Our subconscious minds have the power to influence the life we lead - in both positive and negative ways. Let's discuss how and why that happens, and the exact step-by-step process you can take to identify and eliminate the limiting beliefs holding you back.
The power of the subconscious mind
Power – it’s a funny thing.
When I speak with women about their power, they are often flummoxed about the topic. People will laugh uncomfortably, and twitter or shake, or set their eyes on me with that “Seriously? Don’t get me started” stare.
It is 2024 after all. We have more opportunities than ever – when you take a 100-year perspective. Yet when you get down to it, we find we are still governed by some invisible force that often keeps us apart from feeling powerful – as in feeling confident, safe, and free to use our voice.
Why is this invisible power shield so insidious, so invincible, and so impervious to change from generation to generation? Even including the ongoing inherent-bias dynamics experienced worldwide?
We are missing something. Something big.
It’s this: the massive influence our subconscious mind has on the life we lead.
We are only 5% conscious after all. 95% of our cognitive activity is “sub”conscious. Until now, few ever give the subconscious mind any significant credence to be a holding bin for many of our personal challenges – it is out of sight, out of mind. Literally.
Yet inside of the subconscious mind lies the solution to reclaiming so much of our lost power. Power that has been lost to false, limiting beliefs about ourselves and our place in the world. Formed with the mind of a child, these subconscious limiting beliefs are strong enough to direct our life as an adult. And they are NO LONGER TRUE.
Our adult conscious mind can’t recognize them as the source for what is holding us back though. So they quietly run like old computer software which is out of date, influencing our experiences in unlimited ways.
Seriously? Are we sabotaging our best intentions, falling short in relationships, missing out on our dreams all due to beliefs we hardwired before the age of 7?
Yes.
Limiting beliefs such as:
I’m afraid ask for what I need
I am not valuable enough
I’ll be rejected if I say no
I need to be perfect
I am not good enough
I am not lovable
I am an outsider
It is not safe to speak up
This habit will never go away
I need to keep everyone happy
I will never have what I want in life
So much of our life potential goes unrealized or repressed due to the limiting beliefs we form before third grade. Essentially, we are “programmed” by the circumstances, people, and environments around us when we are young, dependent, and vulnerable.
As adults we will then subconsciously sustain old familial agreements, false beliefs and perpetuate unacceptable societal maps because of this early stage mental and emotional programming. Our subconscious limiting beliefs ARE the invisible force which hold us back from our power, our potential.
Here’s the good news: once you find these subconscious limiting beliefs, you can let them go and introduce greater levels of personal power into your life by adopting new beliefs such as:
Self-confidence
Self-esteem
Self-worth
Holding strong boundaries
Self-belief
Self Trust
Safe, Secure
There is a new era of mind underway enabling these mindset shifts to come to us more easily than ever before. The expanding fields of brain sciences and quantum physics are helping bring us inward to new frontiers of how the human mind and body work, instructing us further how to leverage our whole mind for greater levels of personal power and success.
Let’s take a closer look at how this is possible.
WE ARE ALL PROGRAMMED
When we are little, we are essentially in a state of hypnosis – our brain waves are running at lower frequencies from birth to about 7 years. Higher brain wave rates kick in with the beginnings of the critical mind about the age of 7. (Please see my video Brain Basics for more).
Until that point – the world around us is feeding us experiences and people which will “program” our minds with certain beliefs, for better – and for worse. It’s just the way it is. We have so much to learn to survive on the planet when we are little. Evolution brought us to this developmental model for learning, adapting and surviving.
It’s kind of harsh, really – that we can have mental programs and beliefs formed with the mind of a child running our adult reality.
But we do.
Life is challenging enough, right? Who needs limiting beliefs hidden and inaccessible in the subconscious derailing our life?
Well, like one of life’s constants: the sky is blue, hearts beat while we sleep, and…we all have subconscious blocks.
Why? How is that even possible?
THE UNSEEN POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
It is commonly understood our mind has the power to determine health outcomes. For example, the placebo effect is a well-known example of how what we believe can make us well, without an actual physical intervention.
We also know approximately 75% of doctor’s visits have emotional stress as an underlying factor. So, the mind can also make us sick.
When we step back from our 50,000-70,000 automatic thoughts per day to wonder, “if my mind is powerful enough to both make me well and make me sick...then how can I leverage it to get beyond these *@#$& mental blocks, fears and personal challenges keeping me stuck”!!!!???
Well, you can. You just need to know where to look.
LEARNING HOW TO SEE IN THE DARK
The mental blocks and challenges which persist, repeat, recur, no matter what we do to get beyond them usually will have a root cause buried out of reach in the subconscious mind.
In hypnotherapy, through inviting the mind into a calm, trance-like state of focus, you can ask your subconscious mind “what is the root, the cause or the reason for…..” – fill in the blank with the issue one might have.
Your mind will typically go right to it since the subconscious mind is a 24/7 record of most everything we experience in life. It takes commands from you literally. Your subconscious mind will provide you with a visual or sensory memory for the foundational events and associated emotions for the issue you are trying to resolve. It is a loving, healing mind and only presents what is necessary for understanding the issue.
Once identified, the issue can be fully understood, healed, and released. You are able to reprogram your mind by changing out the old limiting belief for a new one.
You are also releasing what has held you back – then taking back any personal power given away to the issue or people responsible for what happened years ago – as it is no longer true and all parts of you know it, consciously and subconsciously.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE A LIMITING BELIEF?
How do you know if you have a subconscious limiting belief?
It comes up as behaviors or feelings, creating issues such as why:
I am so anxious
I feel like an imposter
I am afraid to speak up
I don’t charge enough/get paid enough
I can’t shed weight
I always end up in bad relationships
I do all the work
I am such a people pleaser
I feel stuck in life
I don’t ever think I’ll be successful
I need to be perfect
The range of limiting beliefs is far and wide – and we all have them. Some are extreme due to trauma and significant life challenges; others can be the result of one word uttered by a parent or teacher convincing you of your intelligence, which impacts how smart you do or do not feel the rest of your life.
The key is to look for an undesirable feeling, behavior or pattern you are experiencing, and most likely, there will be a limiting belief hiding out of sight, in your subconscious mind.
HOW LIMITING BELIEFS ARE FORMED AND MADE TRUE
Here’s an example of how a limiting belief you form about yourself in your early years gets constructed and then is held as truth your entire life:
If you are 5 years old and left behind at kindergarten when someone forgot to pick you up because there was a new baby in the house – that experience causes a rush of emotions such fear, sadness, anger and despair – all driving you to form a core belief of “I don’t matter” as a result of the meaning you associate with the event.
The meaning we assign to events will incorporate a range of emotions, then forming a memory. This choice of meaning will be different for everyone. Two people can experience the same event and associate two different types of meaning.
The “I don’t matter” limiting belief will be reinforced through your interpretation of ongoing experiences from that time forward, or by a parent or other voice of authority who continues to reinforce it. Pending its severity in the realm of the rest of your experiences, it can take hold to become a core “I don’t matter” lens though which you interpret events and relationships throughout your entire life.
This powerful “I don’t matter” lens supports a thinking pattern. Your thinking drives your emotions. Your emotions drive your adult behaviors.
So, what kind of behaviors might you experience because of the “I don’t matter” limiting belief? Sabotaging your work, not using your voice, letting everyone else go first, to name a few.
Your adult personal power and presence have been depleted by the childhood limiting belief of “I don’t matter”.
From your adult perspective, you know it is not true. Just NOT TRUE.
Yet a core part of you – the earlier version of you - believes it to be true, so it is.
Isn’t that frustrating?
How is that possible????
Well, it helps to understand some of the science of how those beliefs take hold in our bodies and continue to stay alive year after year.
THE CHEMISTRY OF LOCKING AND LOADING OUR LIMITING BELIEFS
Limiting beliefs reside in neural networks and are created with a chemical-electrical charge when an event occurs, or over time as something is learned (for example: I am not lovable, it’s not safe to speak up, I must have chocolate to feel better, I’m not smart).
The chemicals in the neural networks are created by certain amino acids, and when linked together in short chains they are called “peptides”. The amino acids for these peptides are created by the DNA in our neurons and are stored in little pockets called vesicles until needed.
These peptides are considered to be the chemical basis for our emotions, as groundbreaking scientist Candace Pert, Ph.D. referred to them in her well-known book, the “Molecules of Emotion”.
Candace Pert, Ph.D., Pharmacologist, Neuroscientist and Researcher, is famous for discovering the opiate receptor in 1972 while a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, which helped to open the field of opiate pharmacology.
The “opiate receptor “is the cellular site where the body’s natural feel-good endorphins (chemical strings called hormones) attach to cells and interact to change our moods for the better.
Her work helped to later establish the field known as psychoneuroimmunology, better known as MIND-BODY sciences. (Sadly, Pert was not given due recognition for her work on the opiate receptor, which went to the head of the lab who took credit and was awarded the American precursor to the Nobel, the Lasker Prize, in 1978).
She went on to write 250 research articles on brain chemistry, immunology/HIV, and cellular information transfer. Her work established an understanding of how emotions are peptides which float throughout our entire body and communicate across a highly complex and dynamic distributed network of receptors.
In the quote below she explains how emotions – and their chemical nature – impact our lives:
“My research has shown me that when emotions are expressed – which is to say that the biochemicals that are the substrate of emotion are flowing freely – all systems are united and made whole. When emotions are repressed, denied, not allowed to be whatever they may be, our network pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of the vital feel-good, unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behavior.” (Candace Pert, Ph.D.)
Candace Pert believed our “mind” is in every cell of our body because of these chemical connections. Therefore, when it comes to identifying a subconscious limiting belief holding us back, which was “installed” via a highly charged emotional event or series of events, that memory may not be in just our brain – it can also be locked in certain places throughout our body.
In a hypnotherapy session, I have found this is often the case.
When asked where they feel the root-cause memory of a limiting belief in the body, often the client will respond with a physical location such as their throat, chest, stomach, or lower back. The body is a record of past hurts and traumas. It is also involved in holding on to a limiting belief due to the emotions involved.
So, when we identify and release a limiting belief in hypnosis, there can be a cascading release of stuck energy (emotions) as the client newly recognizes and feels the emotions tied to the root cause of the limiting belief they are seeking to release.
There is usually a sense of disbelief about the impact the old limiting belief has had on their life as the issue and related old experiences come to light, providing greater insight and understanding. This is very freeing, informative, and life changing for clients of hypnotherapy. A subconscious block often gets released from your entire “body-mind”.
Then, an opening to adopt a new belief is created -- one that is desired and wanted. Essentially, we can re-program our mind to believe what we want. Most importantly, we can reclaim our power from an old, outdated belief that is no longer true.
They just get stuck, buried out of sight.
Examples of a desired new belief which would be introduced and reinforced would be:
I am confident
I am enough
I can say no
I am free to be imperfect
I have a right to be happy
I am worth it
And the list continues.
INSTALL NEW BELIEFS AND REPROGRAM YOUR MIND
How does forming a new belief about oneself happen?
With the block no longer in the way, you will be able to readily accept the new belief, knowing you are worthy of it without feeling any resistance.
You must impress the new belief on the mind through daily repetition, verbally and visually. Listening to a 15-minute customized audio recording for three to four weeks helps speed this process of transformation.
Giving our power away to limiting beliefs and shortchanging our life experience is not necessary.
The key is to remember that the subconscious limiting beliefs ARE NOT YOUR FAULT. They were formed with the mind of a child. There is no need to be embarrassed or feel ashamed.
YOUR BELIEFS ARE YOUR VIBRATIONS
Another important aspect to understand is that our thoughts carry vibrations. If you have an old fear or resentment buried in the subconscious, it can still vibrate in a manner where you may attract unwanted experiences or people who share the same difficulty as yourself.
We are all resonant beings, and like singing in a room full of guitars, the other guitar strings will vibrate to a specific note sung.
Our thoughts, emotions and behaviors create a composite of energy which always vibrates and interacts with world around us.
Finding and releasing your subconscious blocks and limiting beliefs not only makes you feel better, it impacts how you experience the world around you as well.
THE 6 P’S TO RAMP UP YOUR MIND POWER…and be free of limiting beliefs.
Making friends with your incredible subconscious mind and mastering your thinking allows you ramp to up your personal power and live in a state of greater peace, confidence and self-control.
Because once you know you have been programmed with false beliefs – you’re not just going to stand there, right?
You will want to get that stuff up and out of the way!!!
Use my 6P’s Model to begin to identify unwanted mental programs, improve how you feel, and reclaim your personal power:
Programming: Think about the behaviors you exhibit that are holding you back.
How long have they been present?
What early childhood experiences might be related to them?
What kind of environment did you grow up in where that behavior was made possible
Speak to parents, aunts and uncles about their fears, holdbacks, and resentments.
Where did that come from for them?
What experiences did they see you have which may have held you back?
What types of limiting belief “programs” do you see your siblings exhibit?
Patterning: What kinds of patterns do you see recurring in your life experiences?
Do you sometimes “act like your mother/father” or anyone else?
Are relationships following a pattern in your life that you do not want?
How safe is it for you to speak openly in all realms of your life?
When you raise your children, what types of behaviors might you be concerned about passing on to them?
Who or what allowed a pattern to stay alive in you? Is that acceptable to you now?
People: Look at the people in the past – parents, teachers, siblings, family, friends through college
Who treated you with respect?
Who did not? Why?
Who treats you with respect now?
What is your contribution to the way you are treated?
Do you respect yourself enough to hold strong boundaries. If not, why?
Do you focus outward and compare yourself to others too much?
How comfortable are you with yourself?
Power: Do a personal power audit.
Where would you like to feel more powerful in life?
What keeps you from exhibiting that trait?
What kept you from your power when you were little?
Who or what stands in the way of you exhibiting the traits and behaviors you desire?
If you felt more powerful, what would be different?
Path Forward: What types of supports will help you master your thinking, and transform?
Can you begin a meditation practice to calm your mind?
Exercise so your emotions move (e-motions = Energy In Motion)
Find ways to regulate your nervous system (ex: breathwork, yoga)
Connect with more people (being alone for long periods can be a depressant)
Read about amazing lives to inspire and learn
Start a new practice of gratitude and improve your health
Discuss your feelings on a regular basis
Set intentions regularly as you head into a new situation
Deploy vision boarding tools
Self-Care – you are worth it, do it.
Talk therapy
Time in nature
GET RID OF LIMITING BELIEFS – THEY ARE NOT NEEDED!!
Remember, when you feel stuck, afraid, angry, burnt out, let down, disappointed, there could be an old limiting belief formed with the mind of a child holding you back.
Let one of the questions you ask when challenged be, “Maybe I have a subconscious limiting belief holding me back??”
Your mind responds to the direction you give it both consciously, and subconsciously. And power, ultimately, comes from within.
When you are actively managing your mind, based on knowing how powerful it is to determine what you experience in life – removing any false, limiting beliefs will empower you in unexpected ways.
You will catapult to success in life.
Go For It!!!
Lydia
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