So you’ve been visualizing and scripting your desired life. And with practice, reaching for that better feeling thought gets easier and easier.

You feel good. BUT …

Nothing seems to be happening. Nothing has manifested yet. Opportunities aren’t knocking at your door.

Where’s your stuff?

Getting Caught by Limiting Beliefs

This past year I’ve been working on getting rid of my limiting beliefs. And it’s shaping up to be a fabulous year for me.

If you’ve been having trouble attracting what you want into your life, you might want to take a moment to see if limiting beliefs are holding you back.

What’s a limiting belief? It’s any belief you hold that is in conflict with your desires.

For example, say you want to be wealthy.

So you visualize what you want, and you work on getting into the feeling place of “wealthy”.

But what if … every time you say to yourself, “I am wealthy”, a little voice automatically tags on the thought “but wealthy people aren’t very nice.” Or “but money is the root of all evil, and you’re not evil.”

Or any of a zillion other things that might come to mind.

Limiting beliefs can be quite sneaky.

Here’s how I’ve been working through my list of limiting beliefs this past year:

1. Identify your limiting beliefs.

This is a very important step - because sometimes, you aren’t actually even aware that you’re adding all those taglines to your thoughts.

I use two different methods to fish out those limiting thoughts of mine.

Brainstorm a list of limiting beliefs

Sit down with a pad of paper, and write down everything that comes to mind when you think of the desire you’re wanting to manifest.

Using the example of “I want to be wealthy”, write down all the “buts” that come up for you:

“I want to be wealthy BUT _______________________.”

Fill your page until you run out of buts.

Delve into your childhood.

Another easy way of unearthing a limiting belief is to go back to your past. Identify someone who played a dominant role in your upbringing - this person could be a parent, a teacher, a relative, a neighbor, a family friend … anyone who had influence over you as a child.

Ask yourself, “what would he/she tell me about being wealthy?”

You might be surprised at what comes up.

2. Find the exception to the rule.

Now that you have a list of limiting beliefs, go through your list and write down an exception to every belief that you can.

For example, you might have written “I want to be wealthy BUT you need money to make money.”

Think about every rags-to-riches story that’s out there. Since I’m re-reading Stephen King’s On Writing right now, he’s one person who comes to mind.

You only need to find ONE exception to a limiting belief to show that it’s NOT a universal “rule”. One exception proves that that belief doesn’t apply to everyone.

3. Show yourself why your limiting belief doesn’t apply to you.

Finding the exception to the rule is the easy part. But what if you have limiting beliefs that are individual to you? What if your limiting belief says, “yes, this “rule” doesn’t apply to everyone, but I’m too weak/untalented/lack discipline/am unlucky/fill-in-the-blank and therefore it applies to me”?

This is a bit more challenging. What you have to do is make that limiting belief seem outlandish and inappropriate when it comes to who you are.

Outlandish. Because you are an amazing person.

Inappropriate. Because it simply doesn’t apply to you.

It’s all about accepting who you are, loving who you are.

There are a lot of ways to start loving yourself more. Stop judging yourself, stop criticizing yourself, and start loving yourself a lot more.

Here are some things you can do to get started:

Meditate. Meditation will bring you to a stronger sense of self.

List your accomplishments and strong points. Doing this will help you really see past your critical self.

List all the things you like about yourself. Most people find this hard to do in the beginning - when you think about it, we’ve all been taught NOT to think too highly of ourselves. But once you start, you’ll find it gets easier and easier.

Say to yourself, “I am perfect as I am.” This is a very powerful affirmation. It reminds you that you are wonderful in every moment, that you are not flawed, and there is nothing to fix. It leads the way to self-acceptance.

4. Reframe your limiting belief.

Language is one of the most powerful attraction tools that we have. And a very effective way of getting rid of a limiting belief is to reframe it into a positive belief.

So let’s say your belief about yourself is that “I’m just not the kind of person who makes a lot of money.” It’s kind of a nebulous, “applies to all situations” kind of belief. Holds you back perfectly from getting what you want.

Reframe this limiting belief by writing “I am the kind of person who makes money easily and effortlessly. I live a very abundant life, simply because I AM the kind of person to whom financial well-being flows.”

I know it seems kind of hokey, but I’ve actually had quite a lot of success using the reframing method. And for me, writing it down is the thing that seems to do the trick.

5. Set an intention to eliminate the limiting belief.

I’ve been finding this last method of eliminating limiting beliefs to be very powerful in its simplicity.

We set intentions about lots of things. Guess what? Setting an intention to eliminate a limiting belief works just like your other intentions.

Intend to leave your limiting beliefs behind you, and intend to replace them with more affirming beliefs.

Give it a try. Focus on it the way you would focus on any other intention you want to hold throughout the day.

It’s powerful and it works.

Replace your limiting belief with an affirming belief

Now that you’re making a dent in your list of limiting beliefs, don’t forget to replace each one with a more affirming belief.

This is a very important step - you’ve made space now for a better-feeling belief. Don’t let another limiting belief slip into that space.

Once you’ve dumped a limiting belief, you can turn to any affirmations or statements about who you are that you want to hold. They will fit the space you’ve freed up nicely, and if you practice holding onto these thoughts, eventually they will become your new beliefs.

And the opportunities will start to show up.

And most of all, have a good time with all of this!