You know where to find me! Growth and self-actualisation — the continual search to find more of the life we want, and to embrace who we truly are — are only possible when one is willing and able to identify the things holding you back from reaching that next level.

From committing to a no-alcohol-formula in order to stick to the plan for a New Year’s resolution regimen, to staying disciplined with a daily yoga practice, perhaps you have noticed the underlying assumption in many self-help formulas — the presence of beliefs or ideas in your subconscious mind that act like powerful, invisible forcefields holding you back from going after what you really want and attaining a life of self-actualised contentment and abundance, by recognising these limiting beliefs, challenging them and ultimately transforming them, we become able to step into a space where we can achieve more of what we desire — until we actually do.

Limiting beliefs are those negative or self-defeating thoughts and assumptions we have about ourselves, other people and the world around us. They can come from past experiences, societal conditioning or, simply put, misguided perceptions. Limiting beliefs can show up all over the place — in relationships, career, health, personal development, you name it. Some common examples might be: ‘I’m not good enough’ ‘I’ve never been able to stick to anything, so I’ll never be able to change’ ‘I don’t deserve success.’

Once one stops and thinks about limiting beliefs, the next step towards overcoming them — at least in part — is self-awareness, coupled to self-compassion. Where are these limiting beliefs hiding, working behind the scenes to curtail your actions and thoughts or to keep you away and distant from your true potential and aspirations? When have they had the most influence over you? What steps can you take to challenge them and dismantle them? Journaling, meditation, working with me, a coach or sitting with a psychotherapist can all serve as useful tools for exploring these different questions.

Once your limiting beliefs have been identified, the second step is to examine these thoughts with compassion and objectivity. Once you have identified a thought such as ‘Instead of passively observing, my mind is always in action,’ you’ll want to question it. Is this thought really true? Provide evidence that it is not true. Ask yourself: where’s the evidence for this thought — facts that might contradict it? You could ask: when have I been successful before? How about someone else?

Likewise, it’s about reframing these negative thoughts towards more empowering and affirming statements such as: ‘I am worthy of being successful and I am able to achieve what I want.’ It’s about being consciously aware of the language I’m using and choosing to replace the bad with the good.

These practices — affirmations, visualisation, cognitive restructuring — are all effective ways to go inside to reprogramme your subconscious mind — to replace limiting beliefs with positive, empowering ones. Consistency and perseverance are key as eradicating deeply held beliefs is not easy or quick. Hypnotherpy is a great way to cut through these subconscious beliefs.

Also, we need to take action that is consistent with our new beliefs — this could mean exposing ourselves to possible rejection, pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones, and creating actual opportunities for success. Through creating further evidence for our new beliefs and demonstrating to ourselves that we can achieve our goals, we literally bring them into reality.

In conclusion, bouncing back from any known limiting beliefs is a journey of personal growth filled with self-discovery, courage and persistence. Breaking down those negative beliefs and re-framing a new and worthy narrative from that redefined belief, we can repurpose those constraints in a positive direction by bringing forth an empowering and transformational sense of being, which will ultimately shape a fulfilling life of unimaginable visions and legacies. So, with each step we take when we choose to reach and achieve more than what we deem ourselves capable of, or that which people have projected onto us, is the unfolding of practically limitless opportunities — where anything is possible !