Doubt
*When we doubt that we will succeed, we have already failed.”
Introduction
Defining Doubt
When one is in doubt, one is in the belief that one will fail rather than succeed.
The state of doubt can also be understood as the fear of failing or the lack of self-belief.
Doubt thus can be a very limiting state of the mind, compelling one to avoid situations where one's self-trust in oneself is tested. These situations can be times when one has to make important decisions in life or even small ones depending on how deep the self-doubt is. For instance, the state of doubts can be experienced when one is thinking of starting a new business, when one is about to express their true opinions to others, when one is about to ask someone out for a date, when one is about to answer a question, and so forth.
When one is in a state of doubt, the following questions can surface in one's mind.
"Am I doing the right thing?"
"Will everything be alright?"
“I don't think I will make the right decision?”
"I don't think I will succeed?”
"Are people really giving me the right advice?"
"Will the Universe support me in what I do?"
All these thoughts will only create unnecessary thoughts because as the mind is unable to predict accurately the future, it will only dwell in the imagination of the worst possibilities. The state of doubt thus is a chaotic, fearful, suffering state of mind.
In this article, we will explore the state of Self-Doubt and the ways to transform it so that one can trust oneself again!
Doubt In Depth
In life, does it really matter if we fail in what we do? I mean, at the end of the day, all it matters is that we've tried right?
So, if we're going to try our best in succeeding in something, why not just believe that we are going to succeed rather than the other way around? Doing so would also help to make the experience more enjoyable!
When one has issues of doubts, one will find it difficult to trust oneself even if one knows it's the right thing to do. The state of doubt can feel like an automatic response, much like a fear, that no matter how much of a hindrance to our happiness we know it to be, we can find ourselves unable to just let it go.
Cause Of Self-Doubt
The state of Self-Doubt will always emerge from the deeply-rooted beliefs we have about the world. Thus, to transform it will require one to take a journey, often a long journey, into oneself to explore, understand, and transform these beliefs.
And what kinds of beliefs will these be?
These will often be beliefs to do with self-expectations.
For instance, expectations for oneself to be a certain way. More specifically, these ideas of expectations will be based on the ideas one has about what the Perfect Self should be.
From this perspective, Self-Doubt can be said to be the fear of not meeting the expectations we have of ourselves.
Importance
Importance Of Addressing Doubt
Let us look at the negative impacts that the states of doubt can have on our life so that we can realize the importance of addressing it.
Whereas Trust brings light into the mind, doubt brings in darkness. Doubt can make it difficult for one to see the light at the end of the tunnel especially when one is faced with a challenging situation in life. When one is faced with darkness, it's better to shine it with light rather than another layer of darkness right? Doubt thus is quite an unhelpful state of mind!
Doubt can also make us indecisive in times of making decisions.
Sometimes, the fear of making wrong decisions can make one give their decision away for others to make. Thus, when we doubt ourselves, it can inspire others to doubt us as well: doubling the doubt!
Are you often indecisive when trying to make a decision?
When we doubt our abilities to succeed, it can make us fear and run away from positions that require higher responsibilities.
Are you fearful of making important decisions in life?
When one is in doubt, one is no longer Present. The state of doubt can pull one into the thinking state of mind: of thinking and thinking until all the worst possible situations have been run through in the mind, which can be very mentally traumatic and draining!
Doubt thus can create chaos in the mind, affecting one's ability to focus on the task they are trying to succeed in. Doubt thus is a Self-Sabotaging state of mind.
When we doubt that we will succeed, we have already failed.
Path Of Creator
Doubt In Relation To The Path Of Creator
When one looks for the outward solutions to address one's doubt, one may think that the lessons that one will have to go through to release it will be about learning to make the “right” decisions and develop one's skill to succeed.
When one believes that this is so, one can end up investing a lot of time to perfect themselves, for instance, in developing their skills to lessen the chance of failure or spending too much time analyzing each decision to ensure success, one may even consider ways to mask the appearance of Self-Doubt by learning to act more confidently around people.
Although doing these things to address one's self-doubt can be beneficial as it can lead to self-improvement, they will only address Self-Doubt at the surface level.
Realize that to truly transform the states of Self-Doubt is to explore the reasons why one is so attached to ideas of failure and success. As long as one is attached, one will experience suffering whenever an undesired outcome arises in one's life.
The deeper solution for addressing Self-Doubt is to address the habit patterns of one's mind: to transform the negative reactions that one is always experiencing when one is faced with the fear of failure. Thus, the journey will be about transforming one's perception towards failing experiences, i.e. to accept that it's ok to fail. And also, it will be about transforming one's perception towards oneself, i.e. to see that one is capable to succeed.
Ultimately, it will be a journey of developing Self-Acceptance: of learning to accept all possibilities of outcomes and to develop the self-belief that one can succeed.
Self-Doubt can truly make the mind chaotic and dwell in unnecessary thoughts. So, if one wishes to make great progress on the journey, one can incorporate the practice of meditation in one's life because without a practice to Still the mind, one can be compelled by the reasons thought up by the thinking mind to continue in the habit of Self-Doubt. The fearful mind can be very persuasive in keeping you trapped in your fears.
The practice of meditation will help to pull you away from the intellectual thoughts of the mind so that you can see clearly go deeper to see what is causing all the chaos within, which will be the negative beliefs you have become attached to about yourself.
The destination is towards the state of Unconditional Self-Acceptance where you can see everything around you and within you in a brighter light so that when darkness comes, it won't affect the state of your mind.
Know and Transform The Self!
Reading articles helps with understanding, but to transform the mind, one realizes the truth from experience.
For such an enlightening journey, the Self-Transformation Course has everything you will ever need!
