Self-Confidence: A Commitment to Feeling Good

Self-confidence is the key to all success. So what is it exactly?

We have already said that self-confidence is "the bond that connects being with doing," and "the strength to do that which arises from one's being, come what may." See "Use Daily Affirmations to Strengthen Self-Confidence"). But one might also say that self-confidence is a commitment to feeling good.

"How does that work?" you ask. It works like this.

Connection with being is that which gives rise to good feelings inside you. To get the sense of what I mean, go to "An Exercise for Experiencing the Joy of Being," and then come back and finish this article. Go ahead, we'll wait . . . 

"Love, and do what you will." --St. Augustine

I am the least moral person I know. Let me explain.

One of my favorite books is A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. In that book, Tolle quotes St. Augustine's "Homily Number 7 on the First Epistle of John," reproduced below in it's entirety, in which Augustine preaches, "Love, and do what you will."

Augustine (354-430 AD) was the Bishop of the city of Hippo in what is modern-day Algeria. His simple precept is a far cry from what the Roman Catholic Church (and most Christian denominations) are today, with its complete incorporation of ethics, morality and judgment, a result of the adoption of Aristotelian philosophy in the thirteenth century via the writings of Thomas Aquinas, most notably Summa Theologica.

"Love, and do what you will," is the original Gospel with a capital G. Jesus taught people not to judge.

The problem is, you can't have a conception of morality or ethics without judgement. Most people just laugh this off, thinking, "That can't be what Jesus really meant. He just meant to say, 'don't be a judgmental person,'" as if this answers the question. What is a judgmental person? Where do you draw the line? Judgment is judgment and Jesus didn't misspeak.

Use Daily Affirmations to Strengthen Self-Confidence

The core principle of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, the granddaddy of all success literature, is the building of self-confidence through twice-daily affirmations, a process Hill called "auto-suggestion." He says quite pointedly:

Taking inventory of mental assets and liabilities, you will discover that your greatest weakness is lack of self-confidence. This handicap can be surmounted, and timidity translated into courage, through the aid of the principle of autosuggestion.

Your problem, in other words, is a lack of self-confidence, and here's how to fix it. And fix it, it does.