PAGAN THOUGHTS / LIMITING BELIEFS

Limiting beliefs are like chains that bind us, limit our actions and our relationships with others, and prevent us from exploring our full potential.
A limiting belief is an idea that we mistake for an absolute truth about ourselves, our abilities, or how life works, but in reality it is only an often incorrect hypothesis, a judgment that has become fossilized and operates in the background, influencing our actions and choices. To give a few examples, if we consider these three statements: “The sun rises in the east,” “fire burns,” and “to be loved, I must be perfect.” We realize that for most of us, the first two are observable physical laws, universal truths, while the last is just a belief that a person tells themselves, perhaps because of a relationship that ended badly. Yet, for those who hold this belief, it can have the same solid and indisputable certainty as the other two and will certainly negatively affect their romantic relationships.
To dismantle our mental cages, it is essential to accept the idea that many of our most deeply rooted beliefs are like an optical illusion; just as two perfectly straight and parallel lines, when inscribed in a certain background, can appear inexplicably curved to us, in the same way our mind can give us a distorted image of who we are and what we are capable of doing, making us see non-existent limits; The biggest problem is not ourselves, but the angle from which we have learned to look at ourselves.
These beliefs do not come out of nowhere; we have absorbed them like sponges throughout our lives, often as children. They may have been instilled in us by external sources such as teachers, family, or media messages that create insecurities and cultural stereotypes about age, gender, and profession. Alternatively, they may stem from direct experiences such as personal failures or relationships that ended badly. The mechanism that consolidates these invisible chains is based on the repetition of demotivating phrases through our inner dialogue, accompanied by a certain intensity of emotion. The more we think we are unlucky after every little setback, the more that belief takes root in our brain. The same is true if we continue to think that we are unpleasant, and if these mental repetitions are accompanied by strong emotions, the belief becomes cemented and is perceived as an absolute truth.
Limiting beliefs seem like invincible giants, but we know their strengths and weaknesses; their strength lies in our total acceptance, while their Achilles' heel is doubt. To dismantle a limiting belief, it can therefore be useful to ask ourselves these questions:
Am I 100% sure that this is true? Has there ever been an exception?
Was I born with this belief? If not, when and how did it enter my life? Is this idea useful to me? What advantages and disadvantages does it bring me? If I continue to believe it in a year's time, where will it have taken me? And in thirteen years?
Does everyone think like me? Why don't some people I respect have this belief?
If, absurdly, I could ask a wise person, a shaman, the ancient tree in the park, a river, or my comic book hero what they think of my belief, what would they say?
And if the belief has been put into our heads by someone else, let's ask ourselves: "Is this person an infallible authority on the subject? Is their life an example I want to follow?"
Simply questioning a limiting belief on a mental level is not enough; we need to take action, but gradually. We cannot expect to overcome years of beliefs with a single titanic effort. Instead, we must look for small, concrete pieces of evidence that prove to ourselves that our belief is false. For example, if a man is convinced that he is hopeless at music, he should not immediately start playing Mozart's songs on the violin, otherwise he will only reap another failure that will reinforce his idea. Instead, he could start with simple pieces played on the harmonica.
Then there is a further step, a sort of reconciliation with ourselves; sometimes, strange as it may seem, certain limiting beliefs protected us in the past, but we must understand that in the current context, those same beliefs that once shielded us have become chains that imprison us; To give a concrete example, when Marco was a child, after helping his father with some household chores, he would ask him for a few euros, but he was often scolded and told loudly that you don't ask for money. In order to maintain a good relationship with his father, the child quickly learned never to ask for money. In that context, that idea protected him and allowed him not to disturb the family harmony. Today, Marco is grown up and works for peanuts. He cannot bring himself to ask his boss for a raise. The belief that asking for money creates conflict, ingrained in him since childhood, resurfaces every time and blocks him. The same strategy that protected him from arguments as a child now traps him. To free himself from this chain, Marco could, absurdly, give a name to his belief, write it on a piece of paper, visualize the belief leaving his body and entering the piece of paper, and finally burn it in the flame of a candle, watching the smoke dissolve into the air.
With the right strategies, one day we will be surprised to find that we think and act in ways that previously seemed impossible. The invisible chains of our limiting beliefs will have dissolved like fog in the sun, and we, finally free and light, will be able to fly with the wings of potential that previously seemed bound.