3 Big Sneaky Ways Self Doubt may be on YOUR mind more than you realize!

PLUS a message on Self Doubt from my guides that will blow your mind! (It's something I've never even thought of!)

Did you know that Self Doubt is one of the number one things that blocks your ability to receive and trust your intuition?? As humans, we all experience some degree of self doubt at different times but these sneaky ways self doubt creeps in may be totally off your radar! 

1. Comparison: You may have heard the famous Theodore Roosevelt quote “Comparison is the thief of Joy”. Here are some ways you may be comparing yourself, and infusing yourself with self doubt. Do you compare your life to others while glancing at social media, when at work, or in your casual day-to-day experiences? Let’s look at social, but be thinking about other areas just mentioned as well. We all know that social media is a great way to keep up with those you care about but are you comparing yourself as you scroll? Maybe it’s comparing physical appearance, maybe it’s comparing something someone else has (a family, partner or even a new kitchen, for example) or even feeling superior or inferior about someone else gifts or strengths. There is a fine line between “good for them” and “why don’t I have/know/experience”. 
2. Resistance: Where are you and resistance to doing things that are healthy and in alignment with your goals? Are you finding it hard to get up that extra 15 minutes early to meditate?  Do you find yourself resisting doing things to move your body and your energy? Do you say you want to develop healthy habits but then resist the action steps needed to make them happen? Of course it’s common to have some “push back” when getting used to a knew habit or creating a new routine. Resistance, especially when it is around something that serves a larger goal we DO want, is a good indicator that self doubt is riding shot gun! 
3. Distraction: Studies show that the average human attention span is 8 seconds. On top of that, we are in a time when distractions are easier to find than ever before! But here is the question to ask yourself: when you’re being distracted, are you focusing on something this is affirming you externally? According to an article by Harvard University researcher Trevor Haynes, “Dopamine is a chemical produced by our brains that plays a starring role in motivating behavior.” He quotes Chamath Palihapitiya, former Vice President of User Growth at Facebook responding to a question about his involvement in exploiting consumer behavior, “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works”. It is not a far stretch at all to understand how your own Self Doubt much use distraction to give these burst of dopamine as an easy “external validation” rather than doing the work of questioning the self doubt in the first place! 

Message to you from my guides: My guide‘s message to you is “Self Sabotage serves Self Doubt. When you entertain the energy of self doubt, allowing it to hold your attention either actively or passively through constant repetitive thoughts in any negative way about yourself, your gifts, your abilities, your worth and worthiness, your systems automatically deploy self sabotaging behaviors often even in unconscious way. 

These unconscious and sometimes conscious actions and behaviors serve to prove the self-doubt which you already hold within your mind, refreshing the agreement every time you think about it and decide in the affirmative again. You agree to self doubt by not challenging it, by silently accepting it, by ruminating on it and flowing with the actions orchestrated by self sabotage to affirm it. Please break the cycle within yourself. It must start with releasing the self-doubt. Self sabotage obeys whatever self-doubt says.”

What to do: start by be available to notice. For example, other than mindless scrolling be checking in with yourself “am I comparing?” When you feel resistance to that healthy action that supports your goal, evaluate that resistance! “Am I self sabotaging by not doing my meal prep today?”, for example. 

Consider reframing the question for yourself as “If I fully believe I am worthy, what is the most loving action to take for myself here?” Or choose wording that resonates with you. You can then more easily check in with that comparison scrolling, resistance, distraction or self sabotaging behavior and make a more intentional, self loving, self affirming choice.