“…there comes a confidence which is not tainted with the sense of arrogance. It is the confidence of innocence. It is like the confidence of a child who is so completely innocent he will try anything.”
-JD Krishnamurti
How do you get electric light to 7,000 islands without building power plants, stringing up wires, or installing batteries?
The answer is saltwater.
Lipa Aisa Mijena of De La Salle University in the Philippines invented a lamp that can light for 8 hours using a single cup of seawater. The lamp does not use dangerous chemicals. It is made with two diodes, each made from a different type of metal that goes into the briny water. This causes electrons to flow from one diode to another, creating power.
With her invention, the Philippines’ 7,000 islands can now get light without having to burn kerosene or buy expensive batteries. The lamp can literally save lives during the Philippines’ many natural disasters due to typhoons and earthquakes as darkness makes it much harder to rescue survivors.
When it came to this project, Lipa didn’t assume that “it can’t be done.” She had a goal and tried to make it happen. This is akin to the confidence of innocence. The innate confidence children have before they learn limitations.
With the confidence of innocence, children don’t worry about the outcome of what they do, they just keep trying things and seeing what happens
This is different from self-confidence that comes from a series of past successes. This confidence is unconditional. It’s there before you take a single step in a new direction.
And that’s part of what makes the confidence of innocence so valuable
You don’t need evidence or proof or approval. You just take actions that you wish to take without concerns about success or failure.
However, many of us lose this special type of confidence
Well-meaning parents, teachers, and others praise us for doing things that they approve of and criticize us for doing things of which they don’t approve. As a result, we form limiting beliefs such as “I’m not good enough.”
And we easily conclude that if we reach some lofty standard we’ll finally be able to gain everyone’s approval. But as we all know this never comes to pass. No matter how much we achieve, it’s never enough as long as we have an inner voice that says we are not OK.
So how do you get in touch with this pristine confidence we are all born with?
We do it by finding each self-belief that makes us assume limitations about ourselves. We then eliminate each one of these beliefs. As we do, we gradually become aware that our innate abilities come to the fore. We start to feel excited about trying new things instead of fearful. We regain a sense of joy that we haven’t had for many years. Taking action feels different as life starts to have more of the freedom of a game and less as a serious set of tasks that must be fulfilled.
Our client Ruth, struggled to speak up around strangers, then she eliminated the following beliefs:
- Mistakes and failures are bad.
- I’m not good enough.
- Change is difficult.
- I’m not important.
- What makes me good enough or important is having people think well of me.
Afterward, she reported,
I noticed a huge shift in speaking up in workshops and meetings and to unfamiliar people, something I’ve always felt anxious about doing. I felt more confident giving presentations and delivered a workshop without stressing enormously before it.
She had regained the confidence of innocence. She no longer expected negative reactions from others and just met each situation with a freshness unencumbered by the past.
But don’t we need to use our knowledge of the past to plan for the future?
Yes, you do. And there’s a major distinction between knowledge in the form of rigid beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” or “This can’t be done” and knowledge in the form of flexible principles that explain how things such as gravity work. Knowing about gravity helps you build a sturdy building. Believing you are flawed makes you doubt that you can lay down a good foundation for that building.
Summary
- The confidence of innocence is what we have when we don’t make any assumptions about what we can or can’t do. It’s what children have before they form limiting beliefs.
- This kind of confidence allows you to pursue new projects or ideas without evidence of your ability. You can start playing life like a joyful game.
- We can regain this innate confidence when we eliminate limiting beliefs.
Mijena worked for years to develop her saltwater lamp without proof that it would ever work. However, she didn’t pine away for the day that her project would be completed. She enjoyed the work as she made one discovery after another. This is something we can all do. We can work for future goals but enjoy the daily effort as long as we don’t have beliefs that say our success or failure means something negative about us. We are then free to act without guarantees. This is true freedom.
How to dissolve negative feelings in seconds (and make it a compelling habit)
Life brings us all big and small storms that can keep us from experiencing total joy. Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow be a bit more like the eye of the hurricane, unaffected by the chaos around us?
Fortunately, we created a way to do just that called the Lefkoe Occurring Course. In that course, you learn how to dissolve unwanted emotions in seconds. Then you make dissolving emotions a habit. You see reality with much greater clarity. As a result, positive and uplifting emotions tend to occur naturally.
You can register for the Lefkoe Occurring Course next week on Tuesday, August 17th. However, to do that, you first need to join the waiting list here: https://www.mortylefkoe.com/lfc/lfc-2-0-waiting-list/
