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:
We can all break through the mental blocks that hold us back.
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.
What I'll Be Unpacking LIVE at Unlocked:
*And before I share about the event, I know you see a lot of promo like this, but this is a super important event to me and all of the tickets sold go to charity! So thanks for checking it out!
This post describes the work I'll be going deeper on at Unlocked on Thursday, September 17 at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre, an evening built on "Real Talk. Music. Mental Health."
Andrew Allen, Aaron Volpatti, and I on stage at Unlocked 2025
I'm sharing the stage with two other Okanagan locals who've done their own version of this work:
Aaron Volpatti survived a serious burn injury before going on to play professional hockey with the Vancouver Canucks. He now teaches narrative reframing techniques, helping people rewrite the story they tell about their own setbacks, which is exactly the territory we'll be covering together that night.
Andrew Allen is a multi-platinum singer-songwriter from the Okanagan whose music draws directly from childhood survival experiences. His work is built around character and choice, the idea that circumstances don't get the final word on who you become.
Live, I'll go further into the parts of my story that don't fit neatly into a blog post: the specific moment the old belief broke, what recovery actually required from me day to day, and how gratitude went from a coping strategy to the foundation of everything I've built since, including my counselling practice.
Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for youth 18 and under, and 100% of net proceeds go directly to Men's Shed, She Shed, and Foundry North Okanagan.
Keith Construction presents UNLOCKED:
Andrew, Aaron, and Mike speak and perform on stages around the world, and for one night, they're bringing it home to Vernon, BC.
Unlocked is an evening of real talk, live music, and mental health, with personal storytelling from three men who've gone on to achieve remarkable things.
Opportunities to see all three together, on a single stage, in their hometown, are rare. Unlocked is that night.
100% of net ticket proceeds go directly to Men's Shed, She Shed, and Foundry North Okanagan.
Last year’s event sold out at the Powerhouse Theatre, so we’ve moved to a larger venue at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre, and it can still fill up!
or call 250-549-SHOW (7469).
Your mindset isn't fixed.
It's a story you're currently telling, which means it's a story you can revise.
I'd love to see you in Vernon on September 17 while we work through how.
And before I sign off, I’d like to say a special thank you to Keith Construction, Chapman Sand & Gravel Ltd.,Vernon Toyota, and all our dedicated community partners for making this event possible.
Thank you for being part of this community and for continuing to prioritize not just performance, but well-being and mental health.
That commitment matters more than you know.
With gratitude,
Mike
Do you know someone needing support?
Please share this post or let them know I’m here to help. I’m thankful for the meaningful changes I’m helping people make with GratusHealth.com.
Connect directly at mike.s@gratushealth.com.
And please grab a copy of Never Part of The Plan if you haven’t already!
#GratefulEveryDay
