How to cultivate healthy self-confidence

Happy Choetrul Duchen to everyone. This is the day the Buddha, when defending his tradition in philosophical debate, had to display miracles to defeat the opponents and keep the Buddhist tradition alive. May we all have such power to benefit others! The greatest gift we can give another is unconditional love. The greatest gift we can give ourself is unconditional love. Unconditional love is infused with the most beautiful fragrant wisdom of Śūnyatā, or emptiness. In the last post I promised to explain how to cultivate healthy self-confidence. It involves mindfulness, the ability to observe inside our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. When we notice any kind of “put-down” attitude, we remember how destructive it is, both to ourself and to others. Putting ourself down makes us shrink and feel lowly and unworthy. This robs our happiness. Putting others down makes them feel the same. Either way a “put-down” attitude sucks the life out of us and those around us. Changing a “put-down” attitude takes time and persistence, but is well worth it! Healthy self-confidence is the joie de vivre‎. Cultivating genuine concern for the wellbeing of others reduces our ego while maintaining courage and strength. It is always the default approach to wellbeing along with healthy self-confidence.