Why So Serious? Smile More!.

Smiling is much more then just a facial expression. The simple act of smiling releases feel-good endorphins, improves circulation to the face, makes you feel good about yourself in general and can definitely increase your self confidence. Not only will it increase your self confidence over time, but you will also appear more confident to others while you’re smiling.

The smile is an essential part of human to human communication and many subtleties are hidden in a each and every smile. A smile can portray a variety of different moods, mindsets and suggestions or even be used for confirmation and approval.

To see the biggest improvement in your self confidence, smile while looking in the mirror and try to “mean” it. Think of a reason to smile and let it just flow out naturally. Observe your smile, respond to it and believe in it. Smiling is a vital key to relationships, self confidence and overall well-being so make a habit of doing it as often as possible!

Socialize and Experience

Parrots are one of the smartest creatures on the planet. Not only do some parrots have the potential mind of a 3 year old (without some complex reasoning) they can also communicate with us and do things such as distinguish colors and shapes or even count. Because parrots are so smart they need constant interaction with either other parrots or humans. If a parrot doesn’t get attention - guess what? They aren’t going to be happy, they get depressed, they often get ill and usually die at a much earlier age. Some parrots even go completely insane.

Humans are no different then parrots in this respect. Humans require social interaction with other humans in order to live a healthy life - both emotionally and physically. For some of us, self confidence hinders our social outings and human interaction. Maybe we’re scared of meeting people, or think we’re hideous, or maybe we’re just really shy.

So if you need self confidence in order to have social interaction how does it *actually* help your self confidence?

The trick is to ease into it and take everything in baby steps. If you’re scared of meeting new people or initiating a conversation first analyze why you’re afraid to do this. Is it because you’re unsure of yourself, or you think you’re ugly or maybe you just don’t know what to say. Once you figure out what the problem is, take steps to solve it. If you don’t know how to approach people for example - make a point of learning. Learn enough about it so you feel comfortable and move on to the next step. Eventually you will build up enough self confidence so that it comes to you naturally - and you’ll find yourself meeting people without even thinking about it.

The closer your “practice” sessions are to you’re actual experiences - the more benefit you’ll get from practicing. So if for instance you’re bad at interviews you might have a friend setup a fake interview with someone you don’t know and have it resemble a real interview.

Get in Shape

One of the best things you can do for your self confidence is to get in shape. You don’t have to be a super-athlete or ripped like the hulk - just physically fit and healthy. A healthy and fit person shows people that you take care of yourself. Not only that, you’ll feel good about yourself because you are taking action to make yourself a better person. Exercising in it’s own releases endorphins that make you feel good - and when you feel good you feel more confident.

Change Your Thought Patterns

Change “I can’ts” into “I don’t want to’s”. Say for example you want to go swimming by yourself but you don’t feel confident enough on your own. You think to yourself, “I can’t go swimming by myself, I’ll feel like an idiot and everyone will stare at me”. Changing this to an “I dont wan’t to..” becomes “I don’t want to go swimming by myself because I think people are staring at me and will think I’m a loner”. Then stop and think about what you’ve just said. Are people really going to think you’re a loner and stare at you? Probably not… People go swimming by themselves all the time, and you’re no different - you just THINK you are. Once you change your thought patterns you open up a whole new world of possibilities and eventually phrases like “I can’t” won’t even be in your vocabulary.

Challenge Yourself

Challenging yourself can be very rewarding. Overcoming something that is difficult for you can do wonders for your self-image and self confidence and will help build a base of confidence you can use long down the road. For instance - I’m an avid rock climber and I love it, but lot’s of times I find myself in very challenging situations and my mind screams at me to give up. Instead of giving up I look back at past experiences - challenges I’ve overcome - and use these past experiences to propel me through the present situation. As you gain more and more experience you will be able to conquer tougher challenges. Soon enough you’ll have confidence in even the toughest of situations.