"We learn our belief systems
as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to
match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have
gone through the same experience." -Louise L. Hay
In
TamilNadu the first day of the 4 day Pongal Festival [the festival of harvest] is
celebrated as Bhogi, a day where we burn all the old useless things in the
house.
This Bhogi, for a change let’s also burn our old useless belief systems that are
holding us back from achieving our goals...those pesky little devils called
‘Limiting Beliefs.’
Limiting Beliefs: What are they?
Ever been to
temple and watched the temple elephant restrained by a chain, standing
patiently beside the mahout, offering its blessings in return for a bargained
reward?
Ever watched
an elephant lumbar heavy log or uproot an entire tree with ease?
Ever
wondered, what has made the temple elephant believe that those chains are strong
enough to tie him down?
Those weak
shackles are nothing but the elephant’s very own limiting belief system built
from childhood.
Limiting
beliefs are opinions we have so thoughtlessly crafted about ourselves and
programmed into our sub conscious mind. We have so skilfully engraved these
ideas into our mind that, just as the elephant believes that it is impossible
to break the weak links of those chains, we believe we are bound by those limiting
belief concepts.
The most
unfortunate part is that many of us don’t even realize that the only thing
keeping us from our dreams and goals is that one ‘THOUGHT.’
We in fact
go a step further, and find proof, with life's experience, to inscribe this belief system in our
subconscious mind.
Let’s find
out what those thoughts are today and burn them in the Bhogi bonfire.
Here are a
few tips to get you started:
Pick a key
area of concern in your life: Money, Relationship or Health.
Pick any one
goal in your life that you are trying to achieve in that area.
Perhaps, a
need to be more financially independent or finding that perfect soul mate or
wanting more health and wellness to shine in your life or anything else.
Write it
down.
Next write
down a list of things that you believe is keeping you from making this dream a
reality. You can use the list below as a good guide.
- Excuses: Think of the times you’ve said: I can’t do that because I don’t have the time/money/skills/support. eg: I want to be healthy but I don’t have the time to work on it at this point of time in my life.
- Justifications: Think of the moments you’ve believed: Nobody has achieved that, so I can’t either. eg: There is no such thing as a perfect soul mate, I have to compromise.
- Worries: eg: If i don’t make the money, I’m going to land in some serious debt.
- Beliefs ingrained by culture or society: eg: Money is evil or My father, grandfather and uncles suffered from diabetes or heart condition so will I.
- Thought Patterns: I’m powerless to change things. eg: If everything is going well, it’s usually a sign that something terrible is going to happen soon. The most common: it’s winter, I always fall sick in winter. Or I got wet in the rain, I’m going to fall sick.
- Past failures: If I tried that I’d probably fail. eg: Those that I like don’t seem to like me. I will never find true love.
- Fear: eg: Fear of loss of a job, fear of rejection, fear of debts, insecurities about a loved one, fear of illness or diseases [our list is endless].
Once you have your list, burn it...as you celebrate the last day
of the month of Margazhi - Bhogi. Let the flames of Bhogi vapourise all your
limiting beliefs. May you begin the first day of the month of Thai – Pongal with
the only belief: "Anything is possible, from
the moment I believe it is!"
