How to reprogram a limiting belief with EFT tapping (part 2)
So you feel stuck. You might be catching yourself engaging in self-sabotaging behaviour. Maybe you are procrastinating, or avoiding important tasks, or find yourself stuck in a repeating pattern starting and stopping. Maybe this has led you to the realization that you’re holding some conflicting (or limiting) beliefs to your goal. You might have a goal to start a business, or to begin an exercise routine, or to learn a new skill but deep down feel like you aren’t good enough, or worry that you will fail, or that people might judge you.
This inner conflict can stop us in our tracks.
So what do we do? Let me teach you the steps I take using EFT to help identify and release this inner resistance so you can cultivate more alignment towards your goals. Wouldn’t it feel amazing if all parts of you felt excited and ready to both pursue and achieve your goals and desires?? I thought so! Let’s get into it.
In part one of this blog post we learned that a limiting belief is just a generalization that your brain made based on past lived experience. Make sure to check that post out first if you haven’t already. You can find that here.
Here are the steps I use for myself and in my client work.
Step #1: Identify your limiting beliefs
How do we identify our own beliefs that might be keeping us stuck? Sometimes they are so loud that they are incredibly obvious, while other times they are so subtle that we might not even recognize them. A great first step is to become conscious of your inner dialogue. What are you telling yourself in times when you feel triggered, or when you notice you aren’t taking aligned action towards your goals? What critical voice, fears, and beliefs are playing on repeat?
Another approach (and one of my favourite techniques) is to start by creating a goal statement or affirmation. For example a goal statement might look like “I am generating $5000 a month through my business by June 2024”. Whereas an affirmation might sound like “I feel confident in social situations”. Pick which style resonates best for you based on what you are working towards.
Next, read this goal or affirmation and notice the inner dialogue that happens in response. In tapping, we like to call these the “ya, buts..”. Some examples might look like:
Yes but.. I’m not smart enough to make that happen
Yes but.. I’m not special enough
Yes but.. it will never work
Yes but.. I’m going to fail
Write down any of these little voices that come up, there might be several! Notice which one feels the most true, or is the ‘loudest’. Notice how that “yes but” statement feels in your body. You can tap on that physical sensation. You can then ask yourself what that reminds you of? Where did you learn that was true? Tapping through any memories or physical sensations that arise.
Step #2: Identify and work through triggers
Now that you’ve identified your limiting beliefs, notice what areas of life this belief show up in. Does this voice become louder in relationships, career, etc.? Are there certain situations that will ‘trigger’ it or cause it to be really loud? Start with a recent trigger. Is there an example from this past week where you noticed this limiting belief pop up? What was going on? Tap on the memory including any sensory aspects (what you are seeing, hearing, touching, etc.) that feel emotionally charged.
This might automatically lead you to past events, but if not, we can ask ourselves. What does this remind me of? What other examples do I have that ‘prove’ this belief to be true. Is this a familiar thought/belief/feeling? If so, when was the first time I remember feeling this way? When was the first time I experienced something that taught me to believe this? Is there a person that taught me this? Tap on any of these memories.
Step 3: Identify any resistance to letting this belief go
Before you roll your eyes at me, we often experience some benefit from continuing to hold specific beliefs, whether or not we consciously recognize them or not. You can start to identify resistance by asking yourself the following questions:
Are there any parts of me that are hesitant to let this belief go
Who would I have to be if I didn’t believe this anymore? Am I ready to be this person?
What actions would I have to take or what might I have to do if I no longer believed this about myself?
What judgements might I have to face if I let this belief go?
Am I ready to do all of this?
Tap, tap, tap!
In this step you might also uncover some secondary limiting beliefs. Other limiting beliefs that are different from what you are working on but help contribute or play a supporting role. For example, maybe you are working on the belief that “I’m not smart enough to have my own business”. While working through inner conflict or resistance you then notice you have another belief that says “I’m never going to change”. This belief will have to be tackled also because its creating resistance to clearing the original belief. You might also discover other beliefs like “people that are successful and have money are greedy”. Notice how these are all different beliefs but can play off of each other. Take time to write down any additional beliefs that come up so you can take them through this framework as well.
This is a process! It’s not going to happen overnight, but every step counts! Be gentle with yourself and give yourself the time and space to move through this work. The goal is not to find more reasons to beat yourself up, but instead to help you understand yourself better.
If you would like to do some guided tapping on this, you can check out this video
You can also do a deeper dive with my workshop “Intention Setting without the Self-Sabotage” which can be found here.
Until next time, happy tapping!
