I went to a dance class for the first time the other day.
Now, some of you will be thinking ‘yeh, so what?’ – but for me, that was a big deal…I would normally shy away from such classes thinking ‘I’m no good at dance’. However all of this work I’ve been doing on myself and with others on self-improvement must have crept stealthily over to other areas of my life when I wasn’t watching, because this time those thoughts didn’t even cross my mind.
I turned up for the class quite by accident. I thought I was attending a step class – the kind where you have a little platform and step up and down on it until you’re out of breath and want to beg the instructor to count down from 10 faster. No gracefulness or keeping to the beat required. When it turned out to be a dance class, my thought was ‘ah well, I’ll give it a go!’ followed by ‘wow, I’ve changed!’. I’m glad I stated – the class was oodles of fun and left me singing and dancing for the rest of the day (luckily for my colleagues and clients it was a work from home day).
Let’s look at what was stopping me before; the statement that ’I’m not good at dance’. Loaded into that thought are so many different things which I should have questioned:
- Why would I be good at something I’ve never done before? Everyone starts somewhere.
- Does it matter? I’m just there to have a bit of fun and exercise…not be a back-up dancer for Britney Spears…
- Why do I feel like I need to be good at something to be able to enjoy it?
- Who am I trying to please?
- Where does this thought come from?
I never really questioned by beliefs about dance classes before; it hasn’t really impacted my life in any way. However, questioning other beliefs over the years seems to have given my brain a natural ability to question this one without me making any conscious effort.
I’d invite you to do the same. You might be surprised about where some of your beliefs have come from.
Is there anything you’re holding yourself back from because you haven’t questioned your beliefs about it yet?
Inner Conversations Hypnotherapy 