The Confidence Doc

Quantum Physics: Everything IS Energy

Quantum Physics can substantiate that everything is energy – yes EVERYTHING.  This includes you!  Now about ten years ago, when I was in a different place, if someone started talking about energy, the judgment would be that it was “woo-woo” or “new age” (this is such a subjective term). 

It was said in a spooky negative way in the circle of people that I knew then.  Even now, there are still those who think that energy is something spooky or “other worldly”. 

The fact is, you don’t know what you don’t know.  This is why we as humans only use about 90% of our brains capacity; we are afraid of looking at or learning about anything new that does not neatly fit into our existing paradigm! 

I was talking to someone recently who made this comment about us not using our brain, and when I shared with him some of the most recent findings in neuroscience, you can probably guess what his rather typical response was – “I don’t know if I can believe that”.  This is so common. 

When I reminded him that he just a few moments before complained about people being closed minded and not using their minds to a greater capacity, he realized what he had just done.  Without even investigating what I was saying, his mind immediate ran to the “I don’t believe it” rut. 

Money Matters: The Confidence To Be Abundant!

Confidence is a quality that empowers you to develop your authentic self.  If you need the approval of others to feel good about yourself, or if you need permission from others to follow your dreams you are not going to live an abundant life. 

I believe that the abundant life is available to anyone who sets the intention to live it and then proceeds to deal with the blind spots in their life that hold them back from living it.  This is the challenging part, as most people “want their cake and eat it too”, meaning, they want the results without giving up something for it. 

If you want to grow and expand, what you generally have to give up are your old habits and limiting beliefs that keep you playing small.  This can be quite uncomfortable. 

What is an abundant life?  This is a subjective question.  What abundance means for me may be quite different for you.  The key is to get in touch with your unique vision and gifts and proceed from there.  Some people want to travel, and are attracted to material beauty.  I can relate to this. 

Core Confidence: The Dismantling of Cubicle Nation

Confidence is key to navigating our changing times. I once read a quote by President Barack Obama:

 “You can’t stop change from coming, you can only usher it in and work out the terms; and if you are smart and a little lucky, you can make it your friend”.

I personally see our changing times as an adventure and I am glad to be here.  Sometimes we can become so complacent in our lives that we stop growing.  Challenges come to hopefully inspire us to look deeper into ourselves and take action upon some of the many gifts and talents that are latent within us. 

We were all born to grow and to shine on some level.  If you only stay stuck where you are, you will live and die with your gifts within you.  I have never read a deathbed story where the person leaving here said they wished that they spent more time working and doing things that they did not love or enjoy. 

In fact, it is too often that people look back and realize just how short life is and how they squandered their time here by playing it “safe” and living in fear and stress.  This week’s issue of Time Magazine (May 25, 2009) has a cover story entitled “The Future of Work”.  In it Seth Godin, a best-selling author is quoted as saying:

“The job of the future will have very little to do with processing words or numbers (the Internet can do that now).  Nor will we need many people to act as placeholders, errand runners or receptionists.  Instead, there’s going to be a huge focus on finding the essential people and outsourcing the rest”.

In other words, get ready for CHANGE. You are only as valuable to the workplace as what you have to offer as a unique skill set.  You will also need good emotional intelligence, meaning, people skills.  The days of mediocrity and victim hood are coming to their end, that is for those who want to thrive instead of merely survive. 

You can do it if you make the decision to be proactive and stop weakening yourself by focusing on fear and blame.  You can never become empowered as long as you blame forces outside of yourself for where you are in life.  We all have “response ability”.  You are where you are.  Now, what are you going to do about it? 

Core confidence begins from the inside out.  Look within to find the courage to change.  You can make change your friend!

Core Confidence: Michelle, Flex Those Muscles!

Confidence from the inside out is based on having a set of beliefs about yourself that is independent of external influences such as the media, institutions and people’s opinions. 

If we base what we think about our worth on externals, we can never feel truly comfortable with ourselves.  People can say wonderful things about you one day, and send you scathing words in their attempt to make you feel small the next.  However, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said:

        “No one can make you feel small without your consent”.

She knew what she was talking about!  I found this photo (Courtesy of AP press) of First Lady, Michelle Obama online over the weekend.  The caption referred to this photo as her response to the remarks about her wearing “sleeveless dresses” to White House dinners. 

Instead of becoming defensive or retreating from the opinions of others in fear, her picture speaks a thousand words.  She showed them her strength, and it is more than just about muscular arms!  She has internal strength, mind muscle, where it really counts! 

You see, you can never please everyone.  When you cower to what others say or think about you, you give away your power. 

Personal Empowerment: What is Your Story?

Personal empowerment is really closer than you realize.  How I feel about myself is really related to what I believe about myself.  How did you come to believe what you do?  Is it what others say about you? 

Well, that must really keep you in a state of confusion considering how fickle people can be – love you one day, leave you the next.  Do you believe what you do about yourself because of what the media says is the best way to look? 

Well, good luck if you think you can change with media opinion.  It is about as stable as a boulder about to roll over the edge of a cliff. 

Do you believe what you do about yourself because of what Ms. Jones, your 3rd grade math teacher said about your level of intelligence, or the religious person who told you that you were a “bad boy” or the parent who said you would amount to nothing? 

Do you see how insane it is to base what you think about yourself on the opinion of others, on sources external to you? 

It could change like the weather, and considering that much of our world is focused on the negative, it is no wonder that most people are insecure and carry a sense of shame and powerlessness.  Until you wake up and realize that all of these scenarios are nothing but a bunch of stories, you will continue to be unfulfilled and suffer through life. 

There is a place in the left hemisphere of your brain known as the “autobiographer”.   It literally creates your autobiographical memory.  It is the storyteller that creates your memory of who you think you are and it is very subjective indeed. 

Personal Empowerment: Happiness Empowers Self-Mastery

Personal empowerment has to begin with making a decision that you will be willing to change.  Yes, if you want to receive different results, you will have to start thinking, feeling and acting differently! 

When I first decided years ago that I wanted to have more sense of personal power, I was partially motivated by wanting to be “happy”.  I thought that “if I could just get” – you fill in the blanks – then I would be happy.

Well, I had it backwards and I find that most people I’ve talked to or in books that I have read, make this mistake.  It is as if people believe that getting to place “X” or getting object “y” or meeting the “right” person will “make” them happy. 

This is totally backwards and is a major reason most people have to revise their thinking for personal empowerment to expand.  The proper sequence of events as far as conscious creation is to “Be, Do, Have”. 

That is, you must create the state, or get into the vibe energetically in order to attract the ideas and perform the actions that will attract to you your goal.  Take me for example. 

Confidence: How Clear Is Your Vision?

Confidence and clarity are essential to living your vision and likewise if you have no vision, there is a great chance that you will not feel clear or confident about your life.

Confidence, clarity and vision are inter-related in many ways. 

As I have gained clarity around my life purpose, my vision for how to move forward becomes clear.  AS the saying goes, “if you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true”? 

The more on purpose I feel, the more confident I become in making decisions and knowing what activities to participate in and which ones to let go.  This helps me to free up my energy and de-clutter my life.  As an ex-eye surgeon, I see many parallels and metaphors between life and eyesight, how we see the world. 

When a patient had poor vision and could not see clearly, their life generally was more difficult to manage and navigate.  They were not as confident as they went out into the world, and they had difficulty knowing where they were going. 

Needless to say, they were not as confident as they could have been if their vision had been clear and understandably so.  Well, in our lives, here is a parallel.