Limiting agreements can be elusive. For years, I’ve asked myself what is at the heart of my inability to consistently take care of my body. It felt like a secret I was keeping from myself. I knew I needed greater awareness to fully release what was holding me back.
The first step in working with limiting agreements is to identify the wording and energy as clearly as possible. This brings about a more thorough release when we start the unraveling process.
Sometimes the awareness of limiting agreements will pop fully formed into our consciousness. At other times, they are slippery or shadowy, and we might have to do some tracking to identify them.
One way to begin honing in is to bring awareness to the word choices that we make. Listen for sentences or thoughts that begin with “I never…” or “I always…” or “I can’t…” or “I must…” These often indicate a rigid belief.
We can also begin noticing the energy that arises when a limiting agreement is spoken. When uttered, they have a heavy, immovable energy – a ring of finality as though nothing else could ever be true. The energy or the vibration in the room will also plummet. The story from yesterday of doing an art project is an example. The room can feel energized and upbeat until someone says, “Oh, I’m not creative.” The higher vibration energy suddenly drops. In colloquial terms, the statement was a buzzkill.
It’s often easier to notice limiting agreements when someone else speaks them. When a friend or client mentions a limiting agreement overtly, alert bells go off in my system. I experience the energetic equivalent of seeing the words flashing in neon lights and hearing the sound of a beeping alarm clock. This teaches us to recognize their energetic signature, and we can use this awareness to begin tracking our own unhealthy beliefs.
Identifying a limiting agreement is more complicated when it’s nonverbal. Yesterday I shared how my father saw his body as a tool to use for work, and because his body was just a tool, it didn’t need care or attention. He never spoke this out loud. There were no words for this. Because it was vague, it took me years to identify it clearly.
If he would have said any version of this out loud – “I don’t have to care for my body because it’s just a tool to do work” – it would have sounded questionable. It would have given me (and him) a chance to hear how uncaring and unloving it was and make other choices. But it was unspoken.
In cases of unspoken agreements, we reach greater clarity by tracking the energy like a bloodhound following a scent trail. Once we get a whiff of a general direction, we doggedly pursue that line of questioning and reflection, going where it leads us.
And we’re not alone in this. The helping spirits will eagerly assist. Our power animals and spirit guides see the bigger picture from a place of compassion and divine wisdom and can point us in the right direction. Journeying, meditating, and being in nature can help us open and connect with their guidance.
Here are some questions to reflect on that may lead to identifying a limiting agreement:
* Where are you feeling stuck in your life?
* What thoughts or beliefs are blocking you from moving forward?
* Are there certain words or phrases that echo in your mind when you think about this issue? (Examples are things like “you’ll never amount to anything” or “quit your crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”)
Last week, in my journey to identify the limiting agreement that was holding me back from taking better care of my physical body, it was a godsend to reach a place of clarity. When the helping spirits brought the awareness, it resonated. I felt energetic signs in my body that signal when a message lands because it is truth. For me, I experience it as a momentary contraction followed by a rush of relaxation. Initially I’ll feel tingles on my shoulders, up my neck, and in my chest. Then my heart will open, and I’ll let out a big sigh.
It was a relief when the limiting agreement was defined because I trusted that once it had been identified with that amount of clarity, it could be released.
This work is real, and it matters.
January 23, 2022