Happy Valentine’s Day! On this day of love, let’s love ourselves so that we can then love others. Lately, I have found some old limiting beliefs that I now get to work with and release. Ridding ourselves of limiting beliefs is easier said than done. Why? The problem comes in our approach. If we believe I AM X, we then try to directly negate it with I AM NOT X. I AM Y. But there’s a critical bit of human psychology that renders this ineffective. Studies have shown that if you believe X and I directly negate it by saying, you’re wrong, it’s not X, it’s Y, then you will actually dig in deeper on your belief of X. My attempt to directly negate your belief will cause you to hold that belief in an even more extreme way. So are we doomed to hold limiting beliefs forever? No. There is another option. If we come at the belief from a completely orthogonal direction, we can easily dismantle it. For example, what if you believe I AM X. And I say, X DOES NOT EXIST. Hmmm. You cannot be something that does not exist. The brain was all ready to dig in and defend X, but now it faces the question: if X does not exist, then what am I? You can now introduce a new belief and the brain is ready to receive it and accept it. Be careful not to introduce the opposite of what you just got rid of. Because that will limit you too. Instead try something like I AM THE DIVINE IN A HUMAN EXPERIENCE. Or I AM A STUDENT OF LIFE. Or some other more useful perspective such as I JUST AM. Give it a try and see if it helps.
