Confidence is a mental muscle that needs regular stretching and exercise. Sometimes it will fail and other days, you can conquer the world. Is it really all in your head? Or is willpower and determination housed in your heart?

Instead of thinking with your brain, start thinking with your heart. Research shows the heart sends out 60 times more electrical activity than our brains. Additionally, the heart’s electromagnetic field is 5,000 times stronger than the brain. This means the collective body energy (some refer to it as performance energy for the athletes) has an intellectual link. This is because the heart communicates to the brain via the nervous system, hormones it directly produces, biomechanical information (blood pressure waves) and energetic information (electromagnetic fields).

The heart and brain are constantly looking to achieve a state of “coherence”. This is when the electrical activity of the heart and brain are synced. Truly, it can be scientifically measured and often associated with higher levels of brain functioning, lower blood pressure, lower cortisol levels and improved immune system function. How exactly do you put the feeling of “coherence” into words? Some would debate it is growing your self-esteem, confidence, and spirit.

If your heart is part of the process to build and grow your spirit and confidence, then here are the practical benefits.

  1. Make time to exercise – this releases endorphins that trigger a positive feeling similar to morphine. Either morning, at the office gym, or when you get home. Make time to trigger these healthy brain chemicals.
  2. Build compassion for yourself and others – this leads to gratitude, which activates the brain stem and releases dopamine and serotonin (feel good hormones). Even the small acts of kindness goes a long way building character, leading for others, and being a role model for your team and family.
  3. Get more rest and sleep (uninterrupted preferably!) – Both sleep and exercise help release the production of human growth hormone (HGH). This protein is key to regeneration of cells, repairing your body from daily stress, injury, and promotes healthy metabolism.
  4. Practice meditation or deep breathing – this will calm down the parasympathetic nervous system that regulates your fight or flight responses which dominates your waking hours.
  5. Make time to laugh – this releases endorphins that enhance T-cells to boost the immune system.
  6. Make love or get involved in a loving relationship – sex and hugging release the “love hormone” we refer to as oxytocin that elevates pain and increases mood.

Take time to thank others at the office and home, practice mindfulness, and the science of using your breath. Combine it all together, and this gets your heart and brain aligned and functioning more in sync to ultimately lift your mood and spirit. When we have self-confidence it attracts the right people in your life, makes the office politics more manageable, and helps us to be happy. Because we all want to be happy, healthy, and strong.

Source: Time Magazine and Optimal Living Dynamics,  2018
Error! Missing PayPal API credentials. Please configure the PayPal API credentials by going to the settings menu of this plugin.

Don’t have PayPal? You can simply choose to use any one of your other credit or debit cards at the point of the PayPal checkout.