Mindsets, Paradigms And Limiting Beliefs

This is a guided meditation on understanding the impact of mindsets, paradigms, and limiting beliefs in creating the life that we want and deserve. In addition to exploring these concepts in general, there is time to meditate on one or more goals or changes you want to make, the feelings you will experience when you accomplish that, and the mindsets, paradigms, and limiting beliefs you need to shift or shed to accomplish it.

Transcript

This is a guided meditation on mindsets,

Paradigms,

And limiting beliefs.

I'm Steve Walker,

A life coach and meditation teacher.

First,

Get yourself into a comfortable position.

You could be seated in a chair with your feet on the ground,

Or you could be lying on your back,

Or you might be seated on a cushion on the floor.

Get yourself into that comfortable position,

And then once you're there,

Close your eyes,

Or at least focus at some vague spot off in the distance,

And take a couple of slow,

Deep,

Cleansing breaths to get yourself centered and relaxed.

Slowly breathing in through your nose,

And then out through your mouth.

Now,

Let's first explore what mindsets and paradigms are,

And how they're similar and different to each other.

A mindset is usually about the way that you see yourself.

I'll give you an example.

You could have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

A fixed mindset is one in which you believe that you're basically good at something or bad at something,

And that's basically not going to change.

I'm good at math or I'm bad at math.

I'm good at playing the piano or I'm bad at playing the piano.

That fixed mindset believes that even if I put in focused effort over time,

I'm really not going to get much better at it.

In all likelihood,

If I have a fixed mindset,

I'm not going to put in much focused effort because I don't believe it's going to get me any results that are worthwhile.

So,

My fixed mindset then determines my actions,

Or maybe my inaction in this case,

And my results,

Which actually reinforces my mindset,

Right?

I don't think I'm going to get better at something.

I don't put in much effort to get better at it,

And as a result,

I don't get much better at it.

On the other hand,

A growth mindset is one in which you believe that if you put in focused effort,

And practice,

You can get better at almost anything.

And we actually know that that's true,

That if you put in focused effort at most things,

Most skills,

Most tasks,

You will get better at them over time.

So,

If you believe in a growth mindset,

You will in all likelihood put in more focused effort and practice,

And you will get better at the thing.

So again,

Our mindset in this case determines our actions and our results.

A paradigm is usually about other people,

Situations,

Systems,

And the way that we interact with them.

So,

For instance,

You might have a paradigm about society that is based on capitalism.

You have a capitalist mindset,

And therefore,

Your goal would be to make a lot of money.

If you have a business,

To make as much profit as you can.

And therefore,

Your actions would be determined by that paradigm,

Right?

That we're here to participate in a capitalist society and to make a lot of money.

Your goals will be to make a certain amount of money or profit,

And you will take actions to pursue those goals.

And that will determine,

To some extent,

The results you get.

On the other hand,

If you believe,

As many people in South Africa do,

In the paradigm of Ubuntu,

In which you believe that we are all interconnected and that your happiness,

Well-being,

Success depends on the happiness,

Well-being,

And success of the other people in your society,

Then you will pay a lot of attention to,

Try to contribute to,

Have goals related to the health and well-being of your society,

Of other people in your society.

Because you believe that if everybody else is being treated more fairly,

Has a better chance at finding success,

At being healthy,

Then you will also have a better chance at being successful and being healthy.

So you will act accordingly.

You will act as if we are all interdependent with one another.

And that will determine the results you get as well.

So our paradigms can be very important,

Just like our mindsets.

It's a lens,

Right?

A paradigm is a lens through which you look at the world,

Right?

If you think that most people are good,

Then you will tend to trust other people.

You'll be more willing to be vulnerable and authentic with other people.

Whereas if you believe that most people are not good,

That they should not be trusted,

Then you will find it more difficult to be vulnerable and authentic,

And you'll have a more difficult time creating authentic,

Healthy relationships because of your paradigm.

So our paradigms have a huge impact on our actions and our results.

Now,

You can probably already see that some of our mindsets and paradigms can be very limiting,

Right?

They can limit our ability to pursue and achieve our hopes and dreams and our goals.

If you have a mindset that you are not worthy of love,

Success,

Whatever,

Then you will act accordingly.

If you're attracted to somebody who you think is really attractive and interesting and engaging,

And you would really like to go out with that person,

You might not even ask them out because you don't think you're worthy of them.

You're convinced that they will reject you,

So you don't even try.

Whereas if you had a mindset that you are worthy,

Maybe even a mindset that everyone is worthy,

Then you'd be more likely to ask that person out.

And at some point,

Somebody like that is probably going to say yes to you.

But if you have the limiting belief that you're not worthy,

You'll never get the chance.

If you believe that you're not worthy of success,

You might self-sabotage.

You might procrastinate.

You might turn a project in or an application in for a job late after a deadline,

So that you've self-sabotaged.

You can then blame the rejection that you knew was coming on the late deadline,

Right,

That was missed,

Rather than your own inadequacy.

So to protect you from that inevitable failure that you think is going to happen,

Your brain subconsciously gives you another excuse.

So these limiting beliefs can be quite powerful,

And for many people undermine their pursuit of joy,

Happiness,

Success,

Well-being,

Abundance.

So understanding what your limiting beliefs are,

And then being able to shift them to create new mindsets and new paradigms that are empowering and positive,

Rather than limiting and negative,

Is really important.

It can unlock a very different life for yourself.

So let's see if we can put this into action a little bit.

So take another deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.

I'd like you to think of a goal that you would like to achieve.

It could be something very concrete,

That you'd like to get a new job,

Or you'd like to move someplace else.

Or it could be that you'd like to have a shift in an important relationship that you have,

Right?

You'd like to have a more harmonious,

Healthy relationship with a specific person in your life.

Regardless,

I'd like you to take a moment and visualize achieving that goal.

Literally imagine in your mind what that would look like and feel like if you achieved that goal.

The beautiful thing is that your brain doesn't actually know the difference between visualization and reality.

So your brain is going to think that you actually did it.

And that's important because then if you focus also on the feeling,

The good feeling you're going to get from achieving that goal,

Your brain is going to be motivated to get that good feeling again.

So let's do that.

And that will help you when you try to put this into action.

So again,

Take a moment and visualize achieving that goal and how good it will feel when you achieve it.

Really try to tap into that good feeling of achieving that goal.

Now,

I want you to think about the mindsets and paradigms that you will need to have in order to achieve that goal.

What are the positive,

Empowering mindsets and paradigms?

The way you see yourself and the way you see the world,

The way you see other people and the way that you interact with them,

Right?

Think about those mindsets and paradigms that will be important in achieving that goal.

Do you need a growth mindset?

Do you need to have a more positive paradigm of how relationships can work?

Now,

Think about the limiting beliefs that you have currently that are going to get in the way if you keep them,

Right?

That would undermine the mindsets and paradigms that you need and want to have to achieve your goal.

And now I want you to think about how you're going to achieve that goal.

I want you to imagine a time when one of those limiting beliefs starts to pop into your head,

Right?

When you start to tell yourself,

I'm not worthy or people can't be trusted,

Right?

Whatever that limiting belief is.

And now imagine,

Visualize shifting from that limiting belief to a mindset or a paradigm that is positive and empowering.

What are you going to say to yourself in that moment,

Right?

Visualize catching yourself,

Being mindful and then shifting the inner voice.

Shifting the limiting belief to an empowering one.

Imagine,

Visualize right now that dialogue and how good it's going to feel when you catch yourself and shift your mindset or your paradigm.

Now,

Think about a practice that you can have every day.

Maybe you have it already and you're going to add this to it or maybe you need to create a new practice,

A new habit every day.

It could be meditation,

It could be journaling,

It could be going on a reflective walk every morning or every evening.

But a practice that will allow you to increase your mindfulness about shifting your paradigms and mindsets,

About getting rid of your limiting beliefs and creating new empowering ones.

You want some time every day,

Ideally in the morning,

But also it would be great if you could do it in the evening to reflect back on the day and set intentions for the next day as well.

Where you set your intentions to have a positive mindset or a positive paradigm,

To catch yourself when you find limiting beliefs entering your inner voice.

And then visualizing again in those moments,

How you're going to deal with those limiting beliefs,

The dialogue that you're going to have in your head that will catch yourself and shift the limiting belief into an empowering one,

A positive mindset,

A positive paradigm.

So,

Think about what practice you would like to start today.

Again,

A practice or an activity,

Ideally first thing in the morning when you get up and if possible,

Also before you go to bed,

That will allow you to reflect and to set intentions and to do some visualizing.

It doesn't have to be a lot of time.

It can be just a minute or two.

It doesn't have to be a lot of time.

It can be just a minute or two.

So,

There's no reason not to do it,

Right?

It's not like you don't have an extra minute or two to integrate this practice into your daily routine.

You may even want to put a reminder in your phone or a note by your bedside or on the bathroom mirror so that you remember to do this practice at least until it becomes a habit in a few weeks.

And then,

Don't forget to revisit this guided meditation as a means of practicing,

Of reminding yourself,

Of having some support to reflect thoughtfully on how this process is going,

To reinforce your practice,

To reinforce some positive mindsets,

Positive paradigms,

And to listen to this again when you want to set some new goals.

And you can go through this practice again to set the new goals,

Do the visualization,

And make sure that you're integrating reflection and intention setting around those new goals into your daily routine.

Thank you for joining me.

I wish you the best of luck in shifting your paradigms and your mindsets,

Getting rid of those limiting beliefs,

And pursuing and achieving your hopes and dreams and your goals that you so richly deserve.

Reviews

Thank you , Steve ! A lot of wise recommendations !
It made me to think about my limiting beliefs and how to work with them . Thank you so much for this session . Very informative and very effective !