When I talk about belief I am not necessarily talking about religious beliefs although they are linked into belief systems too, however I am talking specifically about personal beliefs. Those beliefs that we hold steady about ourselves, sometimes without even being aware that we have them let alone the impact they have on our everyday life!
We all hold beliefs about ourselves and the world. Some believe that the world is a scary place or that they are great singers (even if that is far from the truth – I am sure some of you watch The X Factor!).
Beliefs are statements that we believe to be true about us and the world and we accept them without question. Major beliefs will affect every area of our lives and if you have limiting or negative beliefs about yourself, the impact will be negative.
Imagine if you believed that you were good enough, you would probably achieve so much more than someone who thought they were useless. If you were good enough you would go for that promotion, chat that great looking guy up or take on that exciting new project because you believe that you can do it.
On the other hand imagine if you felt you were useless. Well there’s no point going for that interview because you know you won’t get it so why bother even trying and as for that great looking guy, he is way out of your league! What you believe about yourself WILL impact on how you perform on a daily basis.
So if you would rather believe that you were good enough as opposed to useless then get working on changing your limiting beliefs and believe you me (pardon the pun!) it’s easier than you think! All you need is a little time and commitment.
(For more impact do this exercise on paper!)
1. Firstly ask yourself in what ways is this limiting belief wrong? Are you really not good enough 100% of the time?
2. Then ask yourself in what way this belief is negatively impacting on your life – cover every area of your life from personal to work to financial to relationships etc. Write these down and list as many as you can.
3. Next ask how much better would your life be if you didn’t believe this belief? List all the positive ways you life would improve. Also think of a new empowering belief that you would like instead of the old one. This must be stated in the positive i.e. ‘I am good enough’ and NOT ‘I no longer believe that I am not good enough’.
4. Once complete, focus on all the pain and suffering this old belief is causing in your life and really get a sense of how it’s impacting on how you feel, how you behave and how it affects your life. Really feel the pain that this belief is causing you. Spend about 15-20 seconds doing this.
5. Then think about your future without this belief. Think about how you will feel when you don’t believe this belief anymore and when you believe the new empowering belief that ‘I am good enough’. Notice how you will feel, look, talk, behave and really get a strong feeling of how great you feel and focus on the pleasure you feel believing this new belief. This is your daydream so make is as compelling as you could possibly ever make it! Imagine how fantastic it will be believing that you are good enough. See how your life will improve, how differently you behave. Spend as long as you like doing this but do it for at least one minute.
6. Also continually re-affirm that you are good enough throughout the day by using positive affirmation. Do this atleast 10 times each morning and evening and when ever you can remember during the day. The more you do the quicker the result!
7. Do this exercise daily for a month (this is the commitment!) and you will be amazed at how much better you feel!
Why does this exercise work? Well your unconscious mind is the seat of your behaviours, habits and beliefs and over time it has accepted, rightly or wrongly many beliefs about you, so bearing this in mind, it can accept a new belief too.
Secondly your unconscious mind works on the principle of more pleasure less pain so it will automatically take you from a painful situation to a pleasurable one instead (however you need to tell it what you want instead!!). It’s role is to bring as much pleasure into your life so by focusing on the new empowering belief and really FEELING how great it would be to believe that you are good enough, it receives a very clear instruction to change your belief system to one which is more positive and supportive to you now.
Thirdly, your unconscious mind is literal and accepts what you tell it. Unfortunately you will previously have been telling yourself that you aren’t good enough so your mind has responded accordingly! So now you need to tell yourself what you want to be or achieve – so focus on this new belief and anytime you think about the old belief, stop and change it to ‘I am good enough’. After time your unconscious mind willaccept this new belief as fact, no questions asked!!!
So this leads us to the fourth point. Repetition. Our mind learns through repetition so seeing yourself as good enough, feeling good enough and telling yourself you are good enough over and over again, will reinforce this new belief at the unconscious level of your mind where it will be accepted and acted upon. So repeat, repeat, repeat!!
It usually takes between 21-30 days to create a new habit or belief consciously however hypnosis can shorten that time dramatically as it communicates directly with your unconscious mind. So if you struggle changing habits and behaviours or lack the commitment to do this then what not see a hypnotherapist who can help you change your life!
Remember what you focus on in life you will get so focus on what you want. Your mind responds to the images and thoughts you create so make sure they are the ones you want, in order to create the life of your dreams!
Good Luck!