Self Confidence can never, ever be understated or hyped

Right from inspirational writers and speakers to psychic gurus, psychologists, corporate managers, educational institutions, all of them unanimously echo time and again that it is just self confidence that matters- nothing more, nothing less. And, it is so true!

But what stands out glaringly is the absence of self confidence almost everywhere. People seem to focus more on "appearing confident" and "happy" than to experience self confidence as a natural flow in life. Some imagine self confidence as the ability to speak aloud in big audience, while some imagine it to be a mask of indifference and show no emotion. Many equate self confidence with social acceptance. While self confidence may get you any or all of the above, these are not the parameters to gauge self confidence and are not even accurately reflective of your confidence levels.

Self confidence cannot be "acquired" from anywhere, anybody or anything. It inherently IS. The sooner you understand this, the closer you get to happiness. It is a simple faith that you have in yourself that you are correct, you are competent, you deserve all that you desire and you are LOVABLE.

But this simple faith is becoming increasingly difficult to hold on to. One of the main destructive agents is a judgmental society. People form opinions purely based on their perceptions and personal experiences, which cannot be generalized. They air/assert/ impose these opinions and impact the thought process in their circle. Everybody brings forth their own view points about what is "desirable", "acceptable", "good" etc, and discard other ways of thought and action as wrong/ unproductive/ misleading.

We, as social animals impact and get impacted by our environment. In this exchange of thoughts through words and deeds, an amalgamation happens and people accept thoughts that contradict their inherent understanding. Sometimes, the power of external thought is so powerful that it subdues an individual's latent understanding. These individuals are the ones who suffer the greatest risk of losing their self confidence by relying on mob judgment consciously or unconsciously.

But who suffers ultimately? ALL OF US, the society as whole, along with the individual. A society comprising of individuals with tampered self confidence is very weak and prone to collapsing even with minor disagreements or differences in opinions.

But what is the way out? How can we help ourselves out of this destructive spiral? We need not give up our faculties of judgment or stop ourselves from expressing what we feel. All we need is to incorporate the understanding that every single individual in the society is a part of the WHOLE, every one sees the world from THEIR own perspective and everyone, including self needs to be treated with respect and care. Although people have disagreements among themselves, it is important to note that everybody is right from their own perspectives. And you need not dismiss yourself to be aligned along some body else's lines. Just LIVE and LET LIVE. Follow your own heart, your own path, and just do whatever makes sense to you, while understanding that everyone around you also has these basic privileges.