Remove the blocks, rewire your mind.
How do we clear the mental blocks that hold us back from living our most fulfilling life?
We all have subconscious beliefs - things we've been told (or told ourselves), time after time, that hold us back from evolving into our truest, happiest, highest-vibrational version of self.
"You're not smart enough to do that."
"You don't have enough drive to accomplish that."
"You're too lazy to reach that goal."
The voice in our head that plays us these recordings over and over - the voice that opens us up to moments of self-doubt, indecision, insecurity, frustration - it is not our voice.
Read that again.
This voice, whether driven by ego, fear, childhood, a lack mentality, anxiety, or any number of factors, needs to be rewired. Breaking down these thought barriers that subconsciously limit us, getting to the root of them, and relearning the parts of ourselves that are considered to be "less than" within our subconscious mind, is where the true discovery of ourselves begins.
But how do we acknowledge these subconscious limiting beliefs and ultimately move past them? By going back in time, into our subconscious memories, we can begin to find out where they came from, and can recreate the lessons and stories we've drawn from them.
If you already have some form of a meditation practice, you might be familiar with this sort of "time travel" - allowing your mind to take you back to early childhood memories, (not forcing memories to occur or fixating on a certain one, but sitting with whatever comes up during your meditative practice). Sometimes, nothing will come forward for you, which might leave you frustrated, but when you begin to connect more deeply to the subconscious mind and memories, revelations will begin to make themselves clearer.
Try this meditation routine to get into the habit of accessing a deeper subconscious state:
Whether it fits best in your morning or evening schedule, find yourself in a quiet part of your home. Dim or completely turn off the lights, and come to a comfortable position (laying down on your yoga mat, bed or couch, or even propped up against a wall with a pillow or bolster behind your back). Some prefer meditative music, such as Tibetan Bowls, 432 Hz frequency music, or any other instrumental playlist that sets a calming tone. Play around with the music, or stay in silence if you choose.
Close your eyes, rubbing your hands together for a few moments to create some heat, placing them over your eyes to create total darkness. Keep your hands here, unless your arms begin to tire, bringing them down by your sides.
Bring awareness to your breath; first, completely exhaling (we usually start with the inhale, but it helps to empty out fully before taking that next deep breath in). Continue with these deep exhales and inhales.
Keeping your eyes closed, begin to roll your eyes towards the top of the head, almost as if you're guiding your mind's eye to look out of the third eye chakra.
Start to bring to the forefront of your mind, an area of your life that you feel under-evolved or lacking in. Maybe this area is your self worth, self esteem, attitude around money ("I'm not worthy of making _____ salary"). If your first few meditative experiences with this sort of work are focused solely on this discovery step (discovering any limiting beliefs you have about yourself), allow that to happen. Take as much time as you need.
Once a specific idea makes it's way to your focus, explore it. Sit with it.
How are you seeing it play out in your life today? For example, if the idea you want to explore is low self esteem, bring to mind some recent memories where you've seen yourself embody insecurity.
How do you feel about yourself in those moments?
What are some possible triggers that might lead you to think this way about yourself?
Then ask yourself to go back, sifting through your mental catalog, to a time in your childhood that you felt this same way about yourself.
Was it a teacher or authority figure speaking down to you, making you feel ashamed or unworthy?
Maybe you had a friend who would use humor or sarcasm to belittle you, eventually causing you to believe that this version of yourself you were being sold was the truth, because it was coming from someone close to you.
As you consider where these thought patterns and limiting beliefs originated from, over time it will begin to become crystal clear that, more often than not, they didn't come from you.
The next stage of this work takes place when you begin rewriting and rewiring the emotion behind the experiences that caused this skewed image of self. Not rewriting the memories themselves, but exploring ways that you can embody a more ideal expression of the area believed to be lacking in.
Imagine the memory playing out, and envision the outcome, had you been full of self esteem (again, for example). Notice how you embody that self esteem in the memory, at that young age. How does it feel to move throughout the memory in your mind, as this new version of yourself?
Now embody, as your current self, this sense of wholeness, completeness - the fullest expression of YOU. How can you honor your inner child, living authentically in your worth that you now know you are deserving of?
If this brings you any success, I'd love to hear your insights in the comments!
Good luck with your journey.
Asatao ma sadgamaya. Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya. Mrtyorma amrtam gamaya.
Om shanti shanti shanti.
“Lead me from untruth to truth, lead me from darkness to light, lead me from death to immortality, Om peace, peace, peace.”
Meditation and this deeper exploration is an individual practice, not the same for any two people. If this sort of experiment works for you, go with it! If you find reliving certain memories to be too painful, it might not be for your path at this time. Remember that you can always step away and come back to the work, and that as you move through it, reprocessing these things may become easier. Also remember you have the option to do this type of work alongside a therapist; this might provide more structure to someone who has experienced a lot of trauma in their life, for instance.