If you’ve been around personal development circles for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the term “limiting belief.”

But what is a limiting belief?

Put succinctly, a limiting belief is a way you perceive yourself or the world around you that builds unnecessary obstacles to creating the life you want.

Limiting beliefs are often held so deeply in the subconscious mind that unless we take the time to examine them and bring them to the surface, we may not even be aware of them at all.  And yet, they are part of the “programming” that governs almost everything we do: the way we think about ourselves, how we interact with others, what we believe is possible for our lives.

All beliefs serve only one purpose: to establish and maintain one’s self-perception and identity (what we at Quantum Emergence call your “Virtue”).  Thus, a skewed, distorted, or otherwise inaccurate self-perception exists because of a limiting belief.

Here are some important things to understand about limiting beliefs…

1. Limiting beliefs tend to stem from traumatic and painful past experiences.  Because all beliefs establish and maintain your self-perception, these are experiences that altered or threatened your core sense of identity (or Virtue) in very negative ways.

2. Limiting beliefs don’t know they’re limiting.  Your subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate from “positive” or “negative” beliefs.  It simply knows how you perceive yourself, and will protect your Virtue at all costs — even if it’s damaging.

3. Limiting beliefs are grounded in important truth.  You don’t pick a limiting belief out of a hat.  A limiting belief is formed when something that is significant and important to you is being threatened — in other words, your Virtue.   The reason it as “teeth,” as it were, is because it’s biting into something very real and very true.

4. Limiting beliefs have four components…

• Memory.  The past traumatic event that formed the limiting belief.
• Energy.  The “fight or flight” response that was linked to the memory gets trapped within the body (cellular memory).
• Meaning.  The interpretation of how the event defined you — usually as a bad or unworthy person.
• Mechanism.  The unconscious ways of thinking and behaving throughout life in an attempt to hide, override or diminish the pain of the limiting belief.

Did you know that it’s possible to be free from the negative effects of limiting beliefs?  In my next few blog posts, I’ll reveal how.

In the meantime, sound off in the comments below: what do limiting beliefs mean to you?

For a comprehensive look at how you can create real transformation in your life, download our FREE ebook, “Reveal Your Truth: How to Unlock Your Purpose in the 10 Major Areas of Life.”