Limiting Beliefs Explained

What are Limiting Beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are ANY beliefs that you have that 'limit' your life in some way, or are in some way disadvantageous to you (be aware that what you believe might be advantageous may in fact be seriously limiting!).

But what does this mean?

Let me see if I can explain;

In order for human beings to 'make sense' of the world we inhabit, from an early age we create 'codes' that allow us to make sense of what we see and experience.

These 'codes' can be referred to as core beliefs and we will tend to use them in the same way, until something happens that makes us consider 'modifying' or even 're-writing' them - this usually occurs when we encounter 'contradictory' information, something that indicates that our belief system is in need of 'tweaking' or is no longer 'valid'.

These core beliefs form what is known as an internal working model of the World around us.

I Believe in Santa Claus!

OK, I don't, but I certainly did some years ago.

When I think back to those 'heady' days of my childhood I can easily remember the 'nights before Christmas' when I tried to go to sleep filled with the excitement of all the lovely presents that Santa was going to deliver to the bottom of my bed the next day.

My belief in Santa created a whole range of 'lovely and exciting' emotions and I would definitely say that this particular belief system 'benefited' me.

Of course, I don't believe in Santa anymore, so something had to have 'happened' for me to change my belief.

What happened, in fact, was that I discovered my Christmas presents stored underneath my parent's bed and was left with incontrovertible evidence that Santa could not be real.

Now of course believing in Santa is not particularly limiting, but there are many other beliefs which ARE.

Examples of Limiting Beliefs

• Walking on the cracks in the pavement brings bad luck.
• If it's not perfect it's not good enough.
• People in authority should be feared.
• Phobias can never be changed.
• The only way I could be a millionaire is if I win the Lottery.
• You should focus all your effort on the mistakes you make.
• The Earth is FLAT not round - visit Flat Earth Society.
• Lucky charms influence outcomes.
• Getting things wrong is bad.
• You must ALWAYS respect your elders.
• You cannot change the path of your life.
• People are always out to 'get' you.

Are Some Limiting Beliefs More Important Than Others?

Absolutely!

Despite the name 'limiting beliefs' there are some limiting beliefs that have very little impact on your day-to-day life, for example, "you should never wear brown shoes with black trousers" - it's limiting because the underlying 'idea' behind this belief is that it will somehow 'look wrong' and that people observing this clothing 'error' will make a negative judgement about you.

The 'reality' is that the vast majority of people probably don't care about your choice of shoe colour and it's unlikely to to have any major negative impact on your life.

Unless, that is, that you had a 'boss' who had the same belief and who fired you from your job for making this sartorial error.

In which case, you have some real evidence to support this belief!

There are Three CORE Limiting Belief 'Domains'

Whilst the vast majority of limiting beliefs have very little day-to-day impact, our beliefs-based CBT programme specifically draws attention to THREE 'core' beliefs that can have the most SIGNIFICANT impact.

These are:

1. Your 'Locus of Control' - the beliefs you have about how much control you have over your 'external' life.
2. Social Pressure - the beliefs you have that determine how much you worry about social judgement or what people think about you (also known as Social Anxiety).
3. Self-Esteem - the beliefs you have in regard to yourself, how much you like yourself and how capable you believe you are.

You can read more detail about each of these 'core' limiting beliefs by clicking on each phrase.