Did you know that public speaking is one of the most frequent and strongest fears that people have? I used to be one of them and here is what I learned. My fears stemmed from memories of numerous failed and embarrassing class speeches that had gone horribly wrong. Additionally, I grew up believing that what I had to say was not interesting anyway. Plus, I hated confrontation and public speaking was the worst case scenario. Can you relate to any of this?
Consequently, for many years I would do everything I could to avoid public speaking in any form and this meant even avoiding speaking up for myself. For a long time, I denied my inner voice that was inviting me to challenge these beliefs and to stand up and speak out fearlessly!
Don’t get me wrong. I did find many creative and ‘safe’ ways of expressing myself. Unwittingly, they have helped me to build my confidence, hone my expertise and most importantly stand in my authority and explore what I am really good at and enjoy. The advent of social media, podcasts, tele-summits, blogging and self-publishing have all contributed greatly to my ‘coaching’.
A key to effective problem solving I have found – and one that addresses all aspects of an issue – is to never face a problem head on! This can create huge resistance and amplifies feelings of frustration and overwhelm and discouragement. For example, if you are driving from A to Z and on the way there is a major road block, you would look for alternative routes and ways to get there, right? Looking for alternatives and solutions is a great way to solve problems and allows other possibilities to show up, which you may not of thought of initially. So what this advent did for me, was that I was actually learning to stand up and speak out, without seeing it as public speaking! This helped removed the fear factor and look at things from a different perspective.
It’s taken many years to finally break through this pattern of fear and shift my mindset around public speaking. Funnily enough, I realized this fully when I recently gave a talk at my local library’s ‘Author’s Evening’ to introduce my book ‘FEARLESSLY ALONE‘ and talk about what had motivated me and why. Was I nervous? You bet! In fact, unusually so. Because this time I was presenting something that was important to me – it wasn’t like those classroom speeches where I spoke about someone else’s ideas – this was about issues that were close to my heart and I felt extremely vulnerable. Yet, I wanted to be able to stand up and speak out fearlessly, even if others were challenging me and didn’t agree. I wanted to present my ideas without being confrontational and yet inspire food for thought and challenge old concepts. And I did just that!
You see, I knew my material well. It was a part of me and my life experience. I was my resource library. To create the mindset I wanted, I looked at all the beliefs that surfaced and I shifted each and every one of them. I also created those I would need as a positive back up – confidence, self-worth, awareness, humour and being willing to be vulnerable. I was able to transmute the fear of judgement of others and the need to be wrong or right. I was there to express my interesting point of view, to offer food for thought and to create connection with those whom my information could support.
More importantly, all the previous online ‘training’ had been preparing me for this moment and as I took action, even feeling really nervous, I was able to connect to that place within where I know who I am and believe in myself. It was such a wonderful and empowering experience! So much so, that it has ignited a burning desire to stand up and speak out fearlessly more often. Who would have thought this was possible? Certainly not that shy and unhappy school girl from way back. It took me six years to manifest this evening and prepare myself mentally and emotionally and spiritually. It all began a long time ago, when my Heart’s Knowing whispered to me, “You can do it!”… and so can you!
Some steps you can take towards standing up and speaking out fearlessly are:
Dare to believe in your dreams, no matter how silly or far away they may seem.
Ask and be willing to receive.
Take the baby steps and actions that come with ease to you.
Change direction as required without losing sight of your destination.
Build a mindset with beliefs that support your growth and that feel good along the way.
Trust that any thing is possible and look for opportunities!
Believe in yourself!
In Light and Appreciation
Trilby
Trilby Johnson is an Emotional Breakthrough Mentor, Author and Speaker whose clients hire her to go from emotional zero to emotional hero, as they heal, alleviate stress and cultivate emotional freedom in their lives, relationships, finances, emotions, health and mindset. She shares her knowledge of how to create inner harmony and outer balance with those seeking to deepen their self-knowing and expand their consciousness.
Imagine if you had a compass that would effectively guide you to what you wanted! Like Jack Sparrow’s Compass in ‘Pirates of The Caribbeans’, which showed the bearer where their deepest desire could be found? This wonderful compass analogy reminded me that it is possible and I have experienced it many times before. I call this compass – synchronicity. Do you know what synchronicity is, or do you call it coincidence or luck? How can you use synchronicity as a compass?
In this vlog. I explain what my understanding of synchronicity is and how I use this a technique to help me align, identify and benchmark occurrences that enrich my life. I had a real-life example recently, which I talk about and which made me laugh.
The magical thing about these events, I have observed, is that the more I became aware of and acknowledged the information that was there, and asked for the clarity in each moment, the more frequently, quicker and clearer it shows up. This allows me to gauge my progress and to fine-tune my vibration and direction and adjust my focus.
Every day is a surprise. There are confirmations of an interconnectivity and synchronicity which inspire, titillate and confirm the inherent comedy of the universe.”
~ Billy Zane
Watch here to find out more.
Now that you’ve watched the video, can you recognize and identify times when synchronicity was working in your life? What are some of your synchronistic experiences in your life? Share in the comments.
Also, begin to notice what shows up in your life over the next days or so – allow yourself to be surprised.
In Light and Appreciation.
Trilby Johnson
Trilby Johnson is an Emotional Breakthrough Mentor, Author and Speaker whose clients hire her to go from emotional zero to emotional hero, as they heal, alleviate stress and cultivate emotional freedom in their lives, relationships, finances, emotions, health and mindset. She shares her knowledge of how to create inner harmony and outer balance with those seeking to deepen their self-knowing and expand their consciousness.
Whilst many people who know the power of beliefs will agree, there is a shortage of people who truly believe they are awesome and who feel really good about feeling this way about themselves. So what holds so many back, when it comes to firstly believing they are awesome and secondly living in an awesome way?
I find many people confuse knowing how awesome they are with being arrogant. Somewhere along the line, in their system of beliefs and values, these two qualities have become collapsed together on some subconscious level and perhaps more importantly, with a negative connotation.
And so they are afraid to show up as awesome because they will be judged by others. And of course, they are also, on some subconscious level judging themselves in a negative way. If this was not so, there would be no problem in showing up as awesome and there would also be little judgment around arrogance either for that matter.
Embracing your awesomeness comes from a system of valuing yourself and feeling confident about what you do and can share with others. On the other hand, arrogance tends to stem paradoxically from a feeling of low-esteem and in order to compensate, the person will often adopt a behaviour of exaggerated confidence albeit one that puts others down and does not listen to other people’s opinions or ideas.
Here’s a quiz.
Think of someone who you consider as awesome. What are the qualities of this person that attract you? Now think of someone who you consider as arrogant. What are the qualities of this person that attract you? When done, ask yourself, who would you prefer being around and why? Write the reasons down and how you feel when with these people.
People enjoy being in the company of people who embrace their awesomeness. The main reason is because these people feel good about themselves and exude charm and confidence. And people will want to spend time in the company of these people. Life is simple too short to spend it not enjoying your own awesomeness and then being with awesome people.
Judgment is a natural part of the mental assessment process. However, you still have the choice as to what choice you are going to make. To play small or to play awesome! What if the only thing that is stopping you from being awesome, or even more awesome, is judgment? What if you gave that up, right here and now? Imagine how organically awesome your life can be! Are you ready to dare to be your awesomeness?
Believe in yourself and allow that to grow. The world really needs your awesomeness right now!
In Light and Appreciation
Trilby
Trilby Johnson is an Emotional Breakthrough Mentor, Author and Speaker whose clients hire her to go from emotional zero to emotional hero, as they heal, alleviate stress and cultivate emotional freedom in their lives, relationships, finances, emotions, health and mindset. She shares her knowledge of how to create inner harmony and outer balance with those seeking to deepen their self-knowing and expand their consciousness.
Ever noticed that the word intimacy begins with the letter “I”? Many assume that intimacy is all about sex. It’s not! Intimacy, is considered usually as something we only can have with another person, in the form of relationship. In this instance, I want to suggest a different perspective.
What if we think of intimacy as a state of being and experience that we have primarily with ourselves first and foremost? Learning to know ourselves is crucial if we are to enjoy a level of authentic and satisfying intimacy across our adult lives. Amazingly, many of us overlook this one factor when it comes to intimacy.
True intimacy, extends beyond the relationships we will have with another person. Instead, it is a deeply personal connection to ourselves. Without it, we are left feeling that something is missing within us and an emptiness that we instinctively try to fill. The more we look outside of ourselves to fill it – through success, relationships, love, money, work, drugs, media, food, purpose etc. – the stronger and wider the chasm inside us grows.
Being completely intimate with ourselves first is such an empowering individual process! Yet so few of us are aware of this and we don’t know how or where to begin. For genuine self-intimacy to emerge, we must be vulnerable to the process itself – the good, the bad and ugly, the hidden, the sensual, the still unfolding bits and the deeply afraid of being hurt bits.
To initiate this level of gratifying intimacy, let’s use the premises that ‘everything is within’, ‘start where we are’ and ‘the answers are right under our nose’. There is one place where all three of these premises converge – our body! During a life span, we spend every day of our lives in our body. Yet how well do we know our bodies and what kind of intimate relationship do we consciously enjoy in and with them?
For centuries, we have been conditioned by culture and religion. Those holding the control withheld the secret – of the enormous potential, strength and capacity that comes from our sacred body connection and its empowering nature. By propagating the belief that the flesh was sinful and would betray us, they drove a wedge between ourselves and our bodies – our dearest ally – effectively severing the cords to personal intimacy. Sadly, this myth continues even today and is most prevalent in issues of body-image, lack of self-esteem, a sense of overwhelm and a deep loneliness that many of us still experience.
In my recent book, ‘FEARLESSLY ALONE‘, I addressed several of the factors that contribute to people feeling lonely, isolated and lost. Feelings of loneliness are a key indicator of a lack of intimacy with our Self – the most important authority in our life. When we feel lonely, we are often experiencing a feeling of disconnection from our source of personal power and creativity. The book reveals how when prolonged and unresolved, this results in stress, anxiety, depression, loss of self-worth, ill-health and even suicide.
Whatever we do in life, we do together with our bodies and everything experienced – both consciously and subconsciously – is perceived via this physical miraculous mechanical organism. The body literally hears and captures everything that we ever see, feel, and think. It allows us to have all kinds of sensory and sensual experiences – pleasurable and/or painful. The body ‘communicates’ with us through our senses – physical, emotional and intuitive – and translates these into feelings that we can perceive and understand. For example, when meeting a person for the first time, there is an instant initial impression – like this person is trustworthy, friendly, genuine, happy, unhappy, lying, an authority, confident, etc. This hunch often turns out to be correct.
The more consciously intimate the relationship with our body is, the better equipped we are to navigate life and make informed decisions confidently. Learning to listen to these sources of information can enrich our lives even more than most of us can perhaps even imagine. Cultivating awareness of and within the body will allow for more intimacy that is genuine, trustworthy and ideally suited for any unique lifestyle. It’s possible to reap immeasurable rewards, like attracting favourable people, situations and opportunities into our life, whereas prior to this, we may have struggled and suffered and chosen unwisely.
When we consciously harness this natural and profound connection with our body and nurture it, we are experiencing intimacy. We have come Home. And when stepping out from this space to embrace our lives, it is done from a place of empowered authority and enriched connection. Thanks to our bodies. Don’t overlook this when it comes to intimacy!
Trilby Johnson is an Emotional Breakthrough Mentor, Author and Speaker whose clients hire her to go from emotional zero to emotional hero, as they heal, alleviate stress and cultivate emotional freedom in their lives, relationships, finances, emotions, health and mindset. She shares her knowledge of how to create inner harmony and outer balance with those seeking to deepen their self-knowing and expand their consciousness.
The spiritual relationship. By its very nature, solitary and deeply personal. Where each individual is called to find the meaning of life, for themselves. The importance of the beliefs around this relationship is evidenced throughout history and through the pivotal role that religion has held. Still today, war is waged in the name of religion and spiritual salvation used as the trump card.
In Western society, freedom to choose your spiritual beliefs, is relatively recent. Yet, the desire to belong and be a part of something is very strong for most humans. When this sense of connection is under threat or lacking – especially with regards to spirituality – you can feel alone and vulnerable.
There are many diverse spiritual beliefs and groups. This can often make it seem even more challenging to find and connect with those who have similar spiritual beliefs and who share and express the same values. Making assumptions about how people with spiritual beliefs behave can also result in disillusion.
A part of being different, is celebrating the diverse qualities and talents that make us an individual. As with any situation in life, I believe how we will experience anything comes down to attitude. So if you are feeling alone in your spiritual beliefs, here are some suggestions:
1. Change your Perspective
If you are feeling that being alone is something negative, then it’s very important to question the quality, viability and source of your spiritual beliefs. The very essence of having a spiritual relationship, is meant to connect you more closely with your divine nature – with yourself. If this sense of connection is lacking, then it’s important to dig deeper. Take a look at the content of your beliefs – ask yourself if they are preventing you from enjoying your life and divine nature more? Be honest.
2. Fish out the False Beliefs
One of the primary reasons you may be feeling unfulfilled and alone when it comes to your spiritual beliefs, in my opinion, lies hidden within the misleading information we have all been fed for eons about our origins and divine nature. How this can show up is in a feeling of ‘there’s something wrong with me’ or ‘I must be from another planet, because I don’t fit in anywhere’. I believe these feelings are linked to what I call ‘the myth of separation’. Belief in this myth, whether conscious or unconscious, has left a huge scar in the human psyche. This lie has dealt a huge blow to us as a race, especially in western culture. I offer an in-depth look at the spiritual intricacies of this myth and how it leads to an unhealthy sense of being alone in my book FEARLESSLY ALONE – Stop The Lonely Crisis And Find Your Happy.
In our current evolutionary pattern, for true soul/spiritual healing to occur, resolving this false belief around being alone appears to be a necessary rite of spiritual passage. If you are ready to fully experience the sacred relationship of your divine nature – however that looks to you – then feeling unhappily alone is an indication that your spiritual beliefs need upgrading to support, not diminish, you.
3. Find a Spiritual Teacher
Look for a spiritual teacher who can help you uncover any limiting beliefs and install new supportive ones. One of the important things to realize when feeling alone, is that it is an act of self-love to ask for help. You are not meant to do it all on your own! The Universe is abundant and brimming with life-force energy. There is no way that this excludes you. Only you exclude you. Is that perhaps what makes you feel alone? Reach out your hand and ask for help to transform your body-mind-soul connection.
4. Reframe the game
Reframe how you look at feeling alone. What if, instead of it being something negative, feeling alone means you are on your way?! You have broken free of the conventional dogma that restricts so many. Simply stop judging yourself. When you follow your own intuitive guidance and inner authority faithfully, you gain confidence and comfortably make the right choices for you.
When it comes to beliefs, choose those that lift you up where you belong. Choose to be a Spiritual Warrior who stands strong and firm and All-One.
In Light and Appreciation
Trilby
Trilby Johnson is an Emotional Breakthrough Mentor, Author and Speaker whose clients hire her to go from emotional zero to emotional hero, as they heal, alleviate stress and cultivate emotional freedom in their lives, relationships, finances, emotions, health and mindset. She shares her knowledge of how to create inner harmony and outer balance with those seeking to deepen their self-knowing and expand their consciousness.