In this post, I want to share a visualisation based on a topic that is near and dear to most of us: confidence. This visualisation for deeper confidence is from the (excellent) book How to Raise Your Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden. In the book, he describes using it with a client to give her the experience of what confidence feels like.
When we know what a particular experience feels like physically and emotionally, we are better able to recreate that experience in the future. We have a reference point we can return to and we’re more likely to notice the thoughts, choices and behaviours that lead to those same feelings, and those that don’t.
When we use visualisation, we experience what it’s like to insert ourselves into a story. Rather than the usual internal stories in which we play a starring role—some of which are more helpful than others—this gives us a chance to take the lead in a different story and try that on for size.
What I love about this visualisation is it shows us we already have what we need to feel more confident and secure. We don’t need to add anything to our lives, we don’t need to become someone different, and we don’t need to start getting up at 5am to meditate.
A lot of it is about perspective.
You can find the (slightly adapted) text for the visualisation for deeper confidence below or, if you’d like to download an MP3 version to use as a guided meditation, you can do so from the Becoming Who You Are Library (not a member? Join for free here).
A Visualisation for Deeper Confidence by Nathaniel Branden
Close your eyes and shift your focus to your breathing. Take a few deep breaths. Imagine you are standing at the foot of a mountain, any kind of mountain you wish to create. There is a footpath leading up to the very top.
You begin to walk. You feel the pull on your leg muscles as you climb.
Are there trees and flowers on the side of this mountain?
As you climb, you become aware of something very interesting. All the fears and doubts and insecurities of your everyday life seem to fall away, like so much excess baggage you no longer need. The higher you climb, the freer you feel.
As you approach the top of the mountain, notice that you feel almost weightless. Your mind is clear. You feel stronger, more sure of yourself than you have ever felt in your life. Imagine this state and explore it. Do you like it? How does your body feel when you are self-confident and free of doubt and fear? …
Now you are just a few steps from the very top of the mountain. Now you stand on the top, looking out over the world.
How do you feel?
What is your sense of your relationship to the world now?
What is it like to be without the old familiar insecurities? Take a few minutes to explore that.…
And now turn and begin your descent back down the mountain. And as you follow the footpath down, notice whether you bring your new strength and freedom with you or whether you leave those feelings at the top of the mountain.
Do the old weights return as you approach the bottom?
As you come back to the point at which you started, can you look at the world from a new perspective?
How do you feel?
What changes?
Do you experience yourself differently?
When you’ve finished, spend a few minutes writing about your experiences, paying particular attention to the questions.
How did you find the visualisation for deeper confidence? What did you notice? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!
Want the free MP3 version of this visualisation? Enter your email below to download it from the Becoming Who You Are Library.
Further reading: Let’s stop apologising for these things & How to stay optimistic when bad things happen
Image: Death to the Stock Photo
