Your perception of reality is founded upon the beliefs that you’ve adopted about yourself and the way the world works, and your beliefs create your thoughts, whether they are positive, or negative. These beliefs have a tremendous impact on your circumstances.
Your beliefs affect your thoughts, emotions, habits, and actions. Due to the fact that our level of success in life is the sum of our habits and actions, it’s easy to see how important it is that our beliefs are in order first.
Interestingly, many of your beliefs are either unfounded, or were founded a long time ago, when circumstances turned sour in some way, and you allowed those circumstances to shape your reality.
It is common for this to happen as early in life as childhood. Things happen to us, we adopt a belief that it is ‘just the way it is’, and we use similar events later in life as proof to fuel that belief.
Often, even when we can’t find new evidence to support our belief system, we’ve been practicing the beliefs for so long that they – and the emotions that come with them – become a habit.
Strategies to Overcome Negative Thoughts
Fortunately, your personal reality is under your control. If you change your mind, your life will follow. Try some of these helpful strategies to conquer your negative beliefs:
1. Examine Your Beliefs
Write down the beliefs that are holding you back, such as, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, or “I’m not enough”, and then question them.
Where did you get this belief? Where are you finding evidence to support it?
Because habits play such a major role in our level of success, and your negative thoughts are a habit for you now, you need to face them head-on.
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2. Create New Beliefs
Just as smoking or drinking is easier to replace rather than get rid of, you need to make new beliefs to replace your old ones.
Example (Money doesn’t grow on trees): I know that there is an unlimited wealth of money that anyone has the potential to pursue if they work for it.
3. Speak Kindly to Yourself
Any thought you begin with “I am” is what you’re attaching to your very being, so choose your words carefully.
You are not defined by your circumstances. Wouldn’t you be angry if someone else tried to define you by only your mistakes, or the bad things that happened to you?
4. Start and End Your Day by Experiencing Gratitude
It’s easy to focus on what you don’t have. The more you look at what you lack, the more lack you will find.
Instead, spend a few minutes in the morning and before bed to list your blessings, however small. By focusing on the positive, you’ll brighten your mood and increase the number of good things that come into your life.
5. Change Your Default Reaction to Your Mistakes or Challenges
You possess the power to feel any way you want about every situation solely by how you react to it.
It’s no different than when a toddler stumbles and scrapes his knee. He is more likely to go back to playing and act as if nothing happened, so long as an adult does not indulge him with the opportunity to cry by creating unnecessary drama.
6. Learn to Meditate
Meditation has many physical and mental benefits. It can reduce stress, strengthen your health, and bring you clarity and focus.
You can use concentration during meditation to find all of your limiting beliefs and replace them. Make meditation a priority over other habits that you’re filling your day with that keep you busy but not productive.
Most of us believe we’re victims of our circumstances, but we’re actually victims of our own thinking. Changing your inner world is the key to changing your outer world!
About the Author
Sharon Koenig is a Life Coach, Strategic Interventionist, Author, Entrepreneur, and Mother. Through her coaching, online tools, and the content of her blog, she has dedicated herself to empowering others to move beyond their fears and limitations to reach their fullest potential – both in life, as well as business. www.fearlesspursuits.com
