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Mining Out Your Limiting Thoughts

shutterstock_422678236It’s a new year and many people are gearing up to forge a new “me.”

Goals are set, promises made, club memberships purchased and the god of best intentions is beckoned.

Unknown, unearthed, subconscious, limiting beliefs are perhaps the biggest destroyer of good intentions and goals. You also might call them life commandments, or subconscious beliefs, either way, there are limiting beliefs within that tend to sabotage’ our best efforts.

Often these negative beliefs are formed through pain, disappointment, unmet expectations or even betrayal. For example, if you have ever experienced marriage betrayal, you might have declared in your soul “I will never allow myself to be hurt like that again.” This internal statement become a subconscious life commandment that can keep that person from entering into a new relationship out of fear of being hurt once again.

You will have greater success moving towards your goals and desires when you first invest the time discovering the limiting beliefs that you have. This will give you the opportunity to identify and then “Flip the Script” as you transform limiting beliefs into positive and dynamic beliefs.

Here are some key questions to ask yourself to mine out the limiting beliefs that potentially dwell within your soul:

  • When under pressure I ……………………….……………………….
  • I often feel guilty about ……………………………………………………….
  • When …………. happens I stress out and feel like …………….
  • My Achilles’ heel (greatest weakness) is ……………………….
  • I am always trying to stop …………………………. from happening.
  • When the unexpected happens I ……………………………………
  • I always try to ………………………………………………………..
  • The biggest obstacle that stops me loving and approving of myself is …………………
  • What drives most of my behavior is ……………………………………….
  • I am afraid of ………………………………………………………..
  • I seek my ……………’s approval (always / mostly / usually / occasionally)
  • My most frequent negative / uncomfortable emotion is feeling ……………………….
  • The feeling I dislike the most is ……………………….
  • I need to learn to ………………………………………………………..

As you honestly and ruthlessly answer questions like these, you will become aware of which beliefs are really driving your choices and behaviors.

Once the beliefs have been identified, it’s time to flip the script, rewording these life destroyers into positive, life creating beliefs, for example:

  • I’m just not wired that way…can be flipped to -I can do all things through Christ!
  • I don’t have time to make the changes…can be flipped to – I will maximize the time God gives me
  • I don’t think that way…can be flipped to – I will change the way I think
  • I’m just not smart enough I guess…can be flipped to – I will have the mind of Christ
  • I never get any breaks…can be flipped to – God will deliver anything that I require
  • God has it out for me…can be flipped to – God loves me unconditionally
  • I’m just not gifted enough…can be flipped to – I am fearfully and wonderfully made

As you become more aware of the beliefs within that betray you, you are not a hostage to those limiting life commandments! In 2017 choose to flip the script and change your limiting beliefs into unlimited potential!

 

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Try It For 30 Days

Real change is doable. Too often we choose not to change or attempt something new because it seems too daunting, too big, too impossible. But the reality is, you can make major shifts in your life if you would simply make a 30 commitment and take action. What you try may not be earth-shaking, but you will definitely be better for having stepped out and attempted something new. The following Ted talk is a great example and inspiration to simply try something new for 30 days, check it out.

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Letting Go

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Letting go…
Release…
Forgiveness…

These three daily practices are the gateway to freedom, but when tried, they have been found to be too hard for too many.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul states: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” All of Christ’s work for people finds its apex in freedom. If this is true, then why are so many so stuck? We are stuck because we surrender to the wrong things.

We surrender to what other people want us to be and never become who we were created to be…

We surrender to the gods of materialism and debt cementing us in a place we don’t want to dwell…

We surrender to culture and become a copy of everyone else…

We surrender to someone else’s idea of success and spend our lives trying to gain what will never satisfy…

We surrender to the image police and never like ourselves…

Bob Dylan said it this way:

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

We all have a master, the question that needs to be asked is, “Is your master immersing you in freedom or bondage?”

Jesus came and freed those who would follow Him and live His kingdom life, but as Paul notes, we can choose, as a follower of Christ, to allow other things to take control. If you are a Christian and find yourself stuck, shackled, or drowning, then you have allowed something else besides Christ to be master.

When we sink into depression because someone speaks negatively about us, we have just given that person power and control.

When we live in so much debt that we are sinking in it, we have allowed Chase or whatever financial institution to become our master.

When we hold onto anger, bitterness or unforgiveness, we have allowed our hurt or another person to have control.

Jesus wants everyone to experience a life of freedom, joy, and abundance, and this kind of life can only be experienced when we live the way Christ told us to live.

There are three freedom killers that everyone needs to be aware of: Expectations, Attachments and Control.

The Bar is Too High

When we have expectations that are too high, no one and nothing can get over the bar. When people fail to meet our expectations, we tend to get angry, judgmental or even depressed. Grace is needed for the person who sets the bar too high or they will never enjoy the beauty of relationships with others or God, as people rarely meet all expectations. Let go of unrealistic expectations…Release the high bar… Forgive the person, and begin to taste the sweetness of freedom.

Stuck Like Duct Tape

We all love duct tape, but when we are so attached to our desires that we hold tenaciously with a death grip, we get stuck like duct tape, and that is really stuck! Holding so tightly to “stuff & things” places those things in the drivers seat, and the sovereignty of God moves into the back seat. When God is not where we are primarily tethered, we lose our freedom and we wonder where God went. He is still there waiting for you to let go of your attachment to things. When we trust God and believe He is good, we release our expectations and our attachment to things…then we regain our freedom. If I do not trust God or believe He is good, I will continue to hold on tightly to what I want or what I expect from others.

Remote Control

Everyone is a control freak to some extent, but some people allow have an excessive need to control and it destroys their lives and the freedom Christ died for. We try to control our spouse, our kids, our boss, our government, our bank, and even our friends. “If they would just do what I say, then everything would be great!” is the conscious or subconscious life commandment. The need to control is insidious and it destroys freedom. It’s yoke crushes all who give in to it. Even when we realize that we can’t control the world, we still live and act as if we can, and this ruptures relationships, our soul and our faith. God alone is sovereign, I am not. The sooner I release my need to control…the sooner I forgive the ones I want to control…and the sooner I let go of my need to control, the sooner I swim in the ocean of God’s freedom.

Open Hands

The image of open palms is the image of freedom.

Open palms hold things loosely…
Open palms release the tight fist of control…
Open palms reveal trust..

Clenched fists are the image of bondage…holding tightly, judging harshly, and missing grace.

Everything Jesus did was to set you free. In John 8:36 we read: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The initial steps to regaining your freedom today is to choose in this moment to

Let Go of your impossible expectations…

Turn the control over to Christ…

Forgive yourself, your offenders and God…

Are you free?

Do you want to be free?

Then it’s time to unyoke from all the things that shackle you and trust God to unleash you into the life you were created for.