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Writer's pictureRobin Angela

How's your confidence?

The word Confidence is rooted in the Latin word,confidere, which means to have full trust and loyalty – thus, the word confidence means to fully trust and be loyal to oneself.


As a woman in this culture, I’ve always associated my 'confidence' to how I feel about the physical representation of myself. If I liked my outfit and felt good in it, if my skin was clear, and my hair fell just so – then yes, today I would be confident.


The deeper concept of this word, however, relates to the ‘self’ much further below the skin. It relates to who we are at our core, our essence, our heart. To be confident means to be trust and be loyal to one’s own heart.


A couple months ago I decided to plant some flower seeds in my garden. We have three larger pots out in the garden that we typically plants flowers in each spring. I knew for sure those would be a good place to plant the seeds, but I had some seeds left over so I started looking around for another place to plant them.


Near the entrance of my garden is a cinderblock on which a Buddha sits. When I saw it my first thought was, “oooh it’d be so cool if flowers were growing in there!” Then my logical mind kicked in… “there’s no way they’d get enough light or water to grow there.” I agreed my logical mind was probably right and walked away.


I looked for another place to plant my remaining seeds, but nowhere got me as excited as the block below the Buddha. ‘Oh what the hell,’ I thought, ‘I’ll just plant them there – if they don’t work out, I’ll have the others. But, if they do, it’d be so pretty!’ I went back and planted them.


Several weeks later, and after completely forgetting about my dear seeds, I walked out to the garden to check on things. I walked to all the pots I had so much certainty in, and there was nothing. No sign of life at all. Whether animals had dug through them, or they didn’t’ have the resources they needed – none of them had made it.


Disappointed, I started to leave the garden. As I walked through the entrance, I peeked down at the cinderblock under the Buddha, and I couldn’t believe what I saw…




These were the only seeds that had sprouted. 


Our logical minds are advising us with a limited amount of information – its usually good information, but it’s not the whole picture.


Our hearts are guiding us with our intuition, our connection to the Divine, our inner child, and ancient wisdom. Our hearts embody the essence of who we are and what we really want from life.


As I stared at these budding plants in awe, I realized the importance of listening to our wild, innate self. Even when it doesn't make the most sense. I learned a lesson in confidence.


Confidence, as I continue to learn, is hearing that call from within, and refusing to let our logic or the opinions of others deter us from trusting it. Confidence is refusing to abandon ourselves.


This week I invite you to join me on this journey of building confidence – of trusting and remaining loyal to ourselves. Listen to that inner voice, that inner guidance system that knows you better than anyone; listen to the guidance it offers you – and follow it. Even when it doesn’t make the most sense.


You might be pleasantly surprised to see how wise you are, how much fun you’ll have, and what might grow from it.


Wishing you a wonderful week. 

With love and gratitude, 


Robin 

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