3 Limiting Beliefs Keeping You Stuck in the Suck

Back in the day, when my life was a major suckfest for various reasons, from coping with my father’s death to living in a financial nightmare of my own making, I reached a point where I could no longer continue to feel the way I had been feeling.

I was being eaten alive by grief, anxiety, frustration, anger, depression and a bunch of other shitty emotions. I woke up feeling like crap, and went to bed feeling like crap. My only relief was sleep, but even then, I would sometimes be plagued by unpleasant dreams that would create all sorts of equally unpleasant emotions that would stay with me long after I woke up.

At this point in my life, I had been interested in personal development, and I knew that I could turn things around with some effort as I had in the past. But, at this particular juncture of my existence, I had gotten so deep into the abyss, I neglected many of my positive practices and ”forgot” much of what I knew to be true.

I knew I was making bad decisions, and I knew I had more control than this, but I was just overwhelmed. But, at some point, the pain of staying the same was greater than the pain of changing, and I knew I was about to embark on some serious inner work.

One of the first things I had realized was I was still harboring some majorly limiting beliefs about money, success, what is possible in life, what I was capable of, and how things are ”supposed” to be.   Once I identified these beliefs, I worked on shifting them to their more desirable counterparts, and when I did that, my world changed. I always ”knew” how we thought was important in shaping our lives, but on an experiential level, I had not quite gotten there because I realized I had not been putting forth the effort to really internalize these truths.

While we each may be contending with our own unique set of struggles and faulty beliefs, most of them tend to fall under the umbrella of these broader beliefs that hold most of us back from getting what we want in life. And for your reading pleasure, here they are:

Looking to the Past to Determine What is Possible for the Future

No matter what has transpired in your past–no matter how many failed businesses, bad relationships, failed weight loss attempts–it has absolutely no bearing on what is possible for the future.All these situations worked out the way they did because of the beliefs you held, which influenced how you acted, the choices you made, and the type of situations and people you drew into your life.

If you improve your thinking, everything else in your life will improve like a domino effect. The future has no choice but to be different than the past, because you are now different. Nothing influences the course of events in our life more than we do, so when we change what is happening on the inside, the outside will reflect that. The past does not matter one little bit.

Do not look to the past to determine what is possible for you right now and in the future. Doing so will box you in; you will place unnecessary limits on yourself; it will keep you from going after the things you truly want.

Thinking Competitively Instead of Creatively

The idea  we are always competing against someone else, and that there is not enough to go around is the second limiting belief blocking the way to who you really want to be and the life you really want to live. The Universe is an abundant place with unlimited possibilities. Your success is not contingent on whether other people are succeeding or failing; success is not rationed out, with the more people getting some, the less there is left for the rest of us.

When it comes to following your dream, or taking that next step, don’t give so much thought to what everyone else is doing. Don’t feel like you are in competition. Just focus on what you want, and concentrate on getting it. If you believe you will get your result and take inspired action, what you want will come to you. It may not in the way you expect or the way you plan, but it will come.

I am a freelance writer, and I have gotten a lot of jobs through this one particular site that offers a section to post jobs for writers. This is a very popular site, and lots of people are viewing these listings. While I certainly do not get every job I apply for, the percentage I have gotten is pretty impressive.

Is it because I am the best writer in the world? No. Is it because I was the only applicant? Nope. Many of my clients had specifically mentioned getting overwhelmed by applications when they first posted the opening. At first glance, my field seems very competitive and people talk about how hard it is to find assignments.

That has not been my experience at all, and I attribute that to my mindset of knowing there is enough to go around, and that I will attract good opportunities. I believe I will get work, and I think from a creative plane rather than a competitive one.

Life Is Not Really Supposed to Be That Great

As the wise Buddha said…life is full of suffering. And, it is. Bad things will happen, we can’t help it. The people we love will die; relationships end and we feel destroyed; us humans do all sorts of terrible things to each other driven by greed, power, intolerance, ignorance and sheer cruelty.

We all have our challenges and inner demons; it is not about trying to be perfect , create a life free of any adversity or being happy every second. But, it is all too easy to get swept up by all the problems in our life, and wrongly concluded that our existence is supposed to be some sort of struggle, that true happiness is for the lucky few.

Many of us take great relish in recounting the difficulties of our lives and take pride in insane levels of stress.  We love mottos like ”life’s a bitch, then you die.” We have low expectations, and when we don’t expect much, we don’t get much. We settle for less than we have to because we believe that is the best for which we can hope. Free yourself of this pessimistic outlook on life, and a whole new world will open up for you.

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