Cultivating Self-Belief - Finding True Power

You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.

Deepak Chopra

I’ve been on a self-development programme for most of my life. Reading numerous spiritual, wellbeing and empowerment books, having counselling when I was younger, attending an NHS self-esteem course, and more recently using meditation and holistic reflexology. I’ve improved my life tremendously, built greater self-esteem and confidence, nurtured an ability to go after what I want and follow my passions. This has met with some goals met and highlights achieved but hasn’t always met with the financial success I’d like or sustained progress I desire. I’ve often felt disheartened but have always striven on and not given up on wanting to pursue a life that is built around purpose, meaning and passion.

I’ve come to see that, perceived failures and setbacks are part of the journey, and sometimes you do not always see success as success, depending on your point of view and what your expectations are. Gaining external recognition and building a career around something you love or are passionate about is a dream of many and has always been my desire but is not an easy pursuit if you struggle with self-esteem and confidence issues or in my case have a variety of passions and interests and a lack of self-belief.

Self-belief, commitment and personal power

I believe now that external success is down to self-belief, commitment, and personal power (knowledge and confidence). Numerous magazine articles discuss self-belief and how important believing is, in achieving success and accomplishing your goals.

And, most importantly you must believe with your whole heart that you are capable of achieving your goal. If not, your path becomes murky and the goal stays out of reach. (Oprah Winfrey)

Self-belief and personal power seem to be at the heart of how you achieve your desires. I have always struggled with self-belief and not known how to acquire or build it. I have to some extent mastered self-esteem and am more confident now in speaking up and going after what I want. But believing I’ll achieve my goal or in my case have greater financial success, has eluded me, even though certain goals and milestones have been achieved and success had with my previous businesses in community dance and art.

Self-esteem is about your self-worth and how you value and treat yourself, whereas self-belief is about how you judge yourself, your abilities and whether you think you can achieve your goals. Self-belief (or self-efficacy) is a person’s belief in their ability to complete tasks and to achieve their goals (Bandura 1995). In my case I needed to build my self-worth and to value myself first before I could work on self-belief and pursue larger dreams and goals.

Recent work and rumination on self-belief has led me to think there is more to it than just trying, in isolation, to cultivate a belief in yourself and goal, with affirmations or other methods. I’ve discovered that, for me, finding self-belief is linked to discovering what is truly going to fulfil me in life and accepting where I’ve been, my skillset, and what I have to offer. What career goal can I work on that is going to draw together my skills, have purpose and meaning, be relevant and helpful to others, and can allow my heart to open and flow.

The how and the why of your goal

Finding the how and the why and then committing fully to achieving your goal because you know it is worthwhile, it is positive, and it can be done, is for me the start of cultivating self-belief. I aim to get to that place inside me ‘where nothing is impossible.’ Launching this website, deciding to blog about my journey in healing, personal development, and growth, whilst drawing both the creative and therapeutic sides of me together, is my how. Helping others through sharing (via this website) the healing tools I’ve used and continue to use, by running therapy clinics in reflexology and crystal healing and by offering opinion on wellbeing topics, my artwork, creative tools and in the future potentially courses, is my why.

I am just embarking on this journey developing this website and blog. I am beginning to nurture self-belief and am realising that commitment to achieving a goal is as important as self-belief and is in fact a symbiotic relationship. Having a vision and a definite purpose behind what you are doing, gives you an initial path to follow and owning your skills, personality and passion provides the building blocks for self-belief to develop.

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. (Carl Jung)

What's in your heart?

Discovering and awakening what’s in your heart is the start to unearthing what you want to do and achieve in life. I am creative and have various abilities and skills but through all my work in community dance and art, it has been the healing aspect that has driven me. Helping people transform their lives has always been what is truly in my heart and why I’ve done what I’ve done. Transformation, to me, is inspiring and although difficult, ultimately brings greater joy. Anaïs Nin said, ‘life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through.’ I have long since understood that our lives are about evolution, transformation, and growth – and this is a constant process and journey.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world ... as in being able to remake ourselves. (Gandhi)

How is your self-belief? Do you feel able to achieve any goal you set yourself? Or do you shy away from going after what you really want? Discover what lies inside your heart and take the necessary steps to develop and grow. We should all move towards greater personal power, strength, and self-belief.