Snosrap Publishing

Self-Confidence

Dog and I go to the beach every morning. Dog swims. I sit and celebrate life and how comfortable I feel with everything – well, almost.
It was not always so. For years lack of self-confidence plagued me and I often wonder what I could have done or where I could have been if self-doubt had not existed. I’m sure this is also true of many other people. To help those who suffer from lack of self-confidence, I wrote everything down in a booklet in the hope that it will encourage people to get help if needed.
If there are people in your life whom you feel you could help, perhaps you can. If they have a confidence problem, you might want to pass along the following – WRITE IT DOWN. Let me explain.
By putting thoughts and feelings down on paper, we cannot push them out of our minds – we have to face them. Just like a shopping list, if we don’t commit our needs to paper we find later that we want what we don’t have because we never wrote it down.
Today people go to the gym to tone their bodies; enjoy a massage to alleviate stress; have their hair done with a facial and a manicure to help them look more beautiful; but what about their minds? Do they do any exercises to improve the brain which governs all positive and negative thoughts?
The mind is clever, it manipulates and if we decide not to deal with something, even remotely unpleasant, the mind just shuts it out of our thinking, and periodically that something keeps coming back and gradually trouble starts. But, if that something is written down, we are not able to ignore it– it’s there and we must deal with the issue. The black and white scenario of paper and pen also helps us to think more logically, and urges us to find a solution because we can’t stand the sight of that wretched piece of paper any longer!
The negative event that triggers defeatist thinking and subsequently self-doubt can be large or small. Whatever the magnitude, the subject can be less overwhelming if the facts are written down. This can be done like a shopping list – one brief statement at a time for you to revisit on a regular basis. Slowly, as one small part of the issue is solved, our confidence and peace of mind grow on a relative scale. Gradually, the whole issue is resolved and negative thoughts are replaced by positive attitudes enabling us to move on.
Along with the shopping list comes the necessity to address areas of our lives that prompted or contributed to self-doubt initially. For example, my booklet suggests that we take a look into the following areas of our lives: our belief system, people, attitudes, self-awareness and acceptance. There are many details under these headings worth looking at twice, because we will no doubt identify with some of the points that caused self-doubt in the first place. If we recognize a personal attitude that needs fixing and make an effort to take action, as we work with either ourselves or someone else, we get good vibes and good feelings.
Many of you who are reading this article will have probably come to terms with a number of life’s problems and, like me, your inclination is to let people know that WTSWTG (what they see is what they get.) But, what about the many people who still have major problems? Can we help them realize that they can help themselves or seek outside help to combat this insidious feeling of self-doubt?

The E-booklet – “80 Ideas to Improve Self Confidence” is available for $10 Can.

© Susan Lancaster 2008
All rights reserved

Stretching Your Imagination – Testing to see if you have a flair for writing.

Writers Block

How many times have you said “I should write a book,” and then you promptly forget that you ever thought or said that. However, the nagging wish to write a book keeps coming back, but you silence those thoughts with self-talk like, “I don’t have time to write,” or “I can’t write anyway.” What rubbish – have you ever given it a try? Next time you want to write, don’t ignore those feelings – try the following small experiment.
Grab a pen, writing pad and a good dose of determination and go to the nearest mall if the weather is cold and wet, or outside to the nearest park if the day is warm and dry. Look around for something that sparks your interest. In the mall it might be a display of shoes for sale outside the shoe store. At the park it may be a park bench with an inscription on the back of it that interests you. Now, zoom in on your subject, let your imagination go as far as it will go and write a one page story, or longer if you wish, about your topic, whether it be the shoe store, the park bench or something else you’ve chosen. You might, for example, imagine there is a microchip between the sole and instep of one of those pairs of shoes, or, that a shady character is sitting on the park bench!

Your written word can be secretive, ridiculous, emotional, devious, joyful, etc. etc., but WRITE. Don’t even think about grammar and spelling – just WRITE.
If your imagination is not working and you are having difficulty even getting to the half way mark, never mind the end of the page, perhaps the book idea should go to the bottom of your priority list for the time being. If, on the other hand, your imagination soars and at the end of the page you need several more pages to tell your story, then maybe you should think about writing. If you do the above exercise, at least you will know whether writing is something you should do now or perhaps later on.

Writing a book is a wonderful and gratifying experience but it is not easy. The general opinion seems to be that if you can put words on paper and your grammar is not too bad – then go for it. Not so, writing a book or any kind of story demands hard work. It requires a good knowledge of grammar and writing in various forms; most of all it needs bums in seats for a number of hours per day, every day, with no interruptions. Furthermore, if you think writing is hard work – wait until you have to sell a book – either to a publisher or to your audience. Having said that, writing is also fun and absorbing and you should write that book even if it is only a short one. Just don’t trick yourself into believing that your first book will just walk off the shelves – it will require some marketing effort.
A best selling author suggests it is likely you can get a book published with three qualities, talent, passion and discipline, but that you are unlikely to get the book published if the word discipline is absent. Discipline is the key ingredient for all of us, and we know how tough that can be.
Put your writing skills to the test and if you feel like it, send the results to me at info@snosrappublishing.com for comment.

© Susan Lancaster 2008
All rights reserved