Beyond Limiting Beliefs

"When pain causes my healing, my lows transform to highs, and heresy became faith, my soul and heart and body were blocking my journey before, now my body became heart, the heart became soul, and the soul turned to be the creator."

RUMI

What are limiting beliefs?

A Limiting belief is a belief that we have created about ourselves or that we have grabbed from an experience or an opinion of another person and that we took as ours. Usually, the belief system is created in our childhood (until seven years old) and with some painful and traumatic experiences. We say beliefs because it's something that we believe is true.

Usually, and when we speak about limiting beliefs, it's because the belief itself somehow does not allow us to live our true potential and be in our consciousness. That's why we say limiting beliefs, because somehow is cutting the possibilities that we have, and they are inside of us and waiting to be explored by ourselves.

So, limiting beliefs are something that we can change!

We can work with it, but it requires commitment, and especially it requires vulnerability. And why? Because typically, a limiting belief is something that we are carrying for a long time. And most of the time, we don't want to see them. We don't want to face them because they are surrounded by pain, and they are one of the pain centers in our existence.

Let's bring this into practicality!

Here is an exercise:

Think: What was your most painful belief about yourself?

Some examples are: "I'm not worthy," "I'm not good enough," "I'm not beautiful," or "I don't deserve attention."

Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Now answer: What is the part of your body that vibrates when you feel that painful belief about yourself?

Usually, the part of the body that is vibrating during that activation of that core painful belief shows us something. For example, the heart is related to our self-worthiness and self-love.

The stomach is about the power of concentration of emotions that maybe we couldn't explode and defend ourselves. Shoulders, for example, are because we carry big responsibility and, sometimes, it's because our mind couldn't stop thinking about that or couldn't understand and process at the moment.

Take a deep breath, everyone, and close your eyes. Most honestly, remind the memory that shows you when it started.

It can be in your childhood, someone telling you something, your parents, someone from school.

Most of our painful core beliefs about ourselves are born typically at the early ages of our lives. Because they were somehow very traumatic, we started to believe that the responsibility was ours because the child doesn't have the reasoning to understand that the adult has their problems, their projections, their bad days. What happens to the child is that she receives that, and of course, if the parents or the caretakers reinforce that belief, the child starts to believe that, for example, "you are dumb, you don't understand nothing." Then, the child begins to think that "I don't understand anything," and a lot of fog starts to appear in her mind. Not in a conscious way, but as if they don't believe that I can understand who am I to believe in myself?

All these negative beliefs start to leave inside of you. And step by step, you begin to behave like that.

Take a deep breath and close your eyes.

Answer this: how that painful belief you expressed is still reflected in your life?

Here are some examples: "maybe by thinking that I'm not good enough, I can't really dive deep into intimate relations. I'm always waiting for someone to send me away" or "I don't believe in myself, so I never finish a project."

We already understood that this core painful belief you have since you were a little kid is still activated. And of course, it can be more activated with some people in other environments, but it's still there. And in one day that, for example, you are more vulnerable, this activation can bring that limiting belief to sabotage you, to constrict you, to not going for the things that you desire or not standing for your rights.

Now, I want to take you into more self-awareness work into your essence, and then we will combine. And why? Because my central work as a facilitator is to work on your personality structure to observe and realize how all these patterns of behavior, belief systems, emotions are sabotaging you or stopping you. But my heart is in the place of what? Where we all are: true essence. Some people call our spiritual work consciousness work because part of our being that is much bigger and beyond any personality, it's not separated, is just more expanded.

So, everyone takes a deep breath. And now, I will ask you to put your hands, one or two, in your heart. And if any emotion is there, because of the memory, because you're just relaxing, or because we are here with each other, ask yourself: who can see these painful core beliefs?

Who can observe? And ask yourself again: who can have this memory?

Can you recognize the pain inside this belief, or are you still fighting with it? In the following question, observe what happens to you to your body: Can I accept this core belief?

Take a deep breath and open your eyes.

Who can see that memory? And who can feel that core belief? Who are you? Are you that memory? Are you that emotion? Or are you the one who can see the memory? The observer?

This is about the intensity of that emotion and the intensity of that memory. And by saying this, I can express and point that there is a very intense trauma in that emotion and in that memory.

  But I want to remind you that you are the one who can see, that can remind the motion, and that can recall. If sometimes you can see and sometimes you are the emotion, it means that the emotional body is powerful at that moment and comes, and take place and say "here I am." And the observer somehow disconnects because the emotion is so big that he loses the ground. And that is the self-awareness work that we do, that is: even if emotions come, the river of closed minds, the river of fast thinking is activated, and the body can have emotions, feelings, pain, pleasure, there's a core center, that is who you truly are. And I believe that only therapy, for example, that we do at the personality structure will not ever be enough, as, at the same time, only spirituality connecting only with the spirit and the soul is not enough. Why? Because we live in this human body, we need all the systems to be in harmony, and to be in harmony means that you are connected with your true essence and embrace and hold the space for what happens to you. And by happening, you don't lose the connection and consciousness of watching what is going on, and you can choose how you want to respond to the situation. And that is a work for life.

Whenever you feel a core belief, a painful core belief attacking you, typically copulated with strong emotion, you take a deep breath, and you ask yourself: who am I?

By asking yourself, "who am I?" I am the one who observes the emotion; I am the one that can see that I'm afraid to make a mistake, that I don't believe that others can love me, that I'm not worthy, that maybe others are better, you observe them!

That is the first step: you can see what is going on with yourself, and step by step, you will exercise your muscles of self-observation and deciding how you will respond to life.

Q&A

Satya, I would like so much to clarify the goal of meditation?

For me, I can't use the word goal, honestly. In meditation, the more you practice, the more you will feel your presence, and you can observe what is going on with you inside and outside. You start to become detached from what happens from experience, but you begin to be more connected with your presence.

When we are in meditation, we are starting to invite the real presence of our existence. For me, it is the more honest explanation that I can give you.

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