This quote almost ended up in a blog post of mine except I had reservations about people misunderstanding it. I agree we should allow ourselves to feel very positive about anyone who contributes to us enjoying our life experience more. But it’s also important to remember that they didn’t give us the confidence. But we can nevertheless be extremely grateful to them for reminding us that confidence is a natural state and that only self-talk can get in the way of us feeling natural confidence. There never really was anything stopping us from feeling confident except our own insecure thoughts about ourselves. So with my apologies to Truman Capote, I’m okay with the line if it reads: Be grateful for anyone who reminds you that the only thing separating you from a feeling of confidence is your own insecure thinking. As a fellow screenwriter, I doubt that George Axelrod (who wrote the script) would have liked my line in his movie and I would agree. But on a quote designed to be beneficial in helping people to understand their own role in their life experience? On that quote I’d go with me instead of Trueman or Axelrod. You don’t need confidence from the outside. You just need to stop suppressing it from the inside with stories about why you can’t, won’t or couldn’t. You are much more capable than your idea of yourself suggests, which is why insecurity would feel uncomfortable for you to experience. It’s not your natural state.
peace. s
Note: Everyone who posts or shares a quote does so with the very best of intentions. That said, I have created the series of Other Perspectives blog posts in an effort to prevent some of these ideas from entering into people’s consciousness unchallenged. These quotes range from silly to dangerous and—while I intend no offence to their creators—I do use these rebuttals to help define and delineate the larger message I’m attempting to convey in my own work. I do hope you find them helpful in your pursuit of both psychological and spiritual health.
A serious childhood brain injury lead Scott to spend his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and identity. It made others as strange to him as he was to them. When he realized people were confused by their own over-thinking, Scott began teaching others to understand reality. He is currently CBC Radio Active’s Wellness Columnist, as well as a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB where he still finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.