7 Ways to Build Self Confidence

When I meet with a new client for hypnotherapy, here in Portland, Oregon, I start by teaching them the breathing exercises I’ve told you about in prior posts. Fundamental to building self confidence, whether using hypnotherapy or visualization techniques is the correct breathing. I’m not including it in my list for this post because I’ve written it before:

• Take a nice, long, belly breath in, to the count of 4,
• hold to the count of 4,
• then exhale to your internal count of 8.
• Repeat 3 times.

With the variety of issues clients are concerned with, such as anxiety, stress, weight loss, weight gain, quit smoking and obsessive behaviors,  can you guess the common thread that runs through all of these?

That’s right: self confidence. To help build self confidence there are 6 first steps I use before using traditional hypnotherapy. I use conversational hypnosis to suggest the following:

1. Listen to your self-talk. Be able to write down what you say to yourself. If you keep a journal, write in it what you say to yourself  and don’t be afraid of how disconnected your inner talk may be. Often people are surprised by their self-talk.
2. Taking responsibility for it will help you make a change. You need a starting point.
3. Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself like you would a child. Find something good to say to yourself and you’ll be creating a new pattern.
4. Recall a time and incident where you were confident. Really feel it. Let whatever comes to mind be okay. You don’t want to over-think this.
5. Write down this incident, include the intensity and where in your body you feel it, like, your chest or stomach. You’ll have more clarity if you write it down.
6. Recall the feeling of the confident time and at the same time use the kind self-talk you’ve chosen and practice saying the words and feeling the memory at the same time.
7. Keep it simple and repeat throughout each day. You’ll notice that you feel more confident.