Building Up Self-Confidence and Faith

“There is no word such as ‘impossibility’ in my dictionary!” Napoleon Bonaparte once remarked. Odd and boastful it sounds, but there is irresistible force of Self-confidence packed up in his words. Napoleon lived 150 years ago. Circumstances and life in general vastly changed since then.

Many miracles once thought to be are now only commonplace occurrences. Many odds and impossibilities once supposed to be have become mere child’s plays these days. All these changes have been brought about by man himself.

I need not go deep into comparing and contrasting the differences between past and present. What I am trying to emphasize is that every man has the power to change his own destiny if he so desires.

Yours is not a Herculean task. Stop reading this Chapter for a moment, close your eyes, just pause for a minute and think about yourself. You will agree, after your entire problem is not insolvable. All you need at the moment is a job-an engagement. For this you need not go round a mountain and move it l All you have to do is to build up a little courage and confidence and work according to the instructions laid down in these Chapters.

Psychologists demonstrated time and again the power of mind over the body and even external matters. In order to gear up strength of your mind you must first do something for building up confidence and faith in yourself. ‘Once you acquire these qualities, be assured that you will be well on your way to succeeding in any enterprise you undertake.

By developing strong faith and faith alone, man can do miracles. This has been proved and approved all through the ages. We all know the legend of Ekalavya in Mahabharata. What did he do when Dronacharya refused to teach him archery? He was not in the least disheartened. -_On the other hand he was more determined to master the art: He made a clay doll resembling the great Drona and regarding that mere doll as his Guru he practiced ,archery to such perfection that even Arjuna and Drona himself grew jealous of him

I can give you many such concrete examples but what you need to learn is to remember the underlying truths these examples carry. Those who want to succeed in life should realize that every human being is a stone house of unimaginable powers that lie dormant within.

In order to succeed we only have to tap and make. Correct use of these latent powers. It is for this reason that all the self-help experts the world over times without number lay more emphasis on the value of cultivating faith and confidence than any other personality trait.

Faith and self-confidence are the two words very’ often and indiscriminately used by people. Your well-wishers often advise you to have faith. “Have faith in yourself and everything will be all right!” they say, but nobody tells you how to develop faith or what is the definition of this magic word. It. is like telling a mendicant “have at least ten thousand rupees and you won’t have to beg anymore 1”. Most of us take faith for something which can easily be had in the market.

Let me now tell you what faith is and how to develop it. Before you want to know what is faith you ought to know what positive thinking is.

In order to understand how this positive thinking works in realizing your wishes you have to turn a bit of your attention to psychology. According to Stanley Hall, psychoanalysis has presented us with vivid descriptions of our mental topography. Mind, in psychology, is much more widely used than in medical terminology It is far more than more consciousness. I need hardly say that it works both in consciousness and unconsciousness and comprises within itself the conscious, sub-conscious and the unconscious strata. Western and oriental psychology laid emphasis upon the underlying spiritual nature of the human self which may be stirred into activity by mere ‘thinking’, that is, mere wishing with strong will. Filling your mind with positive thoughts of success (eliminating at the same time the negative ones,) which I may explain in other words, giving yourself ‘positive self-suggestions’ can bring about remarkable change in your mental outlook.

Therefore, it should be understood that this ‘self-suggestion’ ultimately reaches your super-consciousness through your conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind stage by stage and finally enable you to act towards the desired end.

Self-suggestion which is also known as ‘auto-suggestion’ is nothing but a systematic thinking process. It is a common knowledge that a thought is capable of producing effects. For example, there is a certain thing called ‘conditioned reflex’ which is just another name for emotional upset or reaction or habit. For instance, just recollect a horrible experience you had unexpectedly in the past-let us suppose that you escaped very narrowly a fatal accident or death. Think once again deeply about it and ponder over the matter for some time. Had it not been for the pedestrian who grabbed you by the neck in time, you would have been run over by the bus. Or, had it not been for the constable on duty, you would have been stabbed by the miscreants.

Soon you will find that your hair rising while your pulse rate and heartbeat increasing gradually. Next moment you will try to banish that unpleasant picture from your mind. To come to a normal state you will make all out efforts by diverting your attention to other activities like reading a good book or going to f; friend’s house and so on. What I am trying to tell you is that a mere thought-here a negative one, has stirred in you emotion that led to action. It is, therefore, logically understandable that if a negative thought could produce an effect why can’t a positive thought?

Here is necessary thinking especially in your case a lot of positive thinking which can be methodically cultivated by the practice of self/auto-suggestion.

It is an established fact that our subconscious mind is more powerful than that of the conscious one. Any thought impulse can be picked up by this more powerful subconscious mind that works relentlessly towards transmuting-that is, converting a thought impulse to other material form ‘formerly pictured in mental vision. It is popularly known as ‘transmutation of thought impulses.’ ‘

A state of mind is what I must call faith may be developed by anyone by applying the principles of self-suggestion and/or positive thinking. Faith can also be classified as a sort of emotion. By constantly passing your orders to your sub-conscious mind through the help of self-suggestion the emotion of faith can be developed

This emotion of faith is the main force behind self-confidence.

By doing so you will gradually ‘feel’ and experience the emotion of faith. This experience of emotion of faith and its results will give you a new vigor and strength.

I must, however, remind you that auto-suggestion and faith are not one and the same but are closely inter-linked and inter-dependent. To develop the feeling of faith you will have to exercise the principle of auto-suggestion. And in turn, seeing the result, you will have faith in auto-suggestion itself. In short, auto-suggestion, faith, self-confidence, positive thinking are all closely connected with each other. It is all a fine network played and handled by mind alone. So vast is the power of human mind, it is indeed stranger than you imagine. To step-up your morale let me tell you a factual episode.

Harold Sherman, an expert in psychic and self-help field, presently President of the ESP Research Associates Foundation in the USA, narrates his own experience while talking about the power of human mind over the body. This is an account of his own experience he had several years ago. With his permission I am narrating that episode below:

One day a water-blister formed on the toe of his right foot. It gradually started swelling. He washed the toe with dettol water, put on a clean pair of socks and thought nothing more of it. But a day or so later the toe became infected and rapidly grew worse. He went to his family doctor who injected some medicine on the toe only to tell him later that gangrene developed on it.

As Mr. Sherman’s condition worsened, he began running a high fever and it appeared that this gangrenous condition could spread throughout his system. Deeply concerned, he went to a surgeon whose opinion after a thorough examination was that unless the condition of the toe changed for the better by next morning, he should be taken to the hospital and have the foot amputated! By this time the toe was badly swollen, giving the patient excruciating pain and practically dislocating the toe. But this famous psychiatrist had no mind to undergo the operation. He wanted some other way to get out of the condition he was in.

Then he caught hold of the works of Thomas J. Hudson, one of the pioneer psychologists and thinkers of his day. After a brief study of Mr. Hudson’s works on Healing Process, Mr. Sherman was determined to try one of the principles.

Confined to the bed, around 10 O’clock in the night ‘he started trying to picture in his mental vision his toe restored to a normal, healthy condition as before. However, in the beginning the more he tried to conjure 11p an image of a healthy toe in his mind, the more he became conscious of its painful, swollen condition. Gradually, around midnight, after trying a number of times he was able to see the picture of a healthy toe as it had been before the infection. His mental relief at this stage was so great that he fell fast asleep that lasted up to 9 O’clock next morning.

Next morning he lifted his foot and was amazed to see the blister on his toe was found broken open as if a surgeon had done it i It happened sometime during the night and was now healed over. It was still somewhat discolored, but the swelling was almost gone and he had no pain at all. Not only that, now he had no fever. Finally, Mr. Sherman recovered without any Operation whatsoever.

It was a proof and demonstration of the creative power of the mind. It was almost a miracle.

Now, yours is a case of unemployment. The above instance is a case of sickness. Though these two are different in nature the problem solving principle that can be applied is same. On the other hand, in your case, applying the principle is far easier. Since you are healthy in body and mind, your power of concentration is better while a sick person’s concentration is disturbed due to bodily pain and fever.

As you go on practicing the formula you will gradually feel that you are definitely on your way to reaching the target. This is because; the very creative power of the mind will be working in the meantime in transmuting your wish into reality as I have explained.

Therefore, it is highly important that you should ‘feel’ that you are already ‘employed’. And while in this process, start working zealously towards achieving the goal. In fact, you are not at the moment unemployed-you are already ‘working’- working for your betterment. Since you have shuffled the first few pages of this book you have already been engaged. Think. That way …Think that this is a sort of training for a month before you could be given a formal appointment letter. Think that you are undergoing training in an: organization that has already engaged you. This ‘engagement picture’ in your mind will help you keep your spirits high. It helps you work in the right direction.

Psychologists strongly feel the importance of the; ‘personality pictures’ we constantly hold in our minds, Whenever this topic arises I invariably recollect an ancient Mycenaean parable about a beautiful princess royal who was indeed charming in every respect, except that she was unfortunately, a hunchback. One day, her father, the monarch ordered a statue. He stipulated that the statue be made exactly like his daughter its every ‘way except that it be given a straight back instead of a crooked one. When the statue was completed it was set up at the end of the royal garden. The sovereign then asked his daughter to make it a habit to stand in front of this statue every morning and say, ‘I am like” this statue. I am tall and straight and beautiful.” The princess who followed this instruction became exactly like the statue after a time.

Of course, that is a story, but it carries a very important truth-we grow according to our thoughts. We are what our thoughts made us. If you think you» are strong, indeed you are. The moment you think you are weak and tired all your energies vanish from your body. Positive thoughts pay you rich dividends while negative ones lead you to destruction. Develop therefore, positive thinking and make no room for negative; thoughts in your mind. Banish these ‘devils’ and replace them with ‘angels’

Every being in God’s creation has latent potentialities. Take for example a cat-an ordinary cat. I still remember what I saw with my own eyes-an incident that happened approximately fifteen years ago.

One morning a gentleman took out his Alsatian during the course of his morning walk. The dog saw a cat urinating at a street corner a few yards ahead. Instantly the-dog jumped on the cat. The situation was that the cat was caught so suddenly it had no chance .of escape. However, the little animal grew wild and resisted the attack of the dog initially and counter-attacked it. As I was watching, to my amazement, in a split second the cat turned round and attacked the dog from behind with lightening rapidity in the manner a lion attacks an elephant. Believe me, the small creature struck the dog so violently and with such fury, it broke the neck of the Alsatian which in a few moments dropped dead!

A cat killed a dog! -Unbelievable. Isn’t it? Yes, it sounds fantastic but it was a fact. Had I heard this from someone else I would have brushed it aside as a trumpery story. But I saw it with my own eyes. It is still fresh in my memory. ‘This made such an unforgettable impression on my mind I must admit, I avoid the sight of cats as far as possible.

What .I am trying to impress upon you is that you too have within you unbelievable Powers and talents of varied nature. You have only to arouse these dormant powers. So it is time that you tap your talents.

The first and foremost prerequisite for success in life is to build up faith and self-confidence in oneself. And I think I have shown you a way how to develop these qualities. Hold in your mind constantly a picture of success. Have firm belief in it and it will soon actualize itself.