Understanding Limiting Beliefs: How They Shape Your Reality (and How to Change Them)

Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right, but something invisible keeps holding you back? Maybe you catch yourself thinking, “I’m not good enough,” or “No matter what I do, things never work out for me.” These aren't just fleeting thoughts—they’re what we call limiting beliefs, and they can run the show behind the scenes of your life.

Limiting beliefs are subconscious programs, often formed in childhood, that influence your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and even your health. The good news? They can be changed. Let’s explore where these beliefs come from, how they impact your reality, and how you can rewire them to create a more empowered, aligned life.

What Are Limiting Beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are deeply held assumptions or convictions that you accept as true, even if they’re not based in reality. They act like mental filters, coloring how you perceive yourself, other people, and the world around you.

These beliefs typically live in the subconscious mind, meaning you’re not always aware of them. But they shape your self-worth, your confidence, your choices—and ultimately, your results.

Common Examples of Limiting Beliefs

• I’m not good enough.

• I have to work hard to be loved.

• I’m too sensitive.

• I’ll always be sick.

• I can’t trust anyone.

• I don’t deserve to be happy.

• I’ll never have enough money.

• I always mess things up.

• My body is broken.

• People will reject me if I show the real me.

If any of these resonate with you, you’re not alone. These are incredibly common and often stem from early experiences where you internalized a painful emotion or message.

Where Do Limiting Beliefs Come From?

Most limiting beliefs are formed between the ages of 0–7, when your brain is in a highly suggestible state. During this time, you absorb everything like a sponge—especially emotional experiences. If your needs weren’t met consistently, or you experienced trauma, neglect, or criticism, your subconscious may have created beliefs to help you make sense of the world and keep you safe.

Limiting beliefs can come from:

• Childhood programming (parents, teachers, religion)

• Emotional or physical trauma

• Repeated messages (e.g., “You’re too much” or “Why can’t you be more like your sister?”)

• Cultural or societal conditioning

These beliefs get encoded in the brain as neural pathways and can continue to influence your life until they’re brought to conscious awareness and reprocessed.

👉 Learn How to Heal Childhood Trauma with Hypnotherapy

How Limiting Beliefs Affect Your Reality

Limiting beliefs don’t just live in your mind—they impact your nervous system, your relationships, your career, and even your health.

When you carry a belief like “I’ll always be sick” or “My body is broken,” your brain and body operate from that blueprint. This can keep your nervous system in a stress response, leading to increased inflammation, chronic symptoms, and emotional dysregulation.

On a psychological level, limiting beliefs can:

• Cause self-sabotage (e.g., procrastination, perfectionism, avoiding opportunities)

• Attract unhealthy relationships or repeating patterns

• Limit your ability to set boundaries or speak up for yourself

• Lead to a constant feeling of anxiety or inadequacy

This is partly due to confirmation bias—a psychological phenomenon where your brain filters out information that contradicts your beliefs and clings to what confirms them.

So if you believe you’re not capable, your brain will actually seek out evidence to prove that belief right, reinforcing the cycle.

Questions to Reveal Your Limiting Beliefs

So how do you uncover these hidden programs? Start by bringing gentle awareness to patterns in your life. Here are five powerful prompts to help you identify limiting beliefs:

1. What is an area of your life where you feel stuck or frustrated? What do you believe about yourself in that area?

2. What do you fear people might think if you fully expressed yourself?

3. When you make a mistake or fall short, what’s the inner dialogue you hear?

4. What belief do you hold about your health, healing, or body that may be limiting your progress?

5. If you imagined your dream life, what “truth” immediately pops up about why it’s not possible for you?

You might be surprised at how quickly a limiting belief surfaces when you answer honestly.

How to Change Limiting Beliefs

Rewriting subconscious beliefs takes intention, repetition, and safety. The brain is neuroplastic—meaning it can rewire itself—but only when given new information consistently and in a safe, open state.

Here are some powerful ways to reprogram your limiting beliefs:

1. Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy bypasses the critical conscious mind and speaks directly to the subconscious – where those deeply rooted beliefs reside. It allows you to rewire old beliefs and install new ones from a deeply relaxed, receptive state.

2. NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

NLP techniques help you interrupt thought patterns, shift perspective, and replace disempowering beliefs with resourceful ones.

3. Affirmations (Done Right)

Affirmations can be powerful when paired with emotion and repetition. It’s not just about saying “I’m enough”—you need to feel it and visualize what that looks like in your life. Check out this post on how to 10x the power of Affirmations.

4. Visualization

Imagining yourself as the version of you who has already released the belief can start to rewire the brain. Seem too simple? There have been countless studies proving the effectiveness of visualization on all kinds of things, even physical healing.

5. Parts Work or Inner Child Healing

Speaking directly to the part of you that holds the belief (often a younger version of yourself) can help release shame and reparent the inner child with new truths. (This technique is even more powerful when done in hypnosis and is one of my secret weapons for getting rapid results with my clients)

Changing limiting beliefs is not a one-time event. It’s a process of awareness, curiosity, and repetition. With the right tools and support, your subconscious can become your greatest ally instead of your biggest saboteur.

Final Thoughts

You are not broken. The beliefs you hold today were formed in response to something real—but that doesn’t mean they’re true anymore. The moment you become aware of a limiting belief, you begin to loosen its grip.

If you’re ready to explore your subconscious and start shifting what’s holding you back, I’d love to support you. You can book a free 30-min consultation if you’re ready to see real, life-changing results. Or, if you’d like to learn more about hypnotherapy first, you can read up on the basics of hypnotherapy, and 10 things to know before your first hypnotherapy session.

Your mind is powerful—and when you rewire it, your reality follows.