Have you ever wondered why you life is the way it is?  Do you consider yourself to be living the best life you possibly can? Are you enjoying your life or are there things that hinder you but you are not sure why?

Most of us only think about these things during reflection after a time of crisis.   The crisis could be anything - health, money, relationships....something that pulls us out of the everyday situations we find ourselves in and forces us to re-evaluate. However, we don't have to enter a crisis to ask ourselves the above questions.  Perhaps take a moment now to reflect on them and listen to what comes up.  What is your inner self telling you?

Many people will never question why their life is playing out in a certain way even if they don't like it, they may still continue to wearily tread the path.  However, if the time has come for you to question your life, it's worth considering the beliefs you hold and whether they are limiting or empowering beliefs.

Beliefs can be formed at any time but are often formed in childhood at the subconscious level. When we are young we are very susceptible to taking on the world around us because our brains continually operate in the alpha state, a light trance state that enables learning. Hence the reason children spend much of the time in fantasy land and have the ability to pick things up quickly.  However, that also means that both positive and negative experiences 'sink in'.  As children we hear, see and experience things from a variety of sources for example:  parents, teachers, community leaders, doctors - often people in authority that we trust and who 'must know what they are talking about', so we soak up their views, ideas and judgements and give them meaning and make them our own.

This can be a good thing, if for example your parents praised you often and spoke to you in loving terms and treated you in a loving way then it is likely that your beliefs around family will be positive.  However, if you were treated badly, not listened to, dismissed or neglected then the beliefs formed would be very different.  If you are constantly told as a child that 'you don't deserve it' or 'you're no good' or 'your feelings don't matter', it is likely that the beliefs formed from those situations will play out in certain patterns throughout your life.  You may find yourself on a roller-coaster of destructive relationships or using maladaptive coping strategies.  Or perhaps you find yourself always shrinking into the background and never fulfilling your dreams, instead watching other people as they do.

If you are unsure whether you have limiting beliefs in your life, take the time to honestly analyse the patterns that you find yourself living and recognise the areas of your life where you hold negative emotions.  What areas of your life have you tried to improve but find it never really works - for example: do you have issues with weight that you can't seem to ever get control of; do you find yourself in a cycle of abusive relationships?  Perhaps it's much less dramatic but you know you have issues with confidence that is a prevailing theme for you, or perhaps you find you always need approval from others.  As you discover the patterns that you re-play it will give you an idea as to what your limiting beliefs are.   

However, it is important to remember that just because we believe something, it doesn't mean it is true!  We tell ourselves it is true and as humans we like to prove ourselves right. The outcomes that we see in our life reflect our beliefs because we subconsiously find behaviour that matches our beliefs and provides the outcomes we associate with them. 

To change your life and live your best life possible limiting beliefs need to be addressed because they shape every action that you take and every decision that you make.  They may prevent you from doing what you want to through fear or may even prevent you from seeing opportunities at all.  The truth is that unaddressed limiting beliefs can steal your happiness and vigour for life and prevent you from reaching your potential.

There are many ways to deal with limiting beliefs and a combination of Hypnotherapy, EFT and NLP can help make positive changes.  If you would like to know more about how to address your limiting beliefs to start living your best life, please contact me.