What I learned this week:   I really enjoyed taking the time to see how confidence can relate to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It really fits in so many different ways. 

I love first understanding the difference between confidence and arrogance.  How you can be confident and perform at your best without having to be arrogant.  I also loved the two quote we found from the General Conference talk from 1992 Confidence through conversion by Aileen Clyde: 

“I think it is important to stretch our minds and try to comprehend, as Moses was shown, the paradox of being small and great at the same time.”   

 “When we are converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ we become both humble and courageous.” 

 Dr. Nate Zinsser’s definition of Confidence - “Real confidence, then is the kind you’ll need to be at your best when the heat’s on and the consequences matter, is the absence of all that mental chatter and discursive analytical thought.” (p8 )

 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, John 14: 27 

Jesus wants us to have peace and I think some of these principle from this book help us achieve peace of mind for sure. 

“We must remember that whatever our best but imperfect offering is, the Savior can make it perfect. No matter how insignificant our efforts may seem, we must never underestimate the Savior’s power.”  Vern P. Stanfill - General Conference 2023 Sunday Afternoon Session

Second is the idea that we are able to choose for ourselves what we want to think and how to act. From The Confident Mind, “You can choose to create thoughts of energy, optimism, and enthusiasm or those that create fear, doubt and worry.” (59) 

  Just like the scripture: Book of Mormon - 2 Nephi 10:23 : Therefore cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to choose to act (and might I add to think) for yourselves – to choose the way of everlasting death of the way of eternal life. 

Third the idea of thinking and finding the best in ourselves by writing down daily our best Efforts, Progress and Success of the day.  And then also looking for those things throughout the day.  Our Daily ESP.  I think that Jesus thinks the best of us all of the time.  

 Doctrine and Covenants 18: 10 - 13 Remember the aworth of bsouls is great in the sight of God;

11 For, behold, the Lord your aRedeemer suffered bdeath in the flesh; wherefore he csuffered the dpain of all men, that all men might repent and ecome unto him.

12 And he hath arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of brepentance.

13 And how great is his ajoy in the bsoul that crepenteth!

Another great scripture that goes along with this as well is from Doctrine and Covenants 121:45  

let bvirtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy cconfidence wax strong in the dpresence of God;

I also love understanding virtue as power as I learned from the New Testament story of the woman with an issue of blood.  

The last thing I talked about was the idea of being free to make mistakes.  That Dr. Nate Zinsser limiting thoughts was that the one with the fewest mistakes wins, and he gives us an alternative thought that we play to win, mistakes and all.  We can still win despite making mistakes.  For really this is why our Savior suffered and died and then was resurrected so that we could be free to make mistakes and to learn and grow.  When we sin or make mistakes we can repent and change and learn and grow.  Many times mistakes are just part of the human conditions.  

Just like Dr. Nate Zinsser states “The internal enemies of doubt, fear, and insecurity can never be ultimately defeated; they are just aspects of the human condition that no one ultimately escapes from.”   We will constantly need to be filling up our mental bank account regularly. 

I also loved this scripture that talks about our human condition of being imperfect beings. 

Book of Mormon in the book of Ether chapter 12: 27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their aweakness. I bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my cgrace is sufficient for all men that dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make eweak things become strong unto them."

Remember your value is great and that you have the ability to choose how you want to think.  You can choose to think the best of yourself and you are able to learn and grow from mistakes and build confidence all because of Jesus Christ.