We can all get those dark moments in life when we lose faith in ourselves.
My life has been marked by many such moments, and I have had to learn to rebuild myself, and regain my confidence on my own on several occasions. It never got easier, but with experience comes learning and I figured out the ways that would get me back in strenght faster.
The world does not stop and neither do responsibilities, even when we are going through adverse situations we have to show ourselves to the world as functional people and do our best.
Self-confidence is necessary for success and in those dark moments we might just feel like we can´t figure things out. That is why we need a practice of developing self-confidence that can support us pushing ourselves out of the darnkness so that we never find ourselves stuck in self-doubt, insecurities or fear.
That leads me to the conversation about fundamentals. The things that are so simple, so obvious that we are not doing them.
Journaling: The self-confidence fountain.
Have you noticed that at the beginning of the year, many people feel very driven and motivated? This is because we pay attention to our lives, to our priorities.
Without a focus in self-awareness there could be no greater self-confidence, Self-confidence grows as self-awareness becomes a greater practice.
Journaling is an incredible tool for self-awareness highly reccommended in therapy that gives us a channel for us to build a positive relationship with ourselves.
We can write letters of forgiveness and love to ourselves and others, we can show respect, support, process trauma or difficult emotions as we allow ourselves to express and to release.
Some people find it difficult to keep a journal because they feel that if they are not writing on it on a consistent basis that there is no point.
I feel that when we really understand the power of journaling as a source of deep-lasting confidence, then we can open up to the idea of finding ways to make it a practice that we look forward to doing rather than a task that we feel obligated to complete.
Perhaps it doesn´t have to be every single day, but I discovered that if we can add a little ritual to the formula, we´ll want to do it more often and we will build more confidence in the process.
How to start your self-discovery journal.
With the sole purpose of offering ideas on how to make this practice something special, I want to share with you some of my own journaling practices.
1. The journal.
Go to the stationery store and find a notebook that feels special, has a cute pattern or color, like you're buying it for your inner child. In part, you would be doing it!
2. Create a pleasant atmosphere
Stimulate the senses.
Seeks to stimulate your senses so that your brain has a pleasant experience and associates the practice of journaling with positive emotions.
To delight the ear, you can choose to set the mood with music to your liking, sounds of nature or relaxing music.
To stimulate smell; I like to have a lit candle, incense, essential oils.
To please the taste, you can prepare yourself a tea, a smoothie or any other drink that you feel pampers you.
To please the eye, I like to use colored pencils and also draw in my journal. Which also has therapeutic purposes.
Be curious
The simple idea of self-exploration can be a scary one. We don´t know what kind of spiders we will find under the rug. And yet so much power comes to those who choose to be brave and dare.
Your journal is a safe place. I like to tell my clients —it can be a little ugly on the surface but once you go dive deep within, what you discover is an immense ocean of infinite wonder.
Self-discovery is a lifetime journey. We are a beautiful and undiscovered mystery to ourselves, and because we don´t know it yet, and because we are not doing anything about it is that our confidence suffers.
It´s your turn to contribute.
What are other fundamental practices that you know of, that have always been there and are common sense but not common practice? Please leave us a comment below, and let us know what are your self-confidence super weapons.
Thanks for reading.