Have you ever had an experience that was so negatively impactful that it completely shattered your confidence? Maybe you lost the game winning point and felt like you let your team down. You told yourself "I'm a disappointment to everyone" or "I'm not good at sports". Maybe your significant other left you for someone else and you told yourself "I'll never be good enough" or "I'm not worth it". These experiences can range from minor to traumatic, and we end up making it mean something about ourselves, our identity, our worth. We develop a limiting belief.
Perhaps you have been practicing mindfulness for awhile now and realize that this limiting belief doesn't serve you. You try to let it go, yet you continue to hold onto it for various reasons. Most people don't even question if there's truth or validity to their limiting belief- let alone challenge it.
I want to share one exercise that has really helped me over the years. It's called The Work by Byron Katie. She challenges us to ask 4 questions about a statement or in this case, your limiting belief.
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without that thought?
Simply asking ourselves and inquiring deeper within using these 4 questions can create awareness around this belief. We can understand and acknowledge our limiting beliefs and how they don't serve us on an intellectual level- yet many beliefs are deep-seated and might require more than just asking ourselves those 4 questions, but it's a good place to start!