Searching For A Reason

“I just don’t have the time to work on my attitude.”

“I wish I was strong enough to stand up to my parents.”

“I can never be a successful business owner!”

These reasons, and many more like them, are said by anyone who is faced with a limiting belief.

Limiting beliefs aren’t a desirable thing to have. They prevent us from moving towards many of the things we want in life, opening ourselves up to our loved ones, and enjoying the time we have on this Earth. But although it’s common knowledge that limiting beliefs aren’t wanted, very few people make the necessary efforts to remove themselves of their individual limiting beliefs.

Why is this? Why are we uninterested in bettering ourselves and freeing our lives from limits?

The Acceptance Of Unhappiness

If I was to ask you whether you preferred to be happy or unhappy, I’d imagine you’d want to be happy.

Indeed, I’ve yet to find someone who would want to be unhappy or miserable. Happiness is one of the main spiritual pursuits in life, whether we realise this or not. Every action we do, no matter what it is, is designed to either make us happy or make someone else happy.

But despite this, we don’t seem to make this pursuit of happiness a major factor in our lives. Instead of trying to make our lives more meaningful and enjoyable, we prefer to sacrifice our own joys to ‘make ends meet’. Even though we would choose happiness, our daily actions are usually geared towards unhappiness.

This acceptance of unhappiness is further emphasised by the lack of people talking about it – people would rather make small talk and ignore questions about the happiness of their lives. In place of this void of happiness, unhappiness enters as the ‘cultural standard’.

No-One Can Make You Do It

Although happiness is an individual choice, the vast majority of people prefer to shun happiness.

The same mentality applies to limiting beliefs – instead of trying to break these beliefs and discovering happiness, we’d prefer to let them exist. We may think it’s too hard, or that we aren’t receiving enough encouragement from others.

Because actively breaking limiting beliefs is rare, we’re unlikely to receive much assistance or encouragement at all. On the whole, society seems to think that it’s more preferable to busy ourselves with chores and meaningless activities than it is to develop our levels of self-confidence. Tackling limiting beliefs isn’t on the agenda because the work required isn’t perceived to be worth the rewards.

If you feel like this, then I will say that no-one can make you go against the norm and work on breaking your limiting beliefs. But if you opt to actively work on yourself and free yourself of some of your limitations, then it would help to have a strong reason as to why you are putting the effort in.

Indeed, many people find that, without a compelling reason to motivate their cause, they wouldn’t have been able to make the progress that they have made.

What Are You Fighting For?

As I mentioned at the start of this article, there are a wide variety of reasons (some of them ‘excuses’) as to why we don’t choose to challenge our limiting beliefs. Our desire to avoid our limiting beliefs and pretend they aren’t there is stronger than the desire to challenge them and attempt to break them.

When we avoid challenging limiting beliefs, we do so because we think it’s too hard. But what if there was a reason for confronting your limiting beliefs that was stronger than any excuse? What if there was something or someone that would help you break those limiting beliefs and change your character?

We all wish that we were better human beings and that life was easier. But the only way that we can work towards this is if we have a good enough reason to do so. If we have a reason to fight our negative beliefs and behaviour, then we’d overlook the excuses. We’d instead focus on what we can do to change ourselves.

4 Reasons To Break Limiting Beliefs

So what are some good reasons to break your limiting beliefs? Here are 4 such reasons that are worth fighting for. If you’re struggling with the required efforts and motivation, consider each of these reasons with respect to your own life:

• For family/loved ones

When we think of those we love, such as our family or close friends, we think of being kind to them, of being generous and doing things for them. We like to help these individuals out because of our love for them, and we may even feel a sense of duty to them. So why not work on your limiting beliefs for the sake of your loved ones?

This reason particularly relates to our limiting beliefs that affect our family and loved ones, such as saying ‘no’ when it’s the best answer, and being there for your children rather than doing extra hours at work.

• For your community

We’re all part of a community, no matter the size or its location. Our ‘neighbourhood society’ may include our extended families and friends, or it may include hundreds of people in your town. But regardless of size, there’s a lot in our community that’s worth trying to break our limiting beliefs.

For example, we may have the limiting belief that we can’t afford to give any money to a local charity, or that we don’t have time to help that old lady across the street. But by thinking that our community is important and by performing acts that symbolise this, we can overcome related limiting beliefs and discover a worthy reason.

• For money

Although the pursuit of money may not seem as noble as other pursuits such as enlightenment or world peace, it still has its place.

We need money to effectively survive in the modern world – without money, we would lose a healthy sense of independence and be over-reliant on others. We can healthily use money as a reason to fight our limiting beliefs.

For example, we can combat the limiting belief of “I don’t have enough money to afford my dream holiday” with ways to make extra money, such as starting an online business or selling unwanted items. By having more money, we disprove that limiting belief.

• For your own health

Perhaps the most common reason to fight limiting beliefs is for our own sakes. Whether it’s because we think we weigh too much or we think we can’t quit smoking, there are a number of limiting beliefs which relate to our own health.

We won’t live forever – we eventually must depart this world. Yet while we’re here, we have the capacity and the capability to ensure our time is joyful and fulfilling, freeing ourselves from negative and limiting beliefs and behaviour. Our health is essential to experiencing that joy and fulfilment – without good health, we’re left with little else.

If you are struggling with reasons to fight those limiting beliefs, then I’d suggest you do it for your own sake, if nothing else. Your limiting beliefs are yours alone and they only affect you – everybody else has their own limiting beliefs which affect them in unique ways. Take on those beliefs which hold your life back, because there are reasons to do so.