How to Release Limiting Beliefs

A limiting belief is any belief you have that is not serving your highest good and is not aiding in your personal growth. These beliefs are usually formed during childhood, and come from your parents, relatives, teachers, and peers. They combine to form the basis of your paradigm, or how you perceive the world. By the time you become an adult, these beliefs have been ingrained in you so deeply that they are unconscious and never given a second thought, much like your belief that the sky is blue and the world is round.

Since these limiting beliefs are so much a part of your subconscious, you may not even realize that you have them. It is only when you find yourself struggling to succeed in your business or your personal growth that you start questioning why things aren't going your way. By releasing limiting beliefs and welcoming in more positive ones, you clear the way for energy to flow along a more productive path that will help you live the life you desire.

Here are some basic steps to follow for letting go of these beliefs and getting out of your own way:

1. How do you know you have a limiting belief?
Take a look at different areas of your life where you are struggling and examine your thoughts and feelings around them. A good sign that you have a limiting belief is if there's an area you've been working on with affirmations, meditation, or mindset practices and nothing seems to be changing. This indicates there is something deeply rooted that you need to release in order to affect the changes you desire. For example, if you are trying to improve your financial situation with affirmations and positive thoughts about having a lot of money, yet you're still broke, then you have some deep-seated beliefs about money that are preventing you from changing your current situation.

2. Who were your models surrounding this belief and what did they teach you?
Using money as an example again, what did your parents and other adults teach you? What words did you often hear? Were you taught that rich people were thieves, cheaters and sleazebags? Have you heard any of these?
"Money doesn't grow on trees."
"We can't afford that."
"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."
What actions around money were demonstrated to you? Did your parents have to struggle to make ends meet, or did they spend money faster than they made it? Did they gamble a lot or get involved in get rich quick schemes? All of these things built your beliefs about money and they have all influenced the way you think and feel about it.

3. Clear it out and set up a new belief.
After you've discovered how your limiting belief was formed, ask yourself if that is *truly* what you believe, or if you're simply buying into someone else's belief. If you find that what your intuition and heart tells you differs from what you grew up with, it's time to let go of the old and welcome in the new. It's time to create *your* belief system and stop living someone else's. You can release this old belief through hypnosis or through your own meditation and visualization. Use one of these methods to cut the cord connected to that old belief and let go of all the energy tied to it. After getting rid of that, set a clear, firm intention of what your new belief is going to be. Once you set up your new belief, you can use affirmations, visualization and mindset changes to reinforce and strengthen that belief.

Take your time and be gentle with yourself during this process. Depending on the belief you're trying to release, you may call up some things that will have a big emotional impact on you. Have a coach or mentor guide you through the steps. Your energy will flow more smoothly because it won't be divided between an outmoded belief and a new dream. With time and reinforcement, the new belief will become as strong and subconscious as the old one was and you will be moving in the direction you want to go.