We all know that what we think and believe will affect the way we behave and live our life.
“Life really is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The biggest impediment to our success seems to be in our mind.”
And yet, we just cannot help it.
We create our limited form of reality based on what we feel and perceive about our experiences, and live in this reality like there is no other. Even if we have no hard evidence to support these beliefs, they become a set of rules by which we conduct ourselves. We use self-talk such as “I knew that was going to happen,” “This always happens to me,” or “I’m no good at this sort of thing.’
For example: If I believe that life is not easy, I therefore believe that life is difficult. If I believe that success is hard, I therefore believe that success is unattainable for me. If I believe that money, resources, or opportunities are limited; I’ll believe that I will not able to earn lots of money or get access to other resources or opportunities, if others get there first.
“The thing happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.” Frank Lloyd Wright
And then we even begin to find “evidence” to prove that these beliefs are right.
Try this experiment: spot as many white cars as possible. Suddenly, you start noticing white cars everywhere! Now, try and remember how many other cars of different colors you saw. I can almost guarantee, you won’t remember how many red or black cars there were. You’ll know there were some, but your attention was drawn to spotting only red cars.
My Limiting Beliefs
For me, one of those limiting beliefs used to be scarcity. Growing up in Eastern Europe country may have been a big contributing factor: when I was a teenager, there were few opportunities, my family had little money; and even if somebody had money, there were few things that you could buy, as stores were almost completely empty (literally - hard to imagine, I know; but you’d walk into a store – and there would be nothing in there, just the clerk behind the cash register). I wanted to travel abroad, but it was exorbitantly expensive – my parents’ monthly salary could be exchanged for just a few dollars. Plus, just getting a passport was not an easy task.
So I formed that belief, that there is just not enough of money (resources, opportunities, etc.) to go around. Therefore, if some people are getting richer, there must be lots of others who are getting poorer. I certainly did not want to contribute to anyone’s poverty.
Another one was that I could never be successful financially on my own - ”I can never build a successful business” - noone in my family had their own business, so it’s “not in my genes”. I must have a JOB to earn a living, as I could never be successful as an entrepreneur.
Breaking FREE
Breaking those beliefs takes time and effort.
For me, it’s still a work in progress, but I’m getting there.
What helped me finally shake of the “scarcity” belief was “The Science of Getting Rich” written by Wallace D. Wattles in 1910. If you haven’t already read it, then download it here and read it.
You can download and read it here: “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace D. Wattles
OK, so the language of the book is outdated, and it does sound a little weird sometimes – talking about “Formless Substance” or “Formless Intelligence” that permeates the universe. But if you give it a chance, and keep an open mind, it’s a 100 year old classic that can truly change the way you look at the universe and your life.
Breaking out of a limiting belief is like opening a door to another world – a door and world you hadn’t even realized was there.
Powerful Quotes from Wallace D. Wattles’ Writings
”The object of all life is development; and everything that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.”
“No one is kept poor because other people have monopolized the wealth and have put a fence around it.”
“Think of the riches the world is growing into instead of the poverty it is growing out of, and bear in mind that the only way you can assist the world in growing rich is by growing rich yourself through the creative method, not the competitive one.”
“You are to become a creator, not a competitor. You are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other person whom you affect will have more than he has now.”
“Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction.”
“By thought, the thing you want is brought to you. By action, you receive it. Whatever your action is to be, it is evident that you must act NOW.”
“Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.”
“Because you are not in the right business or the right environment now, do not think that you must postpone action until you get into the right business or environment. And do not spend time in the present taking thought as to the best course in possible future emergencies; have faith in your ability to meet any emergency when it arrives.”
“The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best. Therefore it tends to become the best. It takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.”
“There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work in the world.”
“You can begin to be great to-day in your own home, in your store or office, on the street, everywhere; you can begin to make yourself known as great; and you can do this by doing everything you do in a great way.”
“Many people who order their lives rightly, in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.”
