Examples of limiting belief systems
- I’m not good enough to do that
- I’m a victim
- I need more experience and knowledge before I can get a good job
- I fail at everything I do
- I’m too old/too young to do this
- I’m not smart enough to do that
- I don’t have enough time to do what I want
- I’ll never be successful
- I was just born like this
- I can’t find the right person for a relationship
- I don’t deserve love
- I’m not worthy of getting what I really want
Examples of healthy belief systems
- I can become more intelligent and learn whatever I need to succeed
- I am in control of my life
- I am a valuable asset to any job
- I am already successful, in my own way
- There will always be more opportunities
- Amazing people always come into my life
- Every difficult situation is temporary
- Life will get better
- I am abundant with everything I need
- I will meet the person of my dreams one day
Identifying limiting belief systems
When I used to think about money, there was a block. Even though I wanted to get ahead financially, I got discouraged. I thought about how much competition there was, why people would want to listen to me and take my advice. So I scared away a lot of good opportunities that came up, because I didn’t feel I deserved them.
Because of my perception around money, I manifested a lot of issues with it. Every time I started to get ahead, something would come up which separated me from my earnings. I would get cheated on, scammed, robbed (3 times). Sometimes I would have uncalled for fines, fees, things I needed to pay for whatever reason. This happened like clockwork.
So I looked into this perception, and why realistically, I couldn’t make as much as anyone else on this planet. What actually was it that created these holes in my bank account? After some time my perception started to change as did my value of money.
I started spending more, enjoying it more, and stopped thinking about how much I needed it. When the need for more money lessened, but the value I got out of it improved, this opened up a new dimension in my life experience. As my beliefs surrounding the topic have become more positive, I have had a lot of amazing adventures in life, and more opportunities in this form keep arising.
Identifying limiting belief systems starts with an awareness about your thoughts, beliefs and actions. Unless you are conscious about what you believe and why you believe it, these negative patterns will remain undetected and continue to control your life. Therefore, it’s very important to be conscious of your energetic outlet and what sort of messages you’re reinforcing to the universe.
Cultivate an awareness about your beliefs
Now it’s time to think critically about the beliefs you hold onto. This requires you to dig into what you think you’ve known for a long time, and really start questioning things. Once you identify your beliefs, really think about them, and how strongly you’re holding onto them. Here are some prompts to get the juices flowing:
- How is your relationship with money? Is it abundant and easy to access, or something you just can’t have no matter how hard you try? Do you think money is bad, or it’s just a tool?
- Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Why, why not?
- Do you believe in spirituality? What do you believe happens when you die? What beliefs do you have surrounding death, and how does this translate into your life experience?
- How do you feel about society? Is it going down the shitter, or do you believe we’re going to have a utopia? What’s wrong with society, and how can we make positive, lasting change?
- Are governments here to serve us, or control us? Is it the whole system, certain individuals? What are your thoughts on corruption, and what can be done about it?
- Are aliens real? If so, what are they like? Are there many different types of them, just a few? Have they already made contact, will they soon make themselves know to humanity?
- What’s your thoughts on spirits, demons, and the paranormal? Where do they come from? Are they here to help you, hurt you, or are they all different?
- Do we live in the matrix? Funny question, but important one. What’s your perspective on this. Are we in a simulation, is reality the be all and end all of life?
- What are the biggest keys to be a happy person? How do you become happy? What does happiness look like to you, and what needs to be done to achieve it?
Using emotions to detect limiting belief systems
The emotions surrounding your belief structures are a good indication of whether your beliefs are serving you or not. Ultimately, when you’re thinking about a certain belief structure, does it make you feel heavy or light? If you feel fear, unworthiness, shame, hatred etc. when inspecting your beliefs, then that’s a solid indicator that they’re toxic.
On the other hand, if you feel positive emotions such as hope, excitement or joy when looking into different aspects of your life, than that’s a good indication that your beliefs are healthy.
So look into different areas of your life and see what comes up. Think about your career, friends, dating life, and how many opportunities you get. Take a moment to think about how you feel about your life right now, and inspect where the negative emotions arise.
Let’s say you believe that only bad people get money and good people have to remain broke. How does this make you feel? If it’s not positive in any way, then you know that the belief needs to go.
Inspecting your beliefs and feeling the emotions when you dig into them will give you a solid lead to identify what belief systems are holding you back, and which ones are helping you excel in life. Don’t be too hard on yourself as it’s normal to have some limiting belief systems, but be critical with yourself, so you can identify these beliefs and take steps to heal them.
When you catch yourself reinforcing something negative, stop and think about it. Reframe your belief by reinterpreting it in a different way, and push yourself to think about why you can rather than why you can’t.
Understand that you’re trying to reinforce healthier belief systems, and this can take time. Imagine it like a mental muscle that you need to exercise, and you do this by catching your negative beliefs when they’re kicking in, and forcing yourself to think about the situation in a more optimistic, yet critical way, which spurs the belief of why not, rather than why.
Discarding limiting belief systems
To get your mind into optimal state, first you need to clear up some space. So we’ve looked at what limiting beliefs are, we’ve talked about how you can identify them, now it’s time to let them go.
It’s important to construct beliefs that serve you, and drop those that don’t. If a belief system isn’t serving you in some way shape or form, then it begs the question. Why do you continue to hold onto it?
Your beliefs should be tailored around your ideal vision of reality. That means that you should work on adopting beliefs which make you feel happier and more fulfilled.
For example, you might believe that people are harmful, that money corrupts people, that every politician is evil. You might believe that you can’t be happy and make lots of money, or that you will never ‘make it’ in life without doing bad deeds.
These are counterproductive beliefs which certainly don’t serve your best interests. They act as walls, and prevent you from growing and expanding into the person that you’re supposed to be.
Life-enhancing beliefs might be along the lines of ‘I can achieve anything that I put my mind to’, or ‘I have faith that the universe will take care of me’, or ‘I consider myself a very lucky person’.
A belief such as thinking that the universe will take care of you reduces stress. Believing that everything is meant to be provides reassurance. Your belief systems can also cultivate better ways of life such as nonresistance and acceptance, creates optimism, or being a better person to your loved ones.
If a belief is not making you happier, better, or serving your growth, then it’s time to look at why you’re still holding onto it.
Stop watering weeds
Stop watering the beliefs that you don’t resonate with, and let them die out in their own time. What I mean by this is that you need to stop giving energy to limiting beliefs, as the attention and thought you give to those beliefs manifest them into reality.
The truth is, you can believe whatever you want. It really doesn’t matter, it just depends on what thoughts you’re tendering. So stop tendering beliefs that instigate a degraded quality of life, and put your energy into better things.
Look at it this way. If you believe that you’re socially awkward and bad with people, then in your reality, you will be. If you genuinely believe that you have a good social life or that you’re living a good life, then that is the reality you will carve out for yourself.
You will begin moving towards the paradigms that you believe in, so make sure your tendering the beliefs you want to have, and neglecting the ones you don’t.
Make a habit of challenging your belief systems
An open-mind is the worst enemy of limiting belief systems. Because if you open the floodgates and allow yourself to be inundated with alternate perspectives and new ideas, those limiting belief systems won’t stand for long.
That’s why it’s important to make sure you don’t get too comfortable in your beliefs. You should always be learning and growing, and acknowledge that your beliefs are always changing, as do you. Therefore, allow your beliefs to naturally evolve as your knowledge, wisdom, and life experience does.
Usually, we just don’t care enough to dig into opposing beliefs due to the fact that we are comfortable in our own. We don’t want to rattle our stable paradigms, because those paradigms are attached to the ego.
But if you step backwards and gain an unbiased perspective, you might realize that your beliefs are not as solid as you once thought. Therefore, don’t shut down arguments, or combat people who oppose your beliefs. Hear everyone out, gain as much knowledge on all perspectives as you can, and incorporate those views into your own beliefs — at least the ones that make sense to you.
Forming healthier belief systems
Beliefs are formed over time throughout your life experience. We typically accept our belief structures as a default which can’t be changed. As with your perception of life, beliefs are not concrete. It doesn’t matter how stuck in your ways you are. You have the ability to reconstruct your beliefs.
It’s important to understand that beliefs can change, and that you can change yours to accommodate your desired lifestyle, attitudes, and resulting behaviors. By realizing that your beliefs are always evolving, you open the gate to possibilities.
It’s time to pivot towards a more promising mind, and form beliefs that are beneficial to your life. Let’s look at how.
Understand that all beliefs are valid
The first step to change your belief systems, is to acknowledge that there is some nonsense, and some validity in everything. There is no ultimate truth, just theories, ideas, and speculation.
Even beliefs which have a strong standing and those which are backed by science aren’t unquestionable. Reality is not black and white. We tend to paint a picture which grossly simplifies life, when this is a counterproductive approach to take.
To change your belief systems, you need to understand that there is no right or wrong. There is no correct or incorrect. Beliefs are subjective. The truth is… nobody knows what the fuck is happening in reality, which means that there is plausibility in everything, and this gives you leverage.
Anything will seem logical if you convince yourself into it. So don’t rule out any options just yet, because your knowledge is always changing.
Desire the belief, and you will construct it
Your desire to believe something will create the actual belief. Therefore, start looking into the beliefs that you want to have, and make them your orbital point of focus.
Usually, the problem is not that you can’t form a new belief, it’s that you never even thought about it, or have no incentive to change your belief systems. When you engage different beliefs and build the desire to believe them, you will start resonating with them. That’s why you should think about what you want to believe, and gain conscious control over that.
How often do you meet people who believe in something that they don’t want to? It’s actually a pretty rare phenomenon, as when you want to see things in a particular way, you’re going to start convincing yourself into it, and pulling out every tiny shred of information that supports that belief.
If you want to believe that humanity is going to prosper and we’re going to move towards an interstellar species, then there’s no reason why you can’t. I do believe this, because I want to. It makes me feel optimistic about the future. If you want to believe in something hard enough, you will start to believe it. When you start doubting it or you don’t really care, that’s when movement stops.
Look at the details
To believe in something, you need to see the sense behind it. It needs to be a plausible theory to you, otherwise you will discard the idea. Therefore, to change your belief systems, you need to look for logic to support that belief.
The thing is that there is logic and plausibility in everything if you inspect it closely enough. Most people who don’t believe in something have no interest in researching it. Since they never actually take the initiative to look into the counterargument, or things which don’t align with them, they never give the belief structure a chance to seed.
If you start digging into conspiracy theories, you are likely to start believing in them, or at least the ones that resonate with you, because you’re digging into the details and giving them a lot of thought. Who would have thought, many conspiracy theories are actually very convincing.
Look at the details, search for information which supports the belief, and before you know it, you’ll be gathering a mound of insight into why the belief seems to plausible.
Be around people you want to learn from
The people in your life contribute a lot towards your belief systems, which is why it’s important to be aware of your social influences, and to be around people you want to learn and grow from. There will always be people who doubt you and discourage you. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of who you tend to spend your time with.
If your friends are lazy, unmotivated, and downers, you can bet that it’s going to rub off on you to. Likewise, spend your time around winners who are motivated, then you’re in a much more positive environment which is going to instill self-belief.
Spend more time around interesting people who you can learn and grow from, and you will start adopting their belief systems too.
Stop making excuses
Limiting belief systems are stories you tell yourself which paints you in a negative light. You will tell yourself you’re too inexperienced to do something you want to do, or that you’re not the right person for the opportunity, or that the woman that likes you is way out of your league, so there’s no point even trying, thus never giving yourself a chance in the first place.
You need to be rational with your life situation, and see things for what they really are, and move forward. If you have limiting belief systems, you probably exacerbate things and make excuses. Part of getting rid of these limiting belief systems is to recognize when you’re making excuses, and when you’re not.
So every time you catch yourself making an excuse, or saying you can’t do it for whatever reason, really think about it. Build awareness to notice when you’re making excuses, push yourself out of your comfort zone and take actions to do it anyway.
Cultivate a sense of purpose
If you always have your eyes on the prize, you’re going to actively look for opportunities, and work around the mental blocks you have. That’s why it’s important to see yourself as a self-directed entity who’s always progressing with life, regardless what other people do.
You need to build up the idea that you’re always moving towards a goal. Refine the vision of what you want in life, and take practical steps to get there. Once you have the mentality that you’re only going up despite the usual set backs here and there, that it’s all in your hands, it will help you stay motivated.
Your failures and feelings of stagnation are not because you are incompetent. It’s because you don’t have the vision that you’re actively working towards. What what lights you up when you think about it? What is your purpose in this world? Really think about it, and develop the beliefs needed to achieve that vision.