Is life really like a box of chocolate?
Is it full of milk chocolate, or dark bitter one?
What do you believe life is?
A gift? A trial full of tribulation? Meaningless?
I hope that at least you believe that is worth living!
Unfortunately some people do not, and it is sad.
In Australia more than 2000 people every year decide that is not worth living, and in the USA more than 32000!
What are your beliefs about life?
(If you are not sure, get your free Belief Buster Workbook here).
When we talk about life beliefs, we are really talking about general beliefs we have on many part of it.
Life is really a sum of different areas, and we may have a variety of beliefs. Some of them limiting, like some common ones listed below;
“Life is hard.”
“People don’t care anymore.”
“My life will never really change, I am stuck.”
“I should be further along than I am.”
“I’d better not be too happy, or I’ll just have farther to fall.”
“I can’t change who I am.”
“It’s too late now.”
And so on. Can you relate to any of the above?
You see, the thing about life is that in itself is a generalization. We often express our unconscious beliefs by comments we make. Like the ones above.
But if you were to stop and take a closer look, the sentences above only make sense if further probing is applied.
All people do not care? Do you know someone that does?
Is every aspect of your life hard? Or only some parts because it seems that you are not making much progress?
What is it too late for? How do you know?
Often, when we express our feelings about life, we are really avoiding focussing on something specific. When we generalize we can feel safe, as we avoid actually facing the real issue.
By keeping our beliefs vague, we can keep feeling hopeless, and therefore avoid taking responsibility for making changes.
It is like having something external, “life”, which we can blame. So we don’t have to do anything.
Therefore, my first suggestion if you have some limiting beliefs about life is to stop and break them down. (You can use the free Belief Buster workbook.)
Take a moment to look closely at the beliefs that you have stated, and then question if that is true for all the areas in your life.
If you are like most people, I am convinced that there are some areas in your life that are going fine. And other areas that could do with some improving. So take the step to analyse which areas really need your focus.
“An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates
It so easy to generalize, we all do it and in most cases it is very useful to filter information.
On the other hand, it can hold us back because it will prevent us from zeroing on the real “issue” and dealing with it.
Try this simple exercise:
• Explore your beliefs about life by asking yourself this question “Life is…?” and writing down the answer.
• Once you have your belief in front of you, for example “Life is not going the way I thought.” ask yourself “Is this true in every area of my life?”. “Is there an area in my life of which I feel like it going the way would have liked?” or “Which way did I expect my life to go and where did I get that expectation from?”
• Listen to what comes up. It could be that your “expectations” about life, actually were someone else. Or, over time, your expectations may have changed without you realizing it. Keep asking and challenging till you feel that you have focused on a specific area of your life that is bothering you.
• Elicit your beliefs for that specific area and repeat the process as described above.
Would you like to start discovering your limiting beliefs about life?
You can either book a one on one session with us, or you can download your free Belief Buster Workbook here.