Limiting Beliefs in the Eight Domains

by Stephanie Barca, LMSW Resident Therapist

Limiting beliefs in the Eight Domains

Whatever life stage you’re in, chances are you’ve wrestled with limiting beliefs. You may even carry some right now. Few of us make it through childhood or adolescence without internalizing certain “truths” about how the world works.

Often, these first ideas come from parents or other close loved ones. While they may have intended to warn, guide, or protect us, sometimes their words landed more deeply than they anticipated, shaping beliefs that now hold us back.

Do any of these sound familiar?

• “Only the rich get richer.”

• “Love is pain.”

• “This is just how I am.”

• “Eating this is so bad.”

• “You’ve got to work hard to play hard.”

This list is certainly not exhaustive. Statements like these may feel true because we’ve repeated them for so long, and because they came from people we trust. But they don’t define us. We are not our thoughts, and we can notice, question, and replace them. In doing so, we begin to expand our perspectives.

The Eight Domains is not centered around chasing goals, which is where you most often find limiting beliefs discussed in self-help books. Limiting beliefs are still important in the Eight Domains framework, however, because they affect how we express our values within each domain.

For example: imagine you believe it’s impossible to be “in good shape” unless you weigh a certain number on the scale. That belief will shape your investment in the Physical Domain. If you don’t see the “right” number, you may start to feel that any effort is pointless. That rigidity—it must look this way or it doesn’t count—creates frustration and drains motivation.

But what if you reframed the belief? Instead of “I have to weigh what I weighed in college to be in good shape,” you might choose: “Being in good shape means supporting my body’s strength, energy, and health in ways that serve me now and in the future.”

Or consider the Relational Domain, where a series of breakups might shape the belief that, “If I show people the real me, they will leave.” This instinctively protective statement, carried into the present, can keep you guarded, lonely, or stuck in shallow relationships. Reframed, however, it becomes: “The right relationships grow stronger when I am myself.” That belief allows you to invest in bonds built on authenticity and trust.

Shifting your perspective to more positive, affirming beliefs can make a huge difference when seeking balance in the Eight Domains. The effort to operate with optimism is well worth your time.

Putting Limiting Thoughts to the Test

Choose a domain where you would like to change your experience:

1.      Physical (My relationship to and experience with my physical body)

2.      Mental/Emotional (My relationship to and experience with my thoughts and emotions)

3.      Spiritual/Inspirational (My relationship to and experience with a higher power or that which I decide is beyond me and greater than me)

4.      Relational (My experience with friends, families, coworkers and all others I interact with)

5.      Romantic/Marital (My relationship to and experience with my significant partner(s)

6.      Vocational (My relationship to and experience with the work I choose to engage in)

7.      Financial (My relationship to and experience with the use of money)

8.      Recreational (My experience of engaging in regenerative or re-creating activities)

Write your chosen domain and the beliefs that you currently hold about that domain. For each belief statement, ask yourself the following:

• How is this belief limiting you?

• Do you have evidence to support this belief?

• Do you have evidence that refutes this belief?

• Do you want to keep this belief, or reframe it?

Finally, write new affirmations to counter the limiting beliefs. They can change, but these more positive statements will broaden the outcomes you allow yourself to imagine for each domain.