Reframe Your Mindset – Reclaim Your Self Confidence!

Welcome back Guys and Gals. Great to have you here! 🙂

“The only thing I know is that I know nothing” – Socrates

For a significant part of my life, several people told me that I would never be successful because I was not smart or strong enough to make it and you know what, I believed their words. When I achieved anything, it felt great because I proved them wrong, but that joy was short lived. I did not believe that I deserved success. I would say things like, “I was lucky this time and I don’t know whether I’ll be able to do it again”. When things did not go to plan, I would say “They are all right. I should be better. Perhaps this is just not meant for me. There are better people out there at this”.

I stopped fighting for myself because I believed I did not matter. I believed that my thoughts were factual and despite other people’s efforts to build my confidence, nothing changed. I told myself they were just being nice.

The key thing is that I had no evidence to support my thoughts. In fact, I had evidence to suggest the contrary. I did well in school, always worked hard in my jobs, never got in trouble, was great at music and able to build great connections with people. I shut myself away from all those great things truly believing I needed to become a perfect human being to be someone.

Guys and Gals I have learnt a lot and worked hard on my mindset over the last few years through thought work. It really does work. It is not a one time thing. You will need to keep practicing thought work throughout your life because it is important, but I promise you won’t be disappointed once you start this process.

I love the quote – “The only thing I know is that I know nothing – Socrates”. My interpretation of this quote is that we can never be certain that what we know or think is 100% factual. The aforementioned prevents us from making judgements based on potentially false information.

In the case of our thoughts, what we think may not be factual regardless of how strongly our minds lead us to believe it. When there is an awareness that our thoughts may not be factual, we invite the opportunity to reframe our mindset and in turn the way we see ourselves, achieving peace within ourselves.

Perhaps implementing a Pyrrhonist approach to thought work would be beneficial to our growth. Without boring you too much with philosophical teachings, Pyrrhonists utilised an epoche mindset which translates to suspension of judgement. Applying a non-judgemental approach to ourselves would eliminate any cognitive dissonance with regards to our beliefs about ourselves.

To keep it simple, think of it this way…

If a thought is not beneficial to your growth i.e. it is judgemental and likely to hurt your confidence and self-esteem, reframe it.

Here are a few tips to help you on your journey back to empowerment, self love and confidence – You’ve got this!

1. Be kind to yourself – Don’t allow yourself to use harsh words towards yourself. You wouldn’t say those things to friend so why say them to yourself. You don’t deserve it. Other people may hurt you but you don’t have to jump on the hate train too.

2. Identify the origin – Every thought has an origin. Try to sit with the thought no matter how uncomfortable it is. Perhaps even try to identify the event that triggered the thought. It could be related to someone challenging you in a way that does not align with your values and beliefs. Ignoring the thought only allows it to sit with you longer without action. Write it all down in a journal so you can keep track of your thought process.

3. Reframe To Reclaim Your Confidence – Inherently, situations do not have a meaning other than the meaning we assign to it therefore, we can choose to see a situation in a different and more positive way. This in no way trivialises your pain. It is healthy to feel sadness, anger, frustration however, we can turn that pain into something positive that will help you grow and change your mindset. I’ll be honest, thought work is not easy but we can retrain our brains to think more positively.

4. “Rejection is Redirection – my favourite mantra to get me through those difficult days. Try saying this to yourself several times to help you reframe those negative thoughts. Remember if we don’t experience failure or rejection, we don’t make changes and we need to change in order to grow. “Every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better.” ~Steve Maraboli

5. Empowerment is Your New Super Power – Where do I start? Empowering Question cards by Sanna Wikstrom – These cards are really awesome. They have questions to help with self discovery and aid in building self confidence. There are 52 in a pack. You can pick one a day and use the question to journal or meditate. Let’s get you feeling better about yourself! Be the best version of you! ** not sponsored**

6. Use “The mood cards” – Guys and Gals – these cards are great. I use them on days where a lot is going on both amazing and not so great to help process my thoughts. Pick a card that represents how you’re feeling then answer the questions on the back. The bonus is you get an affirmation too to get those positive thoughts going. You can do self reflection anywhere you want to with a little help from these cards. ** not sponsored**

Key Takeaways:

• Reframe to Reclaim Your Confidence!
• Rejection is redirection!
• Jump off the hate train – self love is your new destination

Remember to live Purposefully and Be The Best Version of Yourself

Manuela xoxo