RISE ABOVE INSECURITY
DO YOU KNOW THAT FEELING?
You know... that thought in the back of your mind that you are never enough nor deserve what it is that you desire?
I have spent a great amount of my life insecure about my physical body, rotted teeth, the swelling of my face when I gain weight, being in the lower-class income status of Society, my hair -or- lack thereof, and of each individuals' judgments and assumption about me. I was criticized frequently when I was growing up and during my "Walk About"... no matter what topic of my situation that they decided to use that day.
I think feeling "Insecure" has a lot to do with all of our desires to feel Accepted, Understood, and Appreciated for who we are. I believe we all simply want to be able to be our authentic selves... and affirmed that it is "OK" for us to do so from those that we admire or frequently spend time with.
I have discovered that if we can turn the power of these desired affirmations away from others in our lives and learn ways to "Accept", "Understand", and "Appreciate" ourselves... we can make great strides in reducing our experience of Insecurity. By accepting those 3 words into ourselves, we can regain our inner power and will no longer need others approval for us to feel secure in who we are Authentically.
This change in our conscious thoughts alone will improve our perception, attitude, and inner sense of security tremendously. Though, I would also highly recommend in the "Understood and Appreciated" aspects... to take ACTION to improve the aspects of ourselves that we feel we can improve. There can be great inner confidence that can come from personal growth.
Within the knowledge that we are consciously doing something to improve our situation... this awareness helps override our feeling of Insecurity, because we know inside that we are also doing our best to do something about it. It seams a lot easier to accept our "perceived flaw" while we are still in the flow of working to improve it, and the "feeling" of being "Insecure" is greatly diminished while connecting and interacting with the "social environment" around us... that is usually the reason of our "Self consciousness" that creates the internal feelings of "Insecurity".
EXAMPLE...
Imagine you are a thriving person financially, solid external relationships, with success in business, and you have some level of respect granted to you within your community (Generalization to remove many of the potential Insecurity genres of our environment today.)
Yet... you are overweight and know within yourself that you do not maintain a healthy lifestyle. You may internally feel insecure about these things without really consciously being willing to accept it. Because, although you may have all these other aspects of your life put together, you may still be single and left feeling unwanted because of these unbalanced parts of your life. In this situation we can "Understand" why we feel insecure about these parts of our lives.
YET… IF WE DO NOT DO SOMETHING TO ADDRESS THEM... NOTHING WILL CHANGE!
In this example, the act of "Appreciating Ourselves" comes from going running, going to the gym, or changing our eating habits towards what we feel is healthier for our personal nutritional goals. Knowing within ourselves that we are "Doing our Best" to improve and are working towards overcoming what we feel insecure about has a tremendous effect on our "Mind stuff" that creates the psychology of "feeling" "Insecure". When the triggers arise in our daily experience or when we find someone that we desire to connect with in our immediate environment, this acceptance of ourselves and knowing we are doing our best to improve, subtly affects our mindset and we are able to be less insecure in our interactions with those we desire to connect with, and the interactions flow much more smoothly.
The greatest sense of strength comes when we can experience the results, are looking in the mirror seeing the changes, or feeling truly healthier and more confident than we ever have. Then saying... "I did the best I could staying focused on a goal… and NOW I see and feel the results". The Mind stuff, realizing it or not, was already slowly and gradually fading away the moment we first decide to truly take that one initiative towards a new habit and desire that we were going to overcome the challenge we set for ourselves.
Within my own experience, I have learned a great value in observing my thoughts, anxieties, and insecurities regularly; addressing any self perceived flaws that I feel I am able to overcome to make possible changes to. Through the strength of the previous experience of accomplishments we can start working towards more difficult challenges that we know we need to address in our internal and external life.
IN CONCLUSION...
The most satisfaction I have ever experienced in my life is the freedom, confidence, and internal power that comes from this process. It makes it feel worth every difficulty I have faced once I am affirmed by the inner awareness and external experience of... "I have arrived and achieved my goal... I have faced this aspect of my-self that has been making me feel Insecure for a long time... & NOW I HAVE OVERCOME IT!".
You will notice that others will notice these changes as well and this too will give you the external Affirmations that you are improving. Though you may no longer depend on their approval, this too brings more strength to your resolve to overcome any Insecurity you may still have.
You never know! You may just meet the "Perfect Life Partner" (by your own standards) at the gym, on your run, or at the grocery store... working on their short comings and insecurities as well.
In my opinion, the most important notes to add here outside of "Action"... is patience with ourselves in the process, resilience when we "slip up" on our goals, allowing the imperfection of any process to occur.
& ABOVE ALL! TO LEARN TO APPRECIATE WHO WE ALREADY ARE FOR WHO WE ARE. IT IS WHO WE ARE IN THE INSIDE THAT TRULY COUNTS!!!