CHEARS

Self-esteem is being conscious of one’s self-worth, or how valuable one is to certain situations or life in general. Self-confidence is different;  it is the feeling of surety in one’s ability to achieve a set goal or to be able to successfully achieve the task at hand.   Individuals can have task-specific self-confidence, but display low confidence in general or it can be vice versa.  Self-confidence boosts the overall health of the individual.  The physiological aspect of confidence are a balanced mind,  healthy blood flow and balanced, even flow of energy ( prana) within the entire body.  It’s a state of physical & mental homeostasis.   The mind becomes focused, bereft of any doubts, and thus relaxed.  Confidence comes from the right kind of knowledge, ignorance breeds doubt, sadness and gloom. The feelings of happiness, warmth, compassion, and love have their roots in self-confidence.  Most of us live in the limited boundaries of potential;  self-confidence breaks open the limitations and places one in the center of uninhibited swathes of possibilities.

As per the Yogic philosophy of prana with its manifestations, and implications in the material world the human body holds energy in concentrated form at seven points which are situated linearly along the length of the spine. These energy spots,  or chakras,  has their physical manifestation in the form of a complex of nerves coming together and forming a dense mesh of neurons at the location of presence of that chakra.  The seven chakras influence the being at emotional, spiritual,  physical and mental levels. Self-confidence is related to the quality of energy within the third chakra, or the Manipuri chakra located in the proximity of the navel region within the abdomen.  An imbalance in the energy of this chakra, which is also known as solar chakra is indicated by the presence of digestive problems,  fatigue, eating disorders, and diseases like diabetes.  Lack of motivation and an inability to conquer addictions are other indicators of a weak solar plexus or Manipura chakra.

The general question which all students present at any self-improvement class have in their minds is,  how to build self-confidence?  because all the other aspects of self-improvement derive their drive from self-confidence.  Confidence is similar to stability which leads to concentration of the divergent energy of the mind on a single goal, an aspect which feels like a souring feeling of trust in one’s ability to achieve the set task.