Unlock Your Mindset: How to Break Limiting Beliefs
In 2013, while coaching a talented group of up-and-coming Canadian half-pipe skiers, my life came crashing down.
I dislocated and broke my neck in a scorpion-like crash, leaving me paralyzed below the neck.
In that moment, it felt like I was served a life sentence, later confirmed by the doctors saying, "You’ll probably never walk again.”
At least they said “probably,” but in that moment, my mind latched onto a clear narrative: my life would never be the same. That was it for me…
However, something about that didn’t sit right. Something from within urged me to shift my belief toward healing.
I challenged the doctors’ words, saying, “I don’t know if you’re right, and until I do, I’m going to leave that door open in my mind that one day I might walk again. Heck, maybe even ski.”
I count myself lucky.
Spinal cord injuries usually don't heal the way mine did, but my recovery was never guaranteed.
My mindset didn't heal my spine, but it shaped how I met whatever recovery I was given.
I had the opportunity to heal, and my intentional psychological shifts in the darkest moments following my accident helped fuel my recovery.
Now, those same mental and emotional skills support my clinical counselling and public speaking work, and will be central in my talk at Unlocked in Vernon, BC on September 17th.
You don’t need to experience a spinal cord injury to know what it means to challenge your thoughts and beliefs and shift toward healthier alternatives.
You’ve probably felt the pattern too, in different ways:
I’m not a numbers person. I choke under pressure. I can’t keep going. I tried everything, but it didn’t work, so why try again?
These negative stories run on a set of underlying assumptions or beliefs that shape what you’re willing to attempt, what you try to avoid, and what you believe is possible or impossible.
How to Break a Limiting Belief:
A limiting belief is not a character flaw. We all have them. I don’t know anyone completely immune to self-doubt.
Negative thoughts come from emotional states and how we interpret our past experiences. However, those thoughts are often distorted, rooted in beliefs or assumptions we simply haven’t identified or challenged.
After my injury, my automatic thought was that I was broken and broken meant done. That thinking did not serve me, even if it felt right in the moment and I had expert voices feeding the belief that I was done.
The first step to unlocking your mindset is to recognize the negative thoughts holding you back. Those beliefs come from your subconscious, which is part of the reason negative thinking feels like fact.
Once you notice the thoughts, like the “I can’ts, I won’ts, I’m not, I don’ts,” that’s the moment a limiting belief can become visible.
Then you can challenge the evidence for and against the thought to help shift your mindset:
What informs the thought?
Why do you believe it to be true?
What evidence do you have that contradicts it?
Does the belief or assumption serve you?
You might start to realize you don’t need to believe everything you think.
With that kind of awareness, you can choose a healthier alternative by reframing or replacing the thought with something more positive.
Reframing Failure:
This underlying belief shows up for many of us: My failures disqualify me from success.
But when you challenge that belief by recognizing that you learn and grow through mistakes, it flips the script.
Instead of looking at it as evidence against you, it becomes exactly what you need: the experience that qualifies you to succeed next time.
Those failures give you the knowledge and the resources to make the next attempt actually work.
But failure always feels bad, so there’s an emotional component too.
During my recovery, gratitude became a powerful tool for emotional regulation, helping me frame setbacks in the grand scheme of things and release my emotional distress.
It also helped me focus on what was still there, what was healing, and not what was missing.
It helped me shift from grief to growth.
Gratitude is not about being more positive; it’s about being less anchored in the negative.
Unlocking Your Potential:
I decided in those moments following my accident that I would leave the door open in my mind that I could heal.
I had plenty of setbacks and evidence that said I couldn’t, but I leaned into the belief I could.
I’d healed from countless injuries before, so what if this one was no different? And if I didn’t heal, what was the harm in believing, at least for a short time, that I would?
I was broken, but broken didn’t mean done.
Physically, my body healed. I know I’m lucky, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have healed at the rate and to the extent I did without a mindset supporting the work it took to get to where I am today.
We all have the capacity to unlock our mindset, whatever we’re facing, whether or not that thing ever changes.
Thank you for being part of this community and for continuing to prioritize your well-being and mental health.
That commitment matters more than you know.
With gratitude,
Mike
Do you know someone who needs support?
If so, please share this post or connect with me directly at mike.s@gratushealth.com.
And please grab a copy of Never Part of The Plan if you haven’t already!
Thanks for being here. I’m thankful for the meaningful changes I’m helping people make with GratusHealth.com.
