Category: How Can I build Confidence?

How can I build Confidence? Treat Yourself.

You work hard. You need to take the time to relax and unwind. Treating yourself to this time will help you create your amazing future even faster!
 
It is easy to just go, go, go, and then just keep going! If you’re not doing, you’re not achieving, right? Wrong. You have got to take a breather once in a while and get your strength back, and keep your focus on track. Today, take a 20 minute break from “doing”, and focus on “thinking”.
 
Here are a few ways that you can restore yourself and regain your mental focus.

  • Take a long bath or a shower, by yourself.
  • Lock yourself in your bedroom and just sit on the bed quietly. Bring your journal, just in case.
  • Do yoga.
  • Do a small meditation and focus only on your breathing. Concentrate on visualize what you want for yourself.
  • Go out to the garden, or in your yard, and sit for 20 minutes without doing any work. Just enjoy what you have created.
  • Sit on your porch and do nothing but enjoy everything around you. You may also choose to sit on your couch if you live in Calgary, and it is still freezing in May!
  • Get up 20 minutes earlier than normal and just sit and have a coffee or tea before anyone else gets up. Enjoy the quiet and the lack of doing. Look out your windows and notice what is happening around you. You may just see a sunrise, some wildlife, or another thing that makes you wonder about your neighbor.

Start treating yourself to 20 minutes of “no do” time every week. Remind yourself that taking this 20 minutes is a huge part of creating your success. You will connect with yourself in ways that you have forgotten, and you will begin creating your future faster. Find true happiness in treating yourself each week. Make it important and do not justify it to anyone. If you are going to pick one thing to do to change your life, this has to be it. Find 20 minutes each week and start expanding yourself. Experience the joy of being with you, for you.  Namaste.

Let Go.

Throughout our lives, we take things on because we think that these things will fulfill us. We may end up spending our time doing things we don’t really want to do because we feel obliged. We may be hanging onto certain objects because we feel obliged, or emotional about them. I would encourage you today to think about how you fill your time, and how you fill the spaces you live in. Choose to let go of something today that is just no longer fitting in your life, whether it is a thing, or an activity. Releasing yourself from the emotional ties that you have to certain things in your life is an incredibly freeing experience, and one that will open you up to the possibility that less is always more. Give yourself more by letting go. Freedom is yours for the taking.

A pot of gold.

The other day, I asked my children to search for the pot of gold that I hoped was hiding on our property. It was said in a joking way, but just saying it made me feel excited and like a kid again…what if we actually found a hidden treasure?
 
What I said was overheard by my mom’s husband Don. His wise advice to me was to “stop searching for the pot of gold; the pot of gold is you!”
 
This was my gentle reminder that I already have everything I need within myself. So do you. Realize that you are the pot of gold at the end of a beautiful rainbow. Treat yourself like gold…shine yourself up everyday and make good choices about how you spend yourself! You are worth it! Namaste.

Acceptance.

As I child, I distinctly remember the day that I realized that my parents were just real people, and not the perfect constructs that, up until that point, I had imagined in my mind.
 
We all reach a point in our lives where we realize that we are a lot like our parents, and we figure out that being like our parents isn’t so bad…in fact, it can be amazing!
 
You are who you are because of the experiences you have had to date, and it is up to you to love yourself right now, and create what you need for yourself going forward. Accept yourself for who you are and be thankful for the experiences that you have been given, but don’t ever limit yourself based on that. You are incredible and you can do anything.
 
Be thankful to your parents for everything they have given you, including all the great learning experiences. Without them, you would not be you.
 
Sending lots of love to my Mom and Dad. They are responsible for getting me here.

Be Proud.

On Friday, I was invited for an interview at Calgary’s Independent Radio Station, CJSW (90.9 fm). I feel blessed to have met and chatted with Kevin Brooks and Grant Burns on their show ‘Road Pops’.
 
The station is located inside the University of Calgary. Strolling through the campus, I became aware of how rapidly time had passed for me. Walking past the old smoking lounge, the ‘Black Lung’ immediately brought back vivid images of chain smoking, coffee drinking and late night studying.
 
I suddenly realized how far I had come since my University days. A degree in Psychology, quitting smoking, a wedding, 3 children, 2 liquor stores,  4 years of Wednesdays with my mom and my sister, and the release of a sensational new book. I realized that I should feel proud of myself for my achievements to date. So I gave myself a good old “Thatta Girl Tina”!
 
I would encourage you to be proud of yourself for where you are today…right now. Don’t wait until some future date when you feel that you will have achieved even more. Tell yourself now how proud you are! Do not compare yourself to others; that is not what matters. What matters is what you have done with, and for, yourself to date. You are amazing, and you should tell yourself that more often! Talking positively to yourself will motivate and encourage you to go farther.
 
You are your own worst critic, and unless you stop and say “Great Job!” to yourself, your achievements may never be good enough for you. It is okay to want more and strive for better, but you need to embrace the present and look at what you have accomplished already.  Be proud of you. You deserve it.
 
Namaste.

Motivate Yourself.

Taking action and adding effort in your life is how you will physically see results. Taking action and effort requires time, and this time must be found in amongst the rest of your busy lifestyle. In order to make time to put forth extra effort, you may need to give up something else in your life. The only way that you will do this consistently is if you are motivated to get the results that you want.

You have to change your thinking about how your time is spent. Focus on what you want. Visualize getting the result you want. See yourself having the result NOW. How does it feel to get what you want? Write down the result you want in your journal, or on a piece of paper, along with the feelings you have surrounding your results (dreams).

This exercise is self motivation. You know what you want. You can see it and feel it and now that you have written it down, it is real. You have given your subconscious something to work on and focus on. There are always trade offs. What are you willing to do to get the results you want? You need to prioritize your time so that the focus is on your results, which requires you to be motivated. Take little steps everyday toward your dreams and results.

Do not grieve over the time you give up to put focus on achieving your dreams. Remember that you are chasing your dreams, and every step you take gets you closer to making your dreams a reality. Know that every action you take moves you forward, and then never stop taking action! Motivate yourself, change your thinking, take action, have faith, get results.  Namaste.

 

The Power of the Mind.

I recently read a book to my 3 girls called “Little Miss Giggles”, part of the Little Miss Collection.

In this story, Little Miss Giggles wakes up one day and she has lost her giggle!

Mr. Happy, who of course cannot stand to see anyone not happy, figures out a way to help her get her giggle back.  He gives her an empty box that says something like “Contains 1 Giggle”.  She opens it up and says “There is nothing in here!” And he says, “of course there is”…

and then she starts giggling!

This story just reminded me of how powerful that computer is that you have inside of your head.  You can truly create everything you want and need with your mind.  You need to know how powerful your mind is, and you need to start using it to benefit you everyday.  Let’s start a giggle revolution by making some boxes of giggles, and sharing them with others around us.  Soon, we will will all be laughing our way through every day.  What could be more perfect? Namaste.

Bathing Suits

I have a new bathing suit, and now that our luggage is here (woo hoo!) I get to sport this new suit every day. I just loooove it. The colors are great and it makes me feel like a million bucks. I mentioned out loud the idea that “a new bathing suit can make you feel like a million bucks”. We are vacationing with my dad, and his response was interesting. He made the comment that no matter what body type you have, and no matter what your bathing suit looks like, if you walk with confidence when you have it on, everyone will take notice. Keep your head up, shoulders back, suck your tummy in, look around with interest at everything, keep your arms by your side, and smile. It is all about how you handle yourself that gets you noticed, not what you are wearing or how your body looks. But you will be more willing to walk with that confidence if what you are wearing something that makes you feel good.

It’s not what you wear, but how you wear it. Feel confident about your body and yourself, and then let the world know that you are amazing. Have a wonderful day!

Reward Yourself

You work hard everyday, so make sure you reward yourself often with small things, and occasionally with larger things. Give yourself small rewards on a weekly basis at minimum. Daily would be a interesting goal. Reward yourself in BIG ways at least once per year.

Small rewards can be things like:

  • a bath with some aroma therapy and a locked door
  • a dark chocolate bar, a bottle of wine and your favorite book for an hour (or more…)
  • a yoga class
  • a sporting event
  • coffee with a friend
  • buying yourself a new plant, or some flowers
  • 5 minutes of meditation

Big Rewards are things like:

  • Trips or Vacations
  • Shopping for Shoes, Clothes, Purses
  • An item you’ve been wanting for a while… hot tub, lamborghini, motorbike,  house
  • Spa Weekend

You put in effort everyday in your life, and you deserve to be rewarded for those efforts.  If you take responsibility for rewarding yourself when you have done good things, you will build confidence in yourself and you will not need to look externally for rewards.  This will improve your outlook on everything, and when you have something to look forward to, you will be more motivated to put the effort in.  And the more effort you put in, the more you will be able to reward yourself.  Cool, huh?

Have a wonderful day.  Namaste.

Know when to hold them.

Grab on to a little inspiration from Kenny Rogers…

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

In life, there will always be opportunities, and situations, that arise.  You have got to assess things intelligently as they come up.  Emotions will get in the way of logic, and you need to be able to trust your gut, and the Universe, to know what to do next.  So, how will you know what to do in a given situation, or what to do when an opportunity is presented? First, seek out as much information as you possibly can.  If the information you need comes to you easily, then you are likely on the right path.  Use the information to help you make a good decision.  Ask others with the right experience, and learn as much as you can.  If you are taking actions, and having trouble getting ahead with an opportunity, don’t fight it.  There will be times when no matter what you do, doors keep getting slammed in your face.  This is the Universe’s way of telling you to move on.  Try something different.  For whatever reason, it is not meant to be.  You have got to let go of the emotional attachment that you have with the opportunity, or situation, and give something else a go.  When it is right, things will seem too easy and things will happen smoothly.  You will feel calm and happy and peaceful.  Hold onto those opportunities.  And run, don’t walk, away from situations that you know are not healthy, or that appear to be the wrong path for you.

Hindsight is always 20/20.  Don’t look back and say “I should have known sooner”.  Listen to yourself, look for signs from the Universe, use your intuition and you will be much more confident in your decisions.  Namaste.