Mastering Self- Confidence Series - Meditation for Increasing Self-Confidence

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Because self-esteem and confidence stem from thinking patterns, developing skills to both calm the mind and manipulate your belief system will promote a centered and confident internal state.

The following four meditation techniques will help you to clear your mind and focus on visualizing confidence. They will help you to implant new belief systems into your subconscious and help you to think and act confidently.

Mindful Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is the practice of clearing your mind and focusing on nothing but the here and now without trying to change anything and without judgment. Engaging in this practice every day will allow you to control your stress and anxiety.

The more you work on it, the stronger your mindfulness power and endurance will become. When you are first starting a routine of mindfulness meditation, it is best to start with shorter amounts of time and increase your duration slowly.

You also want to practice your meditation at the same time each day. The more you practice on a regular, consistent basis, the better the results.

Here are the steps to begin your daily practice of mindfulness meditation. Step 1: Find a comfortable place to either sit up or lie straight.

Sitting is often better because you are less likely to fall asleep.

Step 2: Set a timer. When you are first starting with your practice, it is better to keep your session around ten minutes. However, you can certainly increase this time if you feel you are able to sustain a more extended session.

Step 3: Begin taking calm breaths. Paying attention to how your breath feels going in your nose, down your lungs, and back out your nose. Pay attention to how your stomach or chest rises and falls with each breath.

It is essential that you don’t change your breathing or make any judgments. Breathe normally and merely focus on your breath and body.

Step 4: Next, you want to do a body scan. Start at the top of your head. Notice how it feels. Next, move down to your face. What do the back of your eyelids look like? How do your lips, nose, and chin feel? Continue this process as you move down your entire body.

Pay attention to feeling and temperature. Notice if there is any tightness or tension in your body, but don't try to change or fix any of the sensations. This process is about you merely noticing feelings and moving on.

Step 5: After you’ve completed the body scan, pay attention to the noises around you. First, notice the sounds of your body. Are you able to hear your breathing? Focus on just that sound. Next, focus on the sounds that are in the room.

What noises are in the space? Then move onto the noises outside the space. What noises can you hear? Finally, focus your attention on the noises outside your living space. Can you hear anything?

Step 6: Finally, pay attention to how it feels to be in the moment. Let the thoughts that float into your mind float out again. Don’t judge yourself for falling out of a mindfulness state and don’t judge the thoughts that enter your mind. Don’t attach any emotions to anything. Simply focus on each sensation that you feel.

Step 7: If you find one of the techniques works better for you, carry out the rest of your session using that technique, if not, just “be” until your timer rings.

Breathing Meditation

This technique helps to both focus and calm the mind, while physically relaxing the body. As with mindfulness meditation, you'll want to set a timer so that you can focus exclusively on your breathing without having to worry about the time.

Any time you feel overwhelmed, this technique can be extremely beneficial. It is effortless to practice because you can do it anywhere.

To prepare yourself for this meditation practice, you can either lie down or sit in a chair with your eyes open or closed. For a more profound relaxation, it is recommended that you sit or lie in a quiet space with your eyes closed.

Take deep inhales into your stomach, and fully exhale until you empty all the air from your lungs, making sure that each breath is rhythmic and consistent.

During this technique, inhale deeply until your belly rises and exhale fully as your stomach collapses and pulls in. The length of each breath isn’t nearly as important as the consistency throughout your session.

Visualization

This kind of meditation practice will allow you to envision yourself acting confidently in all situations. You can use visualization before any significant event that causes you anxiety or use it daily to help you build your confidence over time. Follow the steps below to begin practicing visualization.

Step 1: Start your session with a few rounds of calm and controlled breathing. Only focus on your breath until both your body and mind become relaxed.

Step 2: Once you are in a relaxed state, say the following mantra:

“I am confident” and feel confidence take over your entire being.

Step 3: In your mind, envision a clear, protective bubble forming around you. This is a shield where nothing negative can enter. Imagine that you are safe, secure, and radiating self-esteem in the bubble.

Step 4: Imagine your day ahead. Imagine that you are confidently approaching every situation, protected by this bubble of self-esteem. You walk with your head held high, interact with others confidently, speak assertively, and never doubt yourself.

Step 5: As you imagine each situation, continue to allow yourself to be filled with confidence. You visualize that you always know exactly what to say. Others see you as a successful and confident person. You are overflowing with happiness, positivity, and assurance.

Step 6: Continue this process until you have gone through every upcoming event. End the meditation session by affirming, “I will live this day radiating self-esteem and at peace with myself in all situations.”

Anchoring

Anchoring is a Neuro-Linguistic Programming technique that is used to induce a frame of mind or emotion. It is a conditioning that forms when a person evokes a feeling and pairs it with a gesture or touch of some kind.

To practice this technique, you need to get into a meditative state. Use mindfulness, breathing, or any combination to start. Then, you want to think of an emotion that you want to condition; it can be success, confidence, relaxation, or happiness. Now, picture a time in your life when you experienced the desired emotion.

If you aspire to feel confident, think of a time in your past when you experienced confidence. Perhaps, it was when you received the top grade in a class, or when your high school football team won the state championship.

Picture in your mind that moment and experience the emotions as if they are currently happening. While feeling the emotion, hold your index finger and thumb together. Relax for a few seconds, then reimagine the experience with a heightened state of feeling and bring your thumb and index finger together again.

Repeat this process three to five times. By repeating this exercise daily, when you put your thumb and index finger together, eventually you’ll experience the same emotion, no matter the circumstance.

You can use this technique to recondition your thinking. For example, if you anchor a feeling of confidence, anytime you experience feelings of overwhelm or doubt, you can use this anchor to stimulate a positive, confident state.

Anchoring can also be used with other visualization techniques as well. For instance, once you have set your anchor, you can visualize being confident in your current or future pursuits.

Engage the anchor by merely placing your index finger and thumb together and experience the emotional response of confidence, making your visualization more real.

Conclusion

You now have a plethora of techniques that can help you to improve your self-esteem and build your confidence. While they are easy to read about, if you don't act, the information you've gathered will be meaningless.

The effort you make in overcoming your limiting beliefs and increasing your confidence will set you apart from everyone else who desires more but has yet to take the necessary steps to move forward.

While you may feel frightened by this action, it is important to remember that all fear that you experience is in your mind. You can overcome it. It just takes a little push of your willpower to get the ball moving.

Take some time to think about which simple confidence hacks you can begin to implement today. It is often far easier to pick one technique and master it before moving on to the next.

Confidence, or lack of confidence in your case, doesn’t develop overnight, so be patient with the process. Whatever path you choose to take, you are one step closer to reaching your ultimate goal of boosting your self-esteem and building your confidence, so you can finally begin living the life you’ve always dreamed.