Confidence is a sense of being, acting and thinking, that the majority of people would like to have a boost to. So what is confidence and how can we become more confident?

What is Confidence?
Most people have a general understanding of what confidence is. They have this understanding because they will have experienced the state or feeling of being confident already. It’s easier to know what you lack or are missing, if you have experienced a time of having that feeling.

Confidence is a sense, feeling or maybe just an inner knowing that you can do something well. This “something”, might range from organising a trip to the zoo to organising a holiday abroad. It might range from baking a cake to cooking a 3 course meal for 10 people for a dinner party.

The person who confidently organises the zoo trip may not have the confidence to organise the foreign holiday. The person who can confidently bake a great cake may be terrified and lack confidence about the dinner party.

Confidence is therefore the feeling that we can do something and probably do it well. Confidence comes from a belief that the task can be accomplished and done reasonably competently.

Interestingly we do not have to have done something before to be confident that we can do it. Many people can consider doing a new task or taking a new challenge and be confident that they can do it well.

How do people get low confidence or lack confidence?
Low confidence can occur after a series of events or tasks that have not been as successful as the person would have liked. However it is not the failed task itself that is the cause of the low confidence but it is how we perceive that event that makes us feel a drop in confidence or whether we can brush it off and not let it affect our confidence.

Some individuals will go through a series of events that do not go to plan and still have belief in themselves. If you look at any entrepreneur such as Richard Branson or Alan Sugar you will find business projects that failed. Yet, once decisive aspect about their character is that they believed in their ability to learn from those failed projects and maybe get it right the next time. They realise that failure is part of being a success. Failure when used in the right way can be feedback towards their success.

Another possible cause of low confidence is the influence of people around you. If people such as parents, siblings, friends, teachers or others constantly criticise you, you will find it hard to form a healthy sense of yourself and your ability to succeed.
So you might say that your own perceptions of what happens when you do something and the influence of others can have major impact on your self-belief and as a result your confidence. The higher value you place on someone’s opinion, the more likely that opinion, positive or negative is likely to have on you.

How do we gain or re-gain health self confidence?
Hypnotherapy, is a great way of uncovering past events that may still have a strong but possibly negative affect on us today. If you gave a speech in school and the class laughed at you because you lost your words, you may have developed a lack of confidence in meetings or speaking in front of groups. This would be a typical past event that through the use of hypnotherapy could be perceptively changed, so that it no longer has a negative effective on your confidence.

If you were always criticised by a parent whenever you proffered an opinion, you may be wary of stating views today. When you speak, you may do so in an apologetic way that, scared that you will offend someone, or be verbally attacked for your opinion.
Hypnotherapy can help you revisit negative past experiences, and through using the greater experience of the adult you are today, help repair those hurts that occurred when you were younger.

Through the power of your imagination, you are encouraged to view yourself succeeding rather than failing when you attempt new or previously challenging tasks and situations in your life. As a natural result your confidence starts to grow and one success leads to another success.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Author’s Details

Steven Harold BA(Hons) DCH DHP
Clinical Hypnotherapist – London and Essex

Website: www.hypno-therapist.com Email: mindfully@hypno-therapist.com
_______________________________________________________________________________________