How to identify and overcome limiting beliefs to activate your most authentic expression so that you can show up in your personal and professional life with integrity and joy!
As we grow up, we pick up on a lot of different things. The mind of a child is highly malleable; It is constantly learning and integrating new information from its surrounding environment(s). As children, we noticed patterns, habits, and ways of being in the people who were around us, especially in the ones who raised us. Needless to say, not all of these patterns, habits, and ways of being are all that wonderful or productive. In fact, some of them are incredibly harmful and lead to limitation and roadblocks later on in life. In today's conversation, we will be discussing these roadblocks and I will be providing you with the tools to begin identifying limiting beliefs/understandings about the world and how to overcome them.
This post is part of a series called ""Thoughtful Thursday". For more informative and uplifting blog posts such as this one, click HERE, or go to the "Thoughtful Thursday" section on our blog homepage. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to share this content with you, and we hope that you find exactly what you need today. You are here for a reason.
The Mind and Spirit of a Child
The mind of a child is an interesting place. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, we talked about how a child's mind is highly malleable. This is due to that fact that from birth to about 7 or 8 years old, we are actually existing in multiple different hypnotic-like states, increasing in complexity and activity as we grow. These states are known as delta (lowest activity), theta (higher activity), and alpha (highest level).
Delta (1-3 Hz) | Ages 0-2 |
Theta (4-7 Hz) | Ages 2-6 |
Alpha (8-12 Hz) | Ages 6-8 |
The commonality between these three states of mind, and particularly with delta and theta, is that information received in these states are directly downloaded into the subconscious. You may be familiar with theta hypnosis programs for adults. These programs are designed to put one in a theta state to insert positive suggestions, affirmations, and beliefs so that they can be downloaded directly into the subconscious. This is a very intentional use of the theta state, but as a child, it is just the natural state of being. This means that every piece of information, good and not so good, is being instantly downloaded into the subconscious (it becomes internalized) and essentially is becoming part of the foundation your mind will grow from as you get older.
Unfortunately, most people are not conscious of the highly suggestible nature of a child's mind and implant negative suggestions without even realizing that this is what's happening. Here is a super common example:
A child is trying to get their mother's attention. Their mother is always on her phone. The child goes up to the mother to express something, but is dismissed by the mother. This continues to happen for days, weeks, months, and nothing changes. After being consistently dismissed and ignored, the child begins to stop seeking attention from their mother and shuts down. The child has most likely learned a few things from this.
1) They are not important enough to receive intention.
2) What they have to say doesn't matter.
3) That being their natural, inquisitive, and explorative self is annoying and unwanted.
Obviously, these beliefs about themselves can lead to some serious blockages in their adulthood such as insecurity, shyness, avoidant/anxious attachment styles, and/or feelings of worthlessness. On the other end of this, if the mother was attentive and held space for the child to express themselves, they may hold completely opposite beliefs in adulthood such as:
1) I am interesting and funny!
2) People like to hear what I have to say.
3) I bring value to the world with my thoughts, ideas, and expressions.
There are many factors that go into our ultimate beliefs, and this is a bare-boned and simple example that you can think back on when identifying limiting beliefs in your own subconscious mind and where they may have come from.
Something else we will be talking about more as well is that in the first 7-8 years of life, we are living purely from the root chakra. When addressing the ROOT cause of an issue/limiting beliefs, this is where all energy work, visualization, meditation, and any other spiritual work should be directed towards. Our inner child lives within the root and can be accessed through the root.
How To Identify Limiting Beliefs Implanted in Childhood
Identifying limiting beliefs is vital if one wants to improve their overall quality of life. You may notice that your relationships are consistently unfulfilling, your bank account doesn't have as many digits as you think it should, or you may even struggle with depression/anxiety that you want to break free from. More likely than not, the root cause of these undesirable realities comes from your childhood. The root could even be a combination of things. The following information is a collection of exercises and prompts for you to be able to discover and identify your limiting beliefs.
1. Free Writing
Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and write down any memories or thoughts that come to mind related to your childhood. Don't worry about grammar, spelling or punctuation. The goal is to let your thoughts flow freely.
2. Guided Meditation
Find a guided meditation that focuses on childhood memories and beliefs. You can find many of these online. Write down any insights, memories, or feelings that come up during your meditation.
3. Inner Child Work
Spend some time visualizing yourself as a child and reflecting on how you felt during that time. Write down any memories or emotions that come up, and think about how those experiences may have influenced your beliefs.
4. Journaling
Write down any memories or experiences from your childhood that you believe may have contributed to your limiting beliefs. Reflect on how those experiences made you feel, and how they may still be affecting you today. There are plenty of prompts online, but here are some good ones we recommend:
What are some memories from your childhood that bring up strong emotions for you? How do these memories make you feel now? What would you like to say to your inner child in these moments?
Think back to a time when you felt unsupported or unheard as a child. How did this experience make you feel? What impact has this experience had on your life as an adult?
Write a letter to your inner child. What would you like to say to them? What advice or reassurance would you offer them? How can you support and nurture your inner child today?
What were some things that you loved to do as a child, but may have stopped doing as an adult? Why did you stop? How can you bring more joy and playfulness into your life today?
Reflect on a time when you felt proud of yourself as a child. What did you accomplish? How did it feel to achieve this goal? How can you tap into this feeling of pride and accomplishment in your life today?
5. Talk to a Therapist
A lot of us feel the need to carry the weight of recovery and healing all by ourselves, but sometimes asking for help is exactly the medicine one needs. A therapist can help you explore your childhood experiences and beliefs in a safe and supportive environment. They can help you identify and challenge your limiting beliefs, and provide you with the right tools to overcome them.
Healing the Root: Holistic/Spiritual Healing Concepts, Tips and Excersises
The root chakra, also known as the Muladhara chakra, is located at the base of the spine and is associated with feelings of safety, security, and grounding. When this chakra is out of balance, it can manifest in a variety of physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms, including feelings of anxiety, fear, and instability. If you imagined your inner child as a being inside of you, the root chakra is where they would live. We like to use this visualization of the root chakra being the inner child's house because seeing the journey of root healing is less abstract when you think of it as remodeling, updated, or fixing up a house.
You will find that, throughout your childhood, some windows might have been broken in your home. The journey of fixing these windows and securing this home is incredibly important, as your inner child needs a safe place to begin finally processing the experiences that they felt too scared, uncomfortable, or confused about to fully move through when they happened. This leads us into the first, and arguably the most important tip for healing the root chakra.
1.Create a safe, secure, and private sanctuary for your inner child work to happen within.
The saying "you can't heal in the environment that hurt you" goes a long way when it comes to this tip. As we mentioned above, the root chakra is associated with feelings of safety, security, and grounding. If you do not feel fully safe, secure, or grounded in your environment, working with and healing the inner child becomes a lot harder. Find a space that is purely yours where you can comfortably do this vulnerable inner work. This could be your bedroom, a place in nature, or even a large closet! Doing this will make the process of working with your inner child that much more possible and effective.
2. Get in your body.
The root is all about the physical world and security within it. This includes your body. When you are physically fit, you feel more confident in your ability to do activities that are physically tasking. Feeling secure inside of your body is a powerful and often overlooked aid in your healing journey. Some examples of ways you can get into your body is through dancing, stretching, working out, and even going for walks.
3. Visualization
We like to utilize this exercise when we are getting into our body through physical activity, but this can definitely be done as a stand alone practice through meditation or intentional concentration. The root chakra is associated with the color red. You can visualize yourself being surrounded by the color red or even take it a step further and wear red clothes, eat red foods, or go to an environment where you will be physically surrounded by the color red.
4. Breathwork
One way to incorporate breathwork into your inner child healing practice is to set aside time each day for deep breathing exercises. Find a quiet space where you can sit comfortably and focus on your breath. Take slow, deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. As you breathe, visualize yourself connecting with your inner child and sending them love and healing energy.
5. Do what you loved doing when you were a child!
This is one of our FAVORITE exercises to do and the first one that we recommend when looking for more creative or out of the box ways to connect with the inner child and, particularly, begin coaxing the inner child out of hiding if you're having a hard time connecting. You may have really loved eating ice cream or playing with legos as a child. Use these childhood favorite activities as "bribery" or as a reward system with your inner child to rebuild trust and openness with that part of yourself. It's easy to get a little in your head when doing this kind of work, as it is a very sensitive and important process, but this is an incredibly powerful tool that can do a lot more for you and your relationship with little you than you may initially realize. Here's a good example of how you can utilize this tip:
Say to your inner child, "I know you really love going to that park and feeding those turtles we always used to visit. I'd love to hang out with you, do you want to go to that park and hang out?"
Depending on your relationship with your inner child, you may or may not receive a response of some sort, but the more your incorporate intentional activities such as this one in honor of your inner child, the more likely you are to receive deep levels of communication from them.
The journey of healing the inner child is a powerful and necessary one if you want to truly unlock your most authentic and real self. It is the part of you that existed before the programming of society really set in and began to disconnect you from your Source. Reclaiming this relationship with little you and making space for this part of you to really unfold is one of the most life-changing and emotionally beneficial things you can do for yourself. Not only will it allow you to begin seeing the world with a bit more color again, it will empower you in your journey of bringing color to the lives of others!
This journey is incredibly intimate and can be a little daunting in the beginning. Don't be discouraged! You have all the tools you need to begin making long lasting improvements to your overall root health. If you didn't, you wouldn't be alligning with this post today.
On that note, we wish you the best of luck with your journey, and send you endless amounts of love! If you are wanting assistance or a personalized, attentive, curated healing experience for your inner child, feel free to book a free discovery call with us below and find out if we are in alignment to work together on this. You got this! Stay awesome.
Comentários