Four Ways to Stop Worrying About What Others Think of Me.

The Greatest Prison that People Live in is the Fear of What Other People Think ~ - David Icke. Why do you think David Icke compares one's fears to a prison? So prison is where one is held for punishment, prison reduces the rights and privileges you have. It also reduces what you can see. So is fear a place that we punish ourselves? Fear reduces what we see and it takes away our privileges. Right? Fear locks us into a box. One that diminishes our view of the world and ourselves. So fear can take away our liberty right, reducing our ability to do things that do not fit into the box that fear has built. It is that we make ourselves a slave not to what people think about us but what we think people think about us. Our fears about what others think may be correct or they could be totally off base. We might have built the prison on faulty assumptions but it holds us just the same. Lao Tzu stated “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” If you care about what others think, you allow them to control your actions. This gives them power over you. I did this for more years than I can count. If I look back on it the reason is I gave more power or had more confidence in their beliefs than I did in mine.  That is one of the reasons. Another is the shame I felt about who I was. That shame reduced me and elevated others and their beliefs. But this was a learned behavior. We make ourselves prisoners when we care what others think. So how do you move into living your own life and have confidence in your own thoughts? How do you feel healthy and happy with you and your thoughts? How do you move away from accepting the thoughts you think others are thinking about you and taking those as gospel? Let us for the sake of  augment say that the opinion you think comes from someone else really does. Their opinion doesn’t need to become your reality. Own your thoughts: When you think that someone else is thinking badly about you realize that is your thought not theirs. Remember: people will think what they'll think. Relax and accept that you only know what you think others are thinking about you, not what they actually are thinking. Learn to enjoy your individuality: So for me, I am energetic, I am vibrant, I am excitable. I can tell stories about how that makes me weird and unlovable, or I can accept that is me and see how it makes me lovable. There are always at least two viewpoints that I can take about me. I can enjoy my individuality or I can demonize it. See the best in others by not assuming they see the worst in you: Think about it. What do you think of your best friend? What would the thoughts that you have about them be different than the thoughts they have about themselves? Does the things your friends and family say about you congruent with or at odds with the thoughts you believe they have about you? Change your story: Practice caring more about what you think about yourself. When the thoughts of what another might think of you come up change the story. Realize that is not their thought but yours being portrayed onto them. Then accept that your thoughts can be changed. Realize that your story is just “false evidence appearing real.” That your story doesn't need to become reality. It becomes reality only through your belief that it is true. You are the only one with the power to change it. Please subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review, to help others find this podcast. Also join the Facebook group. Here is the spot to click and set up a time so we can discuss how you can use these tools and others to get your amazing life!