Our shyness dulls our talent; we miss opportunities to grow and progress and we feel trapped in a vicious circle. Shyness, sometimes disguised as lack of initiative or interest, of indifference, comes from a deeper place still. In this depth, what we find is a lot of fear: fear of what other people think about us, fear of being disapproved off, of being abandoned, of being rejected... Fear, fear, fear.
If you are one of my students or if you are guided by my books, you have practical tools that you can use whenever fear puts the brakes on. But if not, what can you do? The only thing we can do is find security within ourselves: that you care much more about what you think of yourself than what others think. Of course, thoughts of self-criticism arise. Of course, someone, a critical and authoritarian person in our history, made us feel less, made us feel bad in the face of some situation. It does not matter what it was, neither when nor how. The only thing that matters is that when that is activated - because our memory, our conditioning, has that character engraved inside - we listen to our heart telling us to proceed, and take the steps to display our talent, to enjoy our passion, to be all that we are capable of being.
Living full of fear without realizing our potential is painful. Focus on self-love, in the consciousness, in that space in your heart that tells you that YES you can, and lovingly take action.
I remember when I started singing professionally. I was so shy - it's very hard to imagine now - that for everything I did, even to socialize, I needed to drink. I was so insecure! I was terrified of what people thought of me. Well, it turns out that the only thing that I could not do having consumed alcohol was to sing, because then I was out of tune. I went on stage the first time and I was shaking. Standing behind the guitarist, the first song I sang was called "Falling to pieces." And it was true! I trembled, and of course all my friends had come to see me and that made it worse, so I was trembling even more.
But I did it. I do not know if I did well, everyone told me it was fantastic, but the important thing was that I did it. And this is how it can be done: simply by doing it. Crossing that fear. To cultivate confidence in yourself there are no guarantees, no signed papers. We trust ourselves by taking the steps. Trusting that life will always bring us the best, even if we do not know what it is. Because when we say YES and focus on love-consciousness, that's the nature of life: it is always bringing us the best.
Once you have awareness, once you love yourself, there is nothing you can't do, because you feel secure inside yourself. And that's the most important thing: that you're giving your best because you deserve love, you deserve to shine.
Isha Judd is an Australian humanitarian spiritual teacher based in Latin America, author of “Love Has Wings” and “Why Walk When You Can Fly?”. Watch “Why Walk When You Can Fly?” on itunes. Her website is www.ishajudd.com. Watch more movies and inspiring videos at isha.tv
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