What has happened to our self-confidence? Are we experiencing a meltdown of this critical trait that is essential for happiness and survival? The answer is maybe and if so, how can we fix this problem?
Many answers to the question of how we can elevate low self-esteem exist in the areas of life concerned with health and wellness. Fitness (physical, mental, psychological, intellectual, etc.), yoga, and food are three notable categories to which we can turn in order to build self-confidence.
Before I give you twelve tips that can help you on your journey towards a state of higher self-esteem, let’s look at what we read, see, and hear in popular culture every day. The media affects each and every one of our relationships to our inner self-reliance. I read an article yesterday on Yahoo! about this photograph of three un-airbrushed models including Alessandra Ambrosio, Crystal Renn, and Brooklyn Decker. The picture blatantly displays the imperfections of the three women, ripples, roles, cellulite and all. I see such displays frequently in tabloid magazines such as People and US that show similar candid pictures of celebrities in the “just like us” pages. Free of stylists, make-up artists, hairdressers, and airbrushing masters, it is clear that models and actors are indeed humans with unique flaws, yes, just like the rest of us. Nonetheless, in my third eye center, I admit that my brain recalls Brad Pitt’s abs and wind-blown hair beside Angelina Jolie’s porcelain skin and luscious lips from W Magazine’s many famous spreads of the duo, not images like the one I saw on Yahoo! of the above models.
How can you and I cope with images of hotter than hot Photoshopped bodies that become imprinted in our minds? Start by forgetting about perfected artificial photographs and then try to see your Self. As you realize your weaknesses, build in some basic tenets of how to achieve your own self-confidence from the inside out.
12 Ways To Boost Self-Confidence
1. Exercise. Any form of cardio activity increases metabolism and releases endorphins, cortisol, and many other brain chemicals and hormones, all of which will make you feel good and powerful.
2. Study the philosophy of yoga, which incorporates self-study (svadyaya) and many other self-enhancing principles that help to shed the identifications and definitions that life has imposed upon you. The physical yoga practice is an amazing way to keep you in shape, but the philosophy of yoga must be studied as well.
3. Eat healthy and habitually staying away from extreme habits such as the constant cleanse, diet or binge. If your body is not in balance, it will neither feel good nor look the way YOU want it to. With that to worry about, it is unlikely that you will feel confident.
4. Do things you enjoy on your free time like reading a great book, watching a movie, talking to friends, hanging out with your children, listening to music, going to a museum, or having sex.
5. Avoid seeking or caring about the approval of others.
6. Take smart risks and enjoy their outcomes regardless of what they are. You can always start again with a leg-up having learned from your mistakes.
7. Learn to deal with uncertainty.
8. Surround yourself with people who you love and who love you, who make you laugh, and are non-judgmental.
9. Give to your friends, partners and others. Giving is a wonderful way to breed self-assurance
10. Seek out mentors you admire and who can help to guide you in life.
11. Meditate.
12. Sleep.
Published in MBG April 15, 2012 at 5:15 PM
About Julie Wilcox
Julie Wilcox is the founder of The Julie Wilcox Method (JWM), an innovative approach to healthy living encompassing fitness, yoga, and nutrition. An expert across all three categories, Julie blends her life-long passion for athleticism with the mind, body, and spiritual aspects of yoga, as well as with healthy, moderate, and sustainable diet advice. Co-founder of the acclaimed ISHTA Yoga studios, Wilcox has created The Julie Wilcox Method for a fresh, easily accessible, and multi-faceted approach to all elements of yoga for anyone everywhere!
Wilcox began her career in health and wellness as an aspiring Olympic gymnast, later transitioning to dance. Although she ended her dancing career to study at Harvard, she was determined to maintain the same level of discipline and fitness she had always known.
Website: juliewilcoxmethod.com
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