Many times, the society we live in attributes being healthy to not having an illness or not suffering from a cold. However, at Maminat, we believe in health in its entirety and, to achieve this, we strictly follow the concept given to us by the World Health Organization, the WHO: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." In this post, we will address one of the biggest obstacles our mind usually encounters. They are called limiting or inhibitory beliefs and they do nothing but "mess with us" and prevent us from progressing in any area.
I'll explain it step by step. A belief is a feeling of certainty about something, but a belief is NOT based on a logical system. In fact, we all have our beliefs, whatever they may be. Even someone who says "I don't believe in anything," you'll agree with me that they've already stated what they believe in, right?
Where do beliefs come from?Well, some of us have beliefs because we have lived experiences in our lives that have made us believe something specific; in other cases, it's because family codes have gradually instilled in us how we should believe, what we should think, or even the society around us...
I'm going to give you an example because it's clearly seen with children, and it's something I saw every day in my work as a teacher. The teacher walks by the desks and sees that a 13-year-old student hasn't completed the latest activities. The teacher asks, "What happened?" The student replies, "It's just that I'm not good at grammar; I'm terrible at it."
If you notice, that student already has a belief. Maybe he believes it because he has taken exams and always failed them (we could debate whether that evaluation system serves any purpose...), it could be because his parents told him that he is better at math than at anything related to languages, or because a previous teacher, even, told him so.
Be that as it may, that 13-year-old child has a belief, and worst of all, it is a limiting or inhibitory belief.
What happens if we have limiting beliefs?They limit us, they imprison us, they take away our health... We give the mind so much power that we "limit" ourselves to what the mind says. Do you think that student manages to get motivated, believes they can learn...? I think of a couple, arguing, and one of them says: "Oh, that's just the way I am." Given that statement, what possibility of change is the person who said that phrase offering? None. Therefore, they limit themselves, they remain trapped.
How would I know if I have a limiting belief?1. Does what I believe persist over time? For example, when I say things like "I'm always going to be a mess," "the same thing always happens to me"...
2. When I personalize the problem. A couple that has broken up and one says to themselves "This relationship didn't work out because of me."
3. It could also happen when I generalize and only see the most negative side. Something like "I'm a bad student."
But the first step will be to realize and become aware that I have a limiting belief.However, what I'm saying in a few lines is not easy at all. The first step will be to live consciously, realizing what is happening to me and how my mind is playing this dirty trick on me in the form of a limiting belief. Many of these beliefs are in our subconscious, and bringing them to light and realizing how they are limiting and harming us is a process that is sometimes painful and long. But anything you want can be achieved (look, I just came up with a belief, but in this case, it's a generative one, one that helps us grow).
And then... snap! My mind has suddenly changed, and now I believe the complete opposite.Nooo! This is not a game like plucking daisy petals and saying "he loves me, he loves me not." This requires time, and you take small steps, developing other beliefs that help you grow, but all in due time, when you are ready for it.
And I wanted to tell you something... I'm on this journey every day. I can catch myself with several limiting beliefs a day, and even more so now that the Maminat project has just taken off, it's very easy for my mind to get trapped and start conspiring in a limiting way. That's why I decided to write about this today.
So remember that to be healthy, we must take care of ourselves both inside and out.I would like to end with a phrase I heard a few years ago from one of my life teachers, the therapist Vicente Cuevas: "To free oneself from a problem is not to distance oneself from it or to avoid it, but to go to that something that still hurts and that is part of our life, and to look at it, understand it, and assent to what it was and what it is."
Quite something, isn't it? Happy day!