What if I told you that you could have or be anything you ever dreamed of? Would you believe me? Why not? What made you believe that what you desire isn’t possible?

I would put my money on the fact that you heard it from someone else.

 

Other’s Opinions Aren’t Truths

If someone else told you what you are or are not capable of, that was their belief and opinion. If you were told to hold back, don’t try, forget the silly notion, only the lucky people get to do that, or it’s only rich people who get to achieve that, or whatever else that kept your greatness dimmed, that was never your truth or belief.

When children hear words from people they respect, love, or look up to, those words are absorbed like ocean waves on a sandy shore.  And like the waves churning into the shores over and over, repeating the same thing again and again, a child’s developing mind takes repeated words as truth.

Repetition gets those ill-fated beliefs really cemented into the mind as core beliefs – what we truly think and believe about ourselves.

 

Being Aware of Our Thoughts Helps Us Change Them

As simple as this seems, we can change those limiting beliefs with the same repetition that got them there in the first place, but there’s a catch. We first need to be aware of those wrong messages before we can make any change.

If you feel that your life is wonderful and there is nothing you’d change about it, then you were blessed to have wonderful caretakers, families, friends, etc., who respected and loved you enough to communicate healthy-thinking positive messages to you.

But for most of us, we grew up in imperfect families where parents didn’t know how to raise healthy-thinking individuals with good self-esteem and self-worth because they were raised on dysfunctional messages passed down from parent to child, most likely for generations.

Until there is awareness, nothing changes.

Once you focus more on your thoughts, you’ll see a pattern develop that either helps you or harms you.

 

How to create a new belief or beliefs

1. Figure out what you want. Who are you?
2. Then write down a short sentence or think about it in your mind (but the act of writing it down helps your mind to absorb it better), about something you want to change. It needs to be written in the present tense, “I am,” and is a positive, powerful thought.

For example:

I am enough.

I am worthy of the life I choose.

It’s okay to say no. I have the right to boundaries that protect my peace.

Just by writing them, saying them out loud, or thinking them, you will begin to rewire your brain into believing new thoughts. The difference is these thoughts will empower you, not disempower you.

 

Be Patient

It’s going to take time – as much time as it took for the original limiting beliefs to have formed. So, be patient and trust that this process does work. You will see changes happen over time. Little things will change, like how you feel around a person or the thoughts you have about something might be different than what you thought in the past.

 

We’re All Human, Doing the Best We Can With What We Know

I’d like to share how I have changed some limiting beliefs and have become aware of my thoughts and actions. When my daughter was a young child, we were shopping at Walmart. Once we got to the register, I realized I forgot to get paper towels, so I asked her to get them. She came back with a printed paper towel, but I wanted the plain white ones. I scolded her, and I think I went back for the white ones ( probably huffing and puffing in an angry fit).

I was operating on a dysfunctional belief system, and I didn’t take into consideration her feelings or how wrong it was for me to get so upset over printed paper towels.

Thank God, I am well beyond any of that behavior today. In fact, there are printed paper towels in the kitchen right now.  The colors don’t match our kitchen, but I was okay with them this time since they were the only Bounty brand at Dollar General. I know now, there are more important things to be concerned with, like respecting a child’s feelings and not making them feel wrong or not good enough.

I apologized to my daughter as an adult about that incident because it had stuck with me as one of the low points in my life, when I was incapable of being mindful of my actions and words, and I felt truly sorry for having treated her that way. I think back, and I realize now I had little awareness that limiting beliefs were at play, screwing with my life and the lives of those I loved.

Until I acknowledged the limiting beliefs, I couldn’t change them. Thankfully, after doing a lot of work on myself, I’m fully aware of my thoughts and can catch and change any limiting beliefs if they occur.

 

Happiness is Our Birthright

We all deserve to be happy. It doesn’t matter if anyone told us otherwise. What matters now is that we know we can change those beliefs because we can. Life is too precious to accept mediocrity.

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you take some time for yourself and write out or just think positive words repeatedly to change your default operating system to one that supports and nourishes you.

To new beliefs,

Francesca

 

Written by a human for humans.

© 2025 FrancescaME | All rights reserved.

NO PERMISSION FOR AI TRAINING: Any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

 

FrancescaME is not a therapist or doctor, and any information shared is from research and personal experience. If you feel that you need more help, please consult a mental health therapist. If you are in a crisis, call 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (Languages: English, Spanish -Available 24 hours)