3 Steps to Glowing Self-Confidence
The author of What Are You Hungry For? and co-founder of the 21-Day Meditation Experience reveals how to increase our belief in ourselves.
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Step 2: Allow and Accept
As you open the door to awareness, feelings of fear or insecurity may seem more intense. Instead of fighting or resisting uncomfortable feelings, simply be with those feelings in a nonjudgmental way. When you try to push away a feeling, it only grows stronger, but when you simply notice and allow it to be, it will soon dissipate. In the beautiful words of Harvard neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, "Just like children, emotions heal when they are heard and validated."
When you're in a difficult situation, observe yourself without judgment. Since the ego is a constricted version of your true self, it creates sensations of tightness and contraction in the body. You can usually feel this in the chest, heart, stomach, shoulders, neck or back. Whenever you feel discomfort in one of these areas, know that your ego is trying to dominate a situation. In that moment, just becoming aware that your ego is creating the sensation is enough to shift back into the perspective of your true self.
Step 3: Cultivate Your Inner Dialogue
Conscious inner dialogue is a powerful tool for connecting to your true self. Whenever you look in the mirror, even if just for a few seconds, make eye contact with yourself and silently repeat the three principles of self-referral:
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1. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.
2. I am beneath no one, and no one is beneath me.
3. I am fearless in the face of all challenges.
Deepak Chopra, MD, is the author of What Are You Hungry For?: The Chopra Solution to Permanent Weight Loss, Well-Being, and Lightness of Soul, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center.
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