Self-confidence is defined as how strongly we believe in ourselves and our ability to complete a task or speak what we think and feel. It is self-confidence in who we are.
A confident person means what they say and says what they mean.
A confident person is not a master of everything, but rather someone who is comfortable with failure, with the process, with figuring things out quickly.
How can meditation help build self-confidence?
Internal noise
When we first sit still and in meditation, it’s common to hear all our inner riff-raff sharing their thoughts.
“Oh, I didn’t email that guy!”
“It’s my mum’s birthday next week – what am I doing for her present?”
“I really screwed up that report at work today, shit…”
“How long have I been meditating? It doesn’t work!”
and continues.
As we practice witnessing and not reacting to each of these thoughts, we begin to discern which voices are truly worth listening to and which are static.
Right now, as you read this, your eyes are focused on these words.
However, your eyes also receive signals from the rest of the screen as well as the area around your computer or phone.
But you only focus on those words, and even though you know other things are there, they become background noise that we filter out.
This is what happens when we meditate with our own thoughts. We learn to distinguish between what really deserves our attention and what is noise.
Inner Knower
As we continue our experiment, the humming, screeching, passing sounds reveal themselves as temporary scratches that speak volumes but actually say very little.
Left out of their conversation is our deeper, truer voice.
This voice is always present. On some level, we always know about it and always have.
Our passing voices can hum silently as we decide to meet that person, take that job, or have that next drink.
It’s also the sound that knows we’re in love.
When questioned about our love, it needs no explanation. We just know.
Answer: “Well, he buys my favorite foods, he’s nice to my sister, he has a cat, he has green eyes…” Not.
The answer cannot be expressed in words. It’s just that. WE KNOW.
Our true, deep, inner voice has lasting power. While all the others come and go with their rants and nit-picking complaints, this voice never goes anywhere.
Trust
Listening to this deep, inner knowing is a surefire way to build confidence.
When we act on what our deepest knowledge tells us, our actions don’t really need lengthy justifications or lengthy defenses.
We just know what we’re doing.
We just know.
It is not that you will sit in meditation and immediately feel confident.
But if you stick with the process and let your thoughts fly without hyper-reacting, it will be easier to discern your true, deep voice.
Listening to this voice brings peace that manifests as true, solid faith.
