What’s in a thought?

Renee Singh

Why are we stressed? Isn’t it a lack of faith in our own abilities? Or, is it a lack of self confidence? When we talk of personal success, the first and foremost thought we focus on is the self confidence.  Many folks don’t succeed in life because of their lack of faith within their own selves.     

Self image  

It is only when this lack of belief is there that people start building stress within. If you believe that you are worthy and able, you will have a confident air about you. You basically need to change your attitude from negative to positive. It is your attitude that determines your strength.   

Energy patterns  

Since we have learnt to understand that our personal power is dependent on the energy we generate from within, we also realise that with our intentional effort.  We can change things, environments and circumstances. All we need to give is to it some time and effort.   

Confidence is the key  

Confidence seems to be an elusive quality. Few people understand it or consciously create it.  The source of confidence is the self image.  How we see ourselves, is so connected with what we expect of ourselves. If you have a negative picture of yourself, you will naturally perform that way as you have already created that reality with your negative thought. A positive thought on the other hand will create a positive reality. In this case you expect the best from yourself; you will naturally create the best.   

We can clarify this by citing an example. If as a youngster, public speaking was a fear and you thought it would continue like this always. But with a personal ability to cure this self-defeating image, you could conquer the fear, get rid of the fear cycle and turn into a great public speaker, that is the important thing.   

Awareness shift  

To a very large extent, we are all aware of our own personal stressors. It is important for us to live in our own awareness zone. Once we learn to discover our inherent weaknesses, we can create our own ways of overcoming them.    

Relaxation techniques  

We need to change our own personal history through self mastery.  We need to teach ourselves some personal affirmations, which will help us release negative attitudes.  Start the process of creating new visuals. Find new emotions and newer ways of dealing with life.   

Imagery exercises  

While going through a stressful pattern and understanding your own apparent involvement, you need to assess it first. Then start working on visuals to change it.  Select a safe scenario in your daily routine. Visualise it and live it mentally. Working on this repeatedly will definitely benefit you.   

Affirmation saturation  

Whenever worry takes over, you need to remind yourself of the consequences. You can question your own thinking by asking and asserting... 

• If it is about solving a problem, is it worth to create a negative scenario and then wallow in self pity? 
• Creating pessimistic energy is negating self worth. 
• Self-created worry is just self-created misery. 
• Give yourself the option of moving away from negative alignment.  

Real affirmation is a way of life.  Affirmation is the beginning of creating a destiny. Refuse to live in fear. Affirm and acknowledge yourself.  Honour your identity, value your life, and simply decide to be happy.   

(Singh is a Chandigarh-based  psychotherapist)