The Invisible Chains Holding You Back

The Important thing is how you are within Yourself!

                                                                                                                         - Sadhguru

Have you ever felt that even after you have put in all the necessary efforts, there is an invisible baggage pulling you down? An invisible chain that keeps you grounded? All your pursuits and efforts not leading anywhere? You Strive, you push, you work hard, yet you never seam to reach your full potential.

Pause and observe. Is it your limited beliefs pulling you down? Your unconscious assumptions about yourself and the world that hold you captive?

It is said that the elephants from the circus are initially tied up. Their feet in shackles to prevent their escape. However hard they may try they cannot move. However, as days pass by they also become conditioned.  They believe that the now small chain holding them down will still not yield their escape. Are we caught in the shackles of our thoughts and actions?

The invisible chains binding us are forged from past experiences, societal conditioning and the voices of doubt (both internal and external) that have echoed in our minds for years.

They whisper things like” you are not good enough,” or “you cannot do it”, “you do not deserve it,” “change is hard” … so on and so forth.

And the devastating fact is that we often believe them without question, allowing them to silently sabotage our dreams and aspirations.

And then we feel stuck in life.  We call it the mid-life crisis and supress our inner most ambitions and desires that could pull us out of it.  But there is no such a thing as being stuck or mid life crisis if we do not wish it to be there. We need to reinvent ourselves and our thought patterns. And to learn something new we need to let go of the old systems that bound us. Often these beliefs are so deeply ingrained that they are part of our lives, and seems like undeniable truths.

There is a story I once heard. 

A monk wanted to teach his disciple a lesson. One day he asked the disciple to pour tea for him.

The disciple started pouring the tea. “Do not stop unless I say so” said the master.

The disciple kept pouring the tea. As the tea cup was full, he looked at the master in expectation, But the master said nothing.

He continued to pour. Now the saucer below the tea cup was also full. Still the master did not break his silence. He thought that the master must have lost his mind. He continued pouring, and the tray which held the cup and saucer was also full. The student thought this was madness.  Just as the tray was about to overflow, that the monk asked him to stop.

The Disciple looked at the monk, clouds of confusion covering his face.

“Your mind is like this cup”, the Monk said.

“It is already full of beliefs and negativity and all the garbage you have picked up in life. If you need to learn new ways you need to empty your cup first so that knowledge can enter you and guide you in the right direction. If you keep holding to the limited beliefs that are keeping you captive you will never grow”.

Letting go of limited beliefs and thought patterns opens our minds to new ideas and change. Yes, it will be uncomfortable and challenging but it will also give you a sense of purpose and ambition.

Speak with yourself. Not just the superficial but the deeper conversations. Speak with your heart. Analyse what you need and what you should let go. Empty your cup of unwanted negative self-talk, fill it with inspiring thoughts instead, let go of the I cannot do and change it to I will do instead. Find out what is deep and intimate to you and what will bring you joy.  

Consciously choose new empowering beliefs to replace the old limiting ones.

Breaking free from these beliefs is not easy but necessary for achieving your full potential and live a life filled with purpose and joy. Journaling your thoughts on a daily basis and analysing them will help you see the trajectory of your thoughts.

By shining a torch on these chains and consciously choosing to dismantle them you unlock a world of possibilities you never thought existed. 

You deserve to live a life not overshadowed by self-doubt but empowered by the belief in your own self worth and capabilities.  Let’s begin to dismantle those chains one belief at a time.