Be as Magnificent as You Are
“Become who you are” (Pope St. John Paul the Great).
Have you ever considered how the assumptions we make can limit our ability to do what God is asking of us?
Janine, who owns a Catholic gift shop, wanted to drive to Pennsylvania and ride the Pittsburgh Incline, which would take her up the side of Mount Washington for a spectacular view of the city. She put it off, assuming it would be too expensive and so popular she wouldn’t be able to get tickets. When she finally called, she found it cost only five bucks and didn’t have a waiting list.
That experience made her ask about other limiting beliefs that kept her from pursuing things she was meant to do.
The more we’re getting out there to build up the Kingdom with our business, the more we’re likely to hear those little voices that try to talk us out of being bold in love:
Other people are better at this than I am.
Nobody will want what I offer.
Other people know more than I do, so why would anyone listen to me?
The list could be longer, but you get the idea.
It’s hard to write down our doubts, but it’s worth it for two reasons: First, they stop being secrets that we keep even from ourselves. Out in the light, we can examine them. Second, we can see a common thread: They are all doubts that specifically limit our trust in God and hold us back in sharing the gifts God has given us.
Calling out the Enemy
On the feast of St. Michael, our priest asked, “Do you believe that there is someone who wants you to feel terrible? Do you believe that there is someone who wants to accuse you and cause you to doubt the power of God? Well, there is.”
Father’s reminder put my limiting beliefs, those doubts and fears that seem to come from nowhere, in context. Demons want to hold us back from being as magnificent as God calls us to be. Our job is to act on God’s voice, not the enemy’s.
Write It Down
Writing down our list of limiting beliefs helps us to recognize what the father of lies is whispering to us: accusations that we are less than tabernacles of the Holy Spirit, that we are less than beloved daughters of God who are created in his image to love and live forever in glory.
So, how does God speak to us about limiting beliefs? Through Isaiah and St. Paul, he says, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, quoting Isaiah 64:3).
“What God has prepared” is heaven, yes—but it starts right now! At every Mass, heaven visits earth, and we are united with God Almighty and all the heavenly host. Where do baseless doubts fit into that reality? They don’t.
The Answer
It’s easy to think of boundless glory in the abstract, in the future, or in rare moments at the ocean’s edge or looking into a newborn’s eyes. But God is everywhere, always. Glory is here. He has made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).
How do we access that truth so we can live God’s glory and follow God’s will in our ministries, businesses, and families?
In her book “Present Yourself in Public Speaking: Tell Your Inner Critic to Shut Up and the Real You to Speak Up,” Mary Cheyne has a good three-step exercise to extinguish limiting beliefs:
Reflect on the following question: What are some limiting self-beliefs that you have?
Recall the first time in your life you remember having this belief. Maybe a teacher in fourth grade told you that you didn’t look good smiling in a photograph, and you haven’t smiled in a photo since (this actually happened to a dear friend of mine). Writing down this belief can help us realize we don’t have to let someone’s comment direct the rest of our lives—maybe they were wrong!
Reframe and release the belief by writing down the opposite belief. For example: “I look lovely when I smile in photos.” (Her smile is lovely, by the way). Then, write down three pieces of evidence that the new belief is correct. For example, “Rose wrote that my smile is lovely.”
Evidence that our old belief is not true enables us to release that belief in favor of the affirmation. Cheyne has her students crunch up the paper with the false belief on it and throw it away.
Signs of the Truth
Because our enemy constantly prowls around trying to catch us in a weak or discouraged moment, it’s good to write down our limiting beliefs every now and then, so we can replace them with written affirmations that we can put where we’ll see them every day: on our bathroom mirror, computer screen, fridge, etc.
My friend Max has a sign on her mirror that greets her first thing: “Good morning, gorgeous!” Those are, in fact, Jesus’ words to us at every moment—if we have the courage to believe it.
Rose Folsom has helped over 6,000 Catholics have a deeper connection with God so they can have less stress, make better decisions, and have way more peace in their lives. After being received into the Church, she participated in a 5-year study group on the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas at the Dominican seminary in DC. She’s been finding ways since then to help people have a better prayer life, including founding VirtueConnection.com in 2014. Rose lives with her husband Fred in Silver Spring, Maryland. To book a free Spiritual Clarity Call with Rose to get clear on where you are now spiritually, what your best next step is, and whether she may be able to help you with that, click here.