What do you picture when you think about confidence? Likely it’s someone who walks tall, has a strong presence, is sure of themselves, and doesn’t break under pressure. Most of us would like to be more confident in some area of our lives. There are classes, seminars, and books all devoted to teaching people how to gain more confidence. But confidence can also be a negative thing when rooted in ego.
People who seem the most outwardly confident are sometimes the most self-conscious, using arrogance as a mask for insecurity. The more internally confident a person really is, the less they outwardly behave with ego.
Here are 3 tips to develop true inner confidence that emanates from the soul and not from the ego:
1. Remind yourself each day that your soul is perfect and limitless. Everywhere we look, we are flooded with messages: billboards, social media ads, TV commercials, all telling us how to look better, change ourselves, be more successful, be happier. Just buy this product, take this pill, take this course. The message we get over and over is that we are not enough. But accepting ourselves exactly as we are is a huge first step in our spiritual growth. It begins with a simple truth: our souls are limitless.
We often believe that we need to “acquire” wisdom, strength, or goodness, but they are already within us. The process of life is discovering and revealing the parts of ourselves that we already have. You are powerful, exactly as you are today, in this moment. The only thing necessary is to remove the layers hiding some of your Light. All of the spiritual work and transformation don’t actually “add” anything to your essence; it only reveals the power that is already there. No one you meet can ever give you something that you don’t already possess.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t things you want to change about yourself. To do that in a strong, healthy, powerful, lasting way, remind yourself in the morning that not only are you enough, but you also have so much more within you than you can even begin to understand. Love yourself completely. Spend the time accepting that your soul is perfect, limitless, and filled with Light.
2. Give less energy to what others think of you. The more energy, thought, or worry that we invest in what others think of us, the more we actually obscure our soul, our essence, and our power, making it harder to access.
Sometimes, we convince ourselves that we need to care what others think. As we take on more responsibilities in life, the ego tricks us into thinking we need to care what our bosses, our clients, our friends, or our spouses think of us. The danger in falling to this way of thinking is that it creates a veil over our souls, making it incapable of revealing all that great Light internal to us.
The way you become confident is really not caring. If you don’t care about what others think of you, you can focus on connecting to the Creator and revealing Light in the world by quieting all the outside noise. It’s kind of like having a force field around you because you are so clear. When you are doing what you are meant to do without distraction, you will feel confident.
Care less about what anyone thinks of you. It’s a dead end. Any amount of focus on what others think of you is not just a waste of time but also obscures the power of your essence.
3. Focus on what feels good to your soul and reveals your unique Light. A tree grows because it has an innate nature to grow, not because it cares what other trees think about it or because it wants to be the best tree ever. It has a purpose, and it fulfills that purpose. We, too, each have a spiritual purpose, and our work in life is to pursue it and reveal that unique Light in the world.
Artists like Michelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci did not paint for accolades or acknowledgment, but because their souls needed to reveal that beauty. Only you can accomplish the things you were born to do. No one else can do what you can! It doesn’t need to be a grand painting or a sculpture. It could be as simple as planting a garden or being a good parent to your children.
Listen to your soul. Get in touch with what it wants to reveal in the world. As long as you are trying to listen to your soul and revealing that in the world, you are on the right path.
Focus every day on these three ideas, and you will grow in confidence. You will learn to trust yourself and see the benefits of it consistently. You will be constantly growing, evolving, and connecting to the greatest aspects of yourself. Living like that, your soul’s Light will be revealed, and you will gain confidence in yourself and your decisions.
