It’s Bikini Day! Show Off Your Confidence

National Bikini Day falls on July 5, and it’s the perfect opportunity to head to the beach. National Bikini Day celebrates the anniversary of the invention of the two-piece bathing suit. It’s also the perfect opportunity to talk about building up self confidence. Even if you don’t plan to show up in a bikini, you can create unbreakable confidence with resources you already have.

Self confidence is important in almost every aspect of our lives. It makes it easier to connect with other people, and it tends to create positive results. Most people are more likely to be persuaded by someone who speaks clearly, looks you in the eye, and answers questions confidently than someone who is nervous, fumbling, and overly apologetic.

What Is Self Confidence?

Self confidence is all about balance. At one end of the spectrum there are people with very low self confidence that have difficulty with any interactions. At the other end, we have people who are so overconfident that they may believe they can’t fail at any task.

If you are under-confident, you may avoid taking risks that lead to growth, and you might not try at all. If you’re over-confident, you may take on too much risk, stretch yourself beyond your capabilities, and wind up with damaging results. A balanced self confidence leads to informed risks, taking appropriate challenges, learning, and growth.

Bringing Out Your Confidence

You already have all the experiences, resources, and abilities you need to develop a strong, healthy, and balanced self confidence. You just need to know how to access it.

Think about any other time you learned a skill. There was a time in your life that you didn’t know how to walk, or drive, or use a spoon. Now, you are able to do all of these skills so well that you don’t even think about them any more. You can learn to access those resources and abilities the same way. And the things that you’ll do to build your self confidence will build your confidence even more.

Remembering Your Resources

With any goal in life there are three skills or abilities (that you already have) that you’ll need to achieve them. You’ll need the ability to learn and integrate information, the ability to physically do the thing, and the ability to use your creative mind to solve problems. As I said, these are all skills and abilities you already possess. You just need to know how to access them.

I’m going to walk you through a mindfulness exercise to help you access those successful feelings and resource states of mind so that you can call on them anywhere, any time. Read it through first, and don’t get too hung up on “doing it right.” There is no wrong way to have this experience, and you will benefit from the results.

First, take a deep breath and with your eyes closed let yourself remember a time from your past that we can call a success involving learning. Now, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever first comes to mind is perfect. Just let yourself remember a moment from your past that we can label a success involving learning. It could be graduating, passing a test, or just a time when you knew how to do something so well that you could teach it to someone else.

When you have that moment - whatever first comes to mind - take another deep breath and let yourself remember that time with as much detail as possible, so that you can almost hear the sounds around you, see it through your own eyes, and feel that successful feeling in your own body.

Now, as you are experiencing that success involving your ability to learn, take a deep breath in and as you exhale say to yourself, “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” Notice how the feelings intensify. Take another deep breath and repeat “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” and notice the feelings get even stronger.

Pause for now and let that image fade.

Now, take another deep breath in. This time, let yourself remember a time from your past that we can call a physical success. And again, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever first comes to mind is perfect. Just let yourself remember a moment from your past that we can label a success involving your own physical abilities. It could be an athletic event, and it could be a time when you physically did something you didn’t think you could do before. Just let yourself remember a moment from your past involving your own physical abilities

When you have that moment - whatever first comes to mind - take another deep breath and let yourself remember that time with as much detail as possible, so that you can almost hear the sounds around you, see it through your own eyes, and feel that successful feeling in your own body.

Now, as you are experiencing that success involving your own physical ability, take a deep breath in and as you exhale say to yourself, “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” Notice how the feelings intensify. Take another deep breath and repeat “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” and notice the feelings get even stronger.

Pause for now and let that image fade.

Now, take another deep breath in. This time, let yourself remember a time from your past that we can call a creative success. And again, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever first comes to mind is perfect. Just let yourself remember a moment from your past that we can label a success involving your own physical abilities. It could be an athletic event, and it could be a time when you physically did something you didn’t think you could do before. Just let yourself remember a moment from your past involving your own physical abilities.

When you have that moment - whatever first comes to mind - take another deep breath and let yourself remember that time with as much detail as possible, so that you can almost hear the sounds around you, see it through your own eyes, and feel that successful feeling in your own body.

Now, as you are experiencing that success involving your own physical ability, take a deep breath in and as you exhale say to yourself, “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” Notice how the feelings intensify. Take another deep breath and repeat “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” and notice the feelings get even stronger.

Perfect! Now let’s bring them together. 

Take one more deep breath in, and this time as you exhale, imagine combining these three empowered resource states together as one. Let them build and bubble up even stronger as you remember to remember that strength in those feelings.

With those three resource states combined, take another deep breath in and as you exhale say to yourself, “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” Notice how the feelings intensify. Take another deep breath and repeat “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” and notice the feelings come up the strongest they’ve been so far.

Good.

Building Self confidence

What you have accomplished so far is to anchor those feelings of success to something simple, like exhaling a deep breath. This means that you can call on those feelings of success with a gesture so subtle, so small that you can do it anywhere, any time, and no one knows that you are doing something. Try it now, take a deep breath in and say to yourself, “This is nothing new. This is who I am.” Notice how you can bring up those successful feelings even stronger now.

You’ll find that the more you practice this - just like anything else you practice - you’ll get really good at remembering these skills and abilities. You’ll be able to apply them in any aspect of your life.

The Role of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is an excellent tool for learning to use your skills, abilities, and resources effectively. When you discover that you have the ability to give yourself a suggestion and have your body believe you, you will have the ability to take back control over those parts of your life that you feel are out of control. You can learn more by visiting us at www.GreenMountainHypnosis.com ∎