Obstacles are a part of life and we all experience them whilst trying to pursue our dreams and goals. Perhaps you are finding it hard to lose weight or find the job you want and feel like giving up, thinking you have to give up your plans. The obstacles ahead of you seem insurmountable - the job market is very competitive, the wintry days stop you exercising outside, you can't afford to buy "healthy" food. These circumstances may, at first, to be out of your control and stop you from reaching your goals (after all you have no control over the job market or the seasons) but the biggest obstacle of all is, in fact, YOU.
You see, it is our self-limiting beliefs - our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and our capabilities - that are the greatest obstacles to achieving our ambitions. These beliefs can seriously block you and stop you from even attempting your goals in the first place. Self-limiting beliefs will eat away at your confidence and self esteem, it can cause you to build distorted views of your previous successes and experiences, down-playing your talents and, therefore, jeopardizing yourself when you face your next goal.
These limitations you falsely believe you possess can become ingrained and follow you through life if you do not try to overcome them. This is the only way you can move forward confidently and with assurance. You do not want your self-limiting beliefs to become like a personal folklore whereby you simply accept them as true without even realising what you are doing and never even questioning their existence.
Although it is true that we do not have control over all circumstances in life, such as job losses, financial crises or natural disasters, we do have control over how we react to the circumstances in our life and how we deal with them. This reaction is based on the way we think. If you tell yourself repeatedly that you can't do something then you will certainly prove yourself right. Our thoughts about ourselves form our beliefs about ourselves, so in order to remove the obstacles in your life you need to start with your thoughts.
Your primary obstacles to success all begin and end with your mind. If you see yourself as one of life's victims you will begin to act as a victim, believing you cannot achieve anything or have any control over your life. It keeps you stuck. As these thoughts and beliefs are your obstacles you need to change the way you think, replacing the negative thoughts and beliefs with positive, self-affirming messages. This takes some practice as limiting beliefs can become such a habit that we are not even consciously aware we are thinking such thoughts. So, firstly you have "listen in" for any negativity and then instantly replace that negativity with positivity. You have full control here which in itself is a very affirming, positive thought. No one else can control your thoughts. Replacing your thoughts can take a little time and persistence but you will soon notice an increase in your confidence. And increased confidence will help to melt all those obstacles away.
Take comfort in the fact that you have full control in overcoming your obstacles and it is something that you can work on and change right now. You do not need to spend another day being ruled by false self-limiting beliefs and allowing them to be obstacles to fulfilling your dreams.
By Kristin Hutchings
ezinearticles.com
15 years ago
