We all lack self-confidence or are uncomfortable with ourselves, and we all wish we could be better.
We can say that we want to be our ideal self.
In the first place, what you are is “what you think you are”.
What you think about who you are determines who you are.
The reason why we think we are the way we are is because of our past experiences.
We come to believe that we are this kind of person because of the various events we have experienced in the past.
For example, schools gather students and give them various exams.
Some of students may not get good grades.
For example, some students do not do well in physical education, and some students do not do well in English.
If you do poorly in P.E., you may think that you are not good at sports, and if you do poorly in English, you may also think that you are not good at languages.
Some of these problems may be natural, but they may also be worsened by a sense of weakness.
In addition to school performance, some people are not good at socializing.
For example, some people are not good at making speeches in front of people, and some people think they are shy.
Some of these difficulties may be based on some past experiences.
If you have experienced being ostracized in the past, it may have affected your ability to socialize.
If you have experienced nervousness and failure, you may be afraid that you will make the same mistakes again, so you become more nervous and repeat the mistakes in front of many people.
In this way, the sense of weakness that comes from past experiences can be a drag on a person's potential.
Therefore, it is possible to achieve better results by overcoming the sense of weakness that you have within yourself.
How can you do that?
I mentioned that the problematic mindset was created by negative experiences in the past.
On the other hand, we can improve it by having positive experiences.
However, it's not so easy to actually have positive experiences.
What you need to do is visualize what you can do and experience it in your mind.
For example, if you feel nervous and uncomfortable speaking in front of a large audience, imagine yourself giving a great talk in front of a large audience, and that the people listening to you are impressed and happy.
By imagining such a successful experience, you can override the sense of weakness that has been imprinted in your mind.
Imagining things in our mind is just like actually experiencing them, it is an experience that comes to us.
Therefore, by visualizing yourself succeeding, you will diminish the negative experiences you have had in the past.
By imagining and visualizing the person we want to be, we actually get closer to that ideal image.
We become who we think we are.
Translated by Yuki Naito
