Having limiting beliefs is part of the human experience. We all tell ourselves stories that hold us back and prevent us from reaching our full potential at some point in our lives. Through mindful self-reflection we can bring a greater level of self-awareness to our limiting beliefs so we can recognize, challenge and overcome them with more ease.

What are limiting beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are beliefs that we hold or stories that we tell ourselves that hold us back, prevent us from reaching our full potential and keep us stuck in unsupportive patterns and situations.

They can be nestled deep in our subconscious mind and dictate how we see ourselves, the world around us, how we act and what we do.

It’s important to note that our limiting beliefs are not entirely constructs of our mind. They can in fact stem from truth, but a lot of the time we’re blowing them out of proportion and we have more control over them than we realize.

Where do limiting beliefs come from?

Limiting beliefs stem from your brain’s desire to protect you from pain, harm or failure based on past experiences but they can also stem from external influence like:

Parents & other relatives
Friends
Social Media

When it comes to our health and wellness goals, limiting beliefs can show up in many ways:

following diets to no avail can leave you believing that you’re the problem, “nothing ever works for me and I’m such a failure at diets” rather than acknowledging that the diets are the real problem
having unrealistic expectations and then thinking “it doesn’t come naturally to me” when it takes longer than you would have expected to reach a goal or cultivate a habit, instead of realizing that it’s about progress not perfection and things take time
believing that you have to achieve a certain physical goal to feel good about yourself instead of knowing that confidence comes from within and you can feel good in your body even as you work toward your physical goals
thinking you don’t have time to dedicate to nourishment, movement and self-care because it’s all consuming and hard, instead of telling yourself that you can start where you are, at your own pace and on your own terms.

Limiting beliefs keep us stuck in patterns and habits that don’t serve us, preventing us from experiencing true lasting wellness and living a more balanced and nourished life and working through them is essential to healing from the past and cultivating a more fulfilling existence.

How to overcome & Break limiting beliefs

In order to overcome and move past any limiting belief, you need 3 things:

Recognize it for what it is first and foremost.
Challenge it
Replace it with a positive self-belief.

Like any skill, it takes time and practice to get “good” at overcoming and breaking limiting beliefs.

Keeping a self-reflection journal is a great place to start to do this work. Writing is very therapeutic and it gives you the time and space to reflect on and assess your thoughts and emotions.

So grab a piece of paper or your journal and use this exercise to work through your limiting beliefs:

Write down ONE limiting belief.
Focus on ONE limiting belief at a time and repeat this exercise as many times as you need to.
Acknowledge your limiting belief for what it is, in writing.
Claim it as a limiting belief, not truth, but a story that you keep telling yourself.
You might write something like “telling myself {lorem ipsum} is a limiting belief”. For example:
- telling myself “I don’t have time for self-care” is a limiting belief
- telling myself that “healthy eating doesn’t come naturally to me” is a limiting belief
- telling myself “I can’t feel good about myself until I lose weight” is a limiting belief
How does this limiting belief make you feel?
Think about all the thoughts, emotions and physical sensations that arise when you think about this limiting belief. How do you feel? Mentally, emotionally, physically?
For example, you might say:
- I feel sad/angry/hopeless
- I feel tension in my shoulders, I’m grinding my teeth, my hands are shaky
How does this limiting belief affect your life?
It’s never one sided. You wouldn’t have this limiting belief if you didn’t feel like it protected you in some way and you wouldn’t be trying to overcome it if you didn’t feel like it was holding you back.
Focus on both, how this limiting belief protects you AND how it holds you back from achieving your fullest potential and your goals.
Where do you think this belief stems from?
Where do you think it first started? In childhood? When you were older? Is there a particular situation or experience that you can recall that led to this limiting belief?
If you can’t pin point the exact moment or time frame, thing about the internal beliefs and external influences that reinforce this limiting belief in the present moment?
Is there any truth to this limiting belief?
Remember what I wrote before, our limiting beliefs are not always constructs of our mind. They can stem from truth, but a lot of the time our mind blows them out of proportion to protect us.
Think about your limiting belief. Is it a fact or a story you keep telling yourself? What is truth and what is made up?
Even if there’s evidence to support that this belief is in fact a reality in the present moment, what about the limiting belief isn’t true? Can the limiting belief be changed? Can you acknowledge that people can grow and learn to overcome their limiting beliefs by changing their mindset?
For example:
If you keep telling yourself that eating healthy doesn’t come naturally do you, perhaps there is some truth to it:
- you don’t know the basic fundametals of nutrition
- you’ve never taken the time to learn how to create balanced meals
- you grew up in a household that didn’t make nutrition education a priority.
These may all be truths that have led to the belief that eating healthy doesn’t come naturally to you. What may also be true is that diet culture has convinced you that eating healthy has to look a very specific way that is rigid and restrictive.
So naturally, you believe that it doesn’t come naturally to you to eat healthy and now it’s a limiting belief that keeps you stuck in unsupportive eating patterns - either dieting or doing nothing at all.
But the reality is, even if all of these things are true, they can be changed. You can learn to eat mindfully and intentionally and cultivate health promoting eating habits.
How does letting go of this limiting belief feel?
Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Make a decision to let go of this limiting belief and release it! Picture it flying away from you and being out of reach. How does it feel to release it?
Note: this may be more difficult to do for some limiting beliefs than it is for others. So, if you’re not able to release it, make note of it without judgement or criticism then come back to it another time.
How can you challenge this limiting belief?
When facing a problem or situation, it’s important to differentiate facts from beliefs. Sometimes they can overlap, but if we focus on the facts, more often than not, acting them can help us eliminate the self-limiting belief.
Let me explain with a few examples:
I don’t have time for self-care (problem) because…
- my family needs me and everything will fall apart if I take time for myself (limiting that is likely untrue)
- I haven’t been open about my needs, asked for support and set boundaries (fact that reinforces the limiting belief)
Eating healthy doesn’t come naturally to me (problem) because…
- I don’t have any willpower (limiting belief that is perpetuated by diet culture)
- I haven’t made time and effort to learn the basics of nutrition and cultivate health promoting eating habits (fact that perpetuates the limiting belief)
I don’t feel good in my body (problem), but…
- I’ll feel better when I lose weight (limiting belief that is perpetuated by society at large)
- I’ll feel better when I start practicing health promoting habits more regularly, like balanced nutrition, mindful eating, and holistic self-care and when I finally change my mindset about what it means to be and feel healthy (fact that has the power to change the limiting belief)
In each of these situations, you can take action on the facts to eliminate the self-limiting belief. It could be something like:
- I will prioritize my needs by setting aside time in my schedule for self-care (nourishment, movement, mindset work). I will hold this time sacred and will ask for help and support from my partner/family members to make it happen.
- I will learn to create balanced meals by signing up for a course or downloading this free guide
- I will make a conscious effort to embrace my individuality and appreciate my body for what it does for me every day while cultivating health promoting habits that support me in feeling my very best
Write down a few positive affirmations that you can repeat to yourself whenever this limiting belief comes up.
Here are a few examples for the limiting beliefs discussed above:
- I am worthy of taking the time to nourish and care for myself. My priorities matter just as much as everyone else’s in this family.
- I am worthy of nourishing my body mindfully and intentionally, to support my unique needs and feel balanced with my food choices.
- I am grateful for my body and everything it does for me and will do everything in my power to treat it with love, kindness and respect.
Finally, reflect on what it feels likes to replace limiting beliefs with positive self-belief.