Zen and Limiting Beliefs

Self-limiting beliefs come from negative experiences arising from financial problems, family conflicts, career uncertainties, social life adjustments, or family dynamics.

A self limiting belief happens because of a small incident that may have happened long ago and has long since been forgotten, but it still lingers in the subconscious mind. It continues to influence certain actions and becomes part of a person’s character without realizing it.

Just as positive attributes come from the past, so do limiting beliefs. Improving on those positive traits will help you become a happier person and increase your Zen awareness.

Realize that self-limiting beliefs come from your past, and that is the key, your past, not your future. You cannot change your past but you can change your future and it all starts in the here and now.

It is possible that you may be unaware of a limiting belief and trying to identify one can be difficult.

There is an excellent way to get a good idea of what it might be. Actually, it is not only a good way to identify a limiting belief, but by changing that belief it can also be eliminated.

Pay attention to your mind self-talk, those little conversations you have with yourself inside your head. I do not know why, other than it’s human nature, but for most people those conversations are almost always negative.

So the first rule to eliminating any self-limiting beliefs is to pay close attention to any negative self-talk or mind-talk. That’s also the first step in creating a balance on self-limiting beliefs.

The second rule is when something does not work out quite the way you wanted it to,  try to keep your self-talk positive, no more self put downs, and then let go of the negativity and the experience. There is absolutely no benefit in engaging in this type of mind chatter. It negatively affects your degree of happiness and Zen.

The third rule is to regularly engage in relaxation and stress reduction techniques. Activity is your friend. Personally, I do Qi Gong meditation (pronounced Chee Gong,) ancient Chinese deep breathing techniques, and martial arts.