How Do I Identify the Root Cause of My Limiting Beliefs?

You don’t need to know the root of a limiting belief before the work begins. In fact, trying to think your way to the root can short-circuit the process and keep you focused on events that are secondary to the real source. Relax enough to stop searching. Then notice what arrives.

Why Is the Root Often Surprising?

Frequently, people believe they know the root of their problems before the work begins. But during a session, they may discover that the actual root was something surprising—something they hadn’t thought about in years.

Other times, they know the general event ahead of time, but the exact way it affected them is the surprise.

Some people begin without a clue about the events that led to their present-day problems. They have a vague sense that something from the past is plaguing them today, but they aren’t sure what it is. Maybe they suppressed it, forgot it, or pushed it aside because it couldn’t possibly be the root of their problems.

The great thing about Retrocession is that you don’t need to know.

Why Can’t I Think My Way to the Root?

The conscious mind is useful, but it may search for the event that makes the best story rather than the event that still carries the emotional charge. It may return to the most dramatic memory, discard something that seems too small, or spend time explaining the pattern instead of locating where it began.

That’s why Retrocession usually starts with deep relaxation. Deep relaxation resets the current emotional and mental state and allows inherent wisdom to shine through the defense mechanisms and thinking patterns that have kept the root hidden.

I call that inherent wisdom the Inner Navigator.

What Is the Inner Navigator?

The Inner Navigator can, beneath conscious awareness, guide us to events that led to present issues. But its voice is easily drowned out by the conscious, thinking mind.

“Inner Navigator” is only a convenient name for a natural phenomenon. I’m ambivalent about whether it’s a part of the brain or mind or whether it’s a thing at all. The only criterion that matters to me is simple: Does it work?

During the locating phase, we don’t actively search for a past event. We allow relevant experiences to surface on their own. The rational mind remains alive and well. It’s simply quiet enough for us to do the work.

Why Does the Mind Discard Important Memories?

The conscious mind may try to discard an event after it appears. The event may not seem like a big enough deal to be the root. Maybe it’s unpleasant. Maybe we’re only vaguely aware that the memory appeared and don’t discard it on purpose.

People often have physical tells when they’ve located an event with emotional charge on it. A shift in facial expression, bodily movement, or the sound of the voice may reveal that something significant appeared and was immediately pushed away.

In many sessions, the facilitator asks a simple question: “What was that?”

The facilitator doesn’t find the event for the participant. The facilitator notices the moment when the participant may have found it and then lost contact with it.

What Makes a Memory Relevant?

What seems to happen is that we recall the emotional outline of an incident, and imagination may fill in sensory details. The details aren’t the most important part. The mind is a pattern-matching machine, and imagination is an adept storyteller.

The important question is whether the event still has a hold on the present.

Some memories are just memories. Pictures are pictures. Sounds are sounds. But emotional recall is different. We can recall an emotion, or we can re-experience it.

Retrocession begins with the place where the past is still being re-experienced now.

Continue Exploring

Read “What Are the Signs of Emotional Baggage?” to recognize the patterns that may point toward a root. Read “What Is Retrocession?” for the complete locating and integration process. Read “How Do Emotional Baggage, Limiting Beliefs, Self-Sabotage, and Suffering Connect?” to see where this question fits in the larger map.