Seven Lies You Need to Stop Telling Yourself
by Farnoosh Brock

“Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you advise others to do.”Vince Poscente

What if you could only tell – and more importantly – only believe the truth? Not the half-truth, the white lies, or the other gray in between, but the pure, beautiful, and unadulterated truth.

For me, it is most important that I discern the voices that I hear in my own head, from the loud inner critic, the large ego full of opinions, and the years of social conditioning and upbringing, and being able to tell, without a shadow of a doubt, the lies from the truths.

I grew up in Tehran, and witnessed not only the horrible 1979 Iranian revolution but also the terrible war that ensued between Iran and Iraq. Even though I was very small, I remember the horror, the bombings, the sirens, and the oppression. Mostly, I remember the way our teachers would brainwash our small little minds and fill them with the new regime’s lies. I remember that our families needed to play it safe while still helping us draw some faint distinction between those lies and the truth.

I moved to America when I was 15 years old, and today, even though I know the difference between a lie and the beautiful truth, some days the inner critic returns and insists on the lie. But I don’t think I am alone. We tell ourselves lies, halftruths, and anything but the pure truth every day. We are paying for that, you know? They create new doubts in our mind and new fears out of thin air.

They make us a little blind to our own amazing opportunities. Most of all, they bruise our self-esteem, crush our selfconfidence, and leave us looking for it everywhere except the very place that we will find it: within ourselves. Your confidence lives inside you. It does not deplete itself or run away and desert you. It is a permanent part of who you are. But with enough lies, you can silence even the greatest force of confidence. The solution is to stop lying to yourself and stop believing the lies that you hear:

LIE #1: You are not worthy of love. Everyone in this world is worthy of love, and that includes you. The great thing about love is its abundance – it does not run out – and you can start with the first rule of confidence, which is to love thyself. Self-love is totally in your control. It is a choice that you can make every day, as well as a shift in how you view love. If you can love yourself deeply and truly, you will generate plenty of love for the world around you, and you will start to see yourself as entirely worthy of love in return.

LIE #2: You are not enough. Says who (other than you)? Maybe there were people who told you this lie at some point in your life. Maybe you started fabricating it on your own. Either way: it’s not true! This is not the same as improving the person you are, to be the best that you can be – a lifetime journey that we all share. You are more than enough! You are good enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, and then some. It starts with believing it before you can live it.

LIE #3: You do not deserve happiness. This is the silliest lie of all. What have you done to not deserve the happiness that is your birthright? Who has dared implant such a falsehood in your head? Yes, you deserve happiness in abundance, and the funny thing is you cannot have happiness while you hold on to the lie. Happiness flows to you when you fully expect it, not when you resist it. Stop resisting it. Start inviting it.

LIE #4: You are not unique or special. This one still shocks me. Every human being – all seven billion of us – is born with unique fingerprints and unique voices. Does this gift from Mother Nature alone not shock you? It is the best perspective to instantly remember that you are oh so unique. There is not another one like you. There never will be. Know this. Exploit it. Enjoy it. Remember it.

LIE #5: Your dreams are too unrealistic or impractical. It takes reading one inspirational biography or life story to switch you out of this mindset, so pick your favorite hero and go. People achieve the impossible. They do it every day and at every age, in every demographic, and in every social condition. They rise up to the occasion and defy the norms. Nobody has to give them permission to live out their dreams. Why are you waiting for permission?

LIE #6: Your circumstances dictate your success. So many of us go through life carrying the shadows of our past and tainting our future. If we had great failure in the past, we let it define our identity and severely limit our potential for any future success. Then we hear success stories of those who did not let any disadvantage dictate their success, those who blatantly ignored their shadows, shunned their current circumstances and defined their new future with brilliant colors! How did they do it, we wonder? Can we too, let go of these dark shadows? Can we walk into a new light, no matter what our past may have been and what our current circumstances suggest? I believe we can.

LIE #7: You are not worthy of wealth. Wealth is personal. Some define it in the strength of their finances and some with the depth of their inner peace, and for some, one leads to the other. How you define wealth is your business, just know that how you feel about it will affect your confidence. If you do not feel worthy of achieving your own state of wealth, ask yourself why? What self-limiting beliefs are you telling yourself that create this condition? What better story can you believe so that you attract the wealth that you seek?

Telling yourself the truth can be the best habit you can develop. Your reward is a renewed, strong and solid sense of confidence in yourself and your amazing abilities!

Republished with permission from www.tinybuddha.com

Farnoosh Brock left a 12-year career at a Fortune 100 Technology company to start her own company, Prolific Living Inc. Her free 21-Step Confidence- Building series and motivation book empower you to tap into your inner confidence and be your highest self. Learn more at www.profilicliving.com.