INVESTING IN THE GOLD OF SELF-CONFIDENCE

Part One

 

By Karin Leonard

How you feel about yourself is one of those intangible factors that influences everything in your life. The trust that “I can do it!” – whatever “it” is, constitutes at least half of any potential accomplishment. Increasing self-confidence is like putting money into a high-yield bank account – it builds a solid foundation for your future.

Responsibility Is Power

Assuming full responsibility for your life, the good and the bad, means taking charge of your destiny. This builds the confidence that you can rely on yourself. And to the degree that you are able to let go of blame, resentment and anger – felt towards yourself and others – you will experience freedom to shape your future. I’m not suggesting to go into denial about feelings or the past, but to find completion – and the sooner the better. Unfinished business can drain your energy and keep you captive, blocking creative potential. Being responsible also means looking towards solutions, and noticing what you can do to make a difference in your life and for the people around you – instead of looking for faults in others or for causes outside your circle of influence.

Trusting Yourself – More Than Others

If your upbringing was anything like mine, you were taught early on that authority lives outside your own self, and that everybody else knows what’s good and right for you. Yet, in most cases, the keys to your most pressing issues and questions are right there, inside you. Strong inner wisdom and intuition are available to all of us – if we only let it in. Of course, there is much to be learned from the world, and nothing is wrong with bouncing ideas off your family psychic, or getting other professional help. However, remember that the final authority about any issue in your life is within you, and you alone.

Intuitive information shows up all the time, often quickly –yet we may not notice it through the veil of “should’s” and “what-if’s”. The challenge is to recognize your intuitive voice in the midst of static, and to strengthen this reliable source of guidance. How?  Start with little things: Let’s say on a sunny morning you get the sudden hunch that it might rain, even though your head says “not possible, look at the sky.”  Give your intuition the benefit of the doubt, and bring the umbrella anyway (especially in these blessed El Niño times, so to speak).  And instead of continuously asking other people’s opinion on everything from what you should wear to what to have for lunch – it may be better to start going with what your instincts say.  Sure, there will be a fair amount of hit and miss, just as with learning any new skill – that’s why you start with rather low-impact choices. But the pay-off is enormous, as your life becomes more inner-directed, and the gold of self-confidence accumulates.

For information:   

Karin Leonard & Associates:  (831) 724-5400  

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E-mail karin@innerevolution.com.

 

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