Believe in Yourself lecture

Recently I went to a lecture put on by Innerspace called Believe in Yourself: Re-Claiming your self-esteem.

I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect, I thought maybe I would have to speak in a group. I shouldn't have worried because it was instead a lecture with a couple of hundred people present. I think this was a good way to start this learning process as it allowed me to get my feet wet without feeling pressured. I was amazed by how many people were there, so many that they had to turn a lot away.

I'm very happy I went as the speaker was funny and interesting and put things in terms easy to understand. Her name was Becky (a plus!) from the Philippines and she was a happy grandmotherly woman who was easy to relate to.

She spoke quite a bit about how your inner self should be the core of your self-esteem instead of building your confidence on external factors such as appearance, job, possessions, etc. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves at any given moment and if its external factors are influencing this it means that your confidence and self belief will be constantly fluctuating. This opened my eyes a bit to the fact that the things I was letting myself get down about are pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I've always known that I need to love myself first in order to be confident and truly believe in myself but I was (and am) still connecting my self-belief to what I have accomplished instead of what makes me who I am.

I felt like the lecture provided me with a strong foundation to build on theoretically but was missing how to practically implement this into day to day life. It was definitely a refreshing change to my daily routine to listen to someone who is passionate about this way of thinking. It made me remember what I already knew and made me think about things that I had never really thought of before.

A couple of simple but important tips I took from this are...

*What is the first thought you have in the morning when you open your eyes? You will live your day how you start your day. I think this especially important for me with the difficulty I have with mornings :)

*Self-esteem by the speakers definition is about Value, Appreciation, and Honor. She said at least every day, if not more than once, you should ask yourself "What do you value about yourself?" or appreciate or honor. It is especially important when you are feeling low or a bit lost.

On the whole I feel like this lecture opened my eyes a bit more around self-reflection, positive thinking, and separating internal from external factors in my life. I think that it was a refreshing change to the what has become the monotony of my life and it has given me some tools to use invoke the changes I need in my life. I feel like I did get a lot from this experience and it has left me wanting to learn more and to really do some serious self-reflection and growth. I hope that I can keep this high for a bit and continue on this route.