Self-confidence: A magical power

Every individual has the potential of doing something good in life and if the potential is understood well by him/her then the task to exploit that becomes quite easy.Those people who believe in themselves could perform much beyond their capacity. The belief in self is the key to success and the lack of it will make the difference between success and failure.I read a story somewhere(it may not be a true story but gives wonderful message) in which a person with a very low self esteem goes to a saint and asks him for help so that he also becomes as confident as the saint .The saint allowed him to stay with other disciples.This person observed that the other disciples were able to perform any task given by the saint very easily. One day, he also asked the saint to give him some task which he thought could be performed by him. The saint told him that you are capable of walking on the water and if you have confidence in my observation and your capability then try it. The man had seen other people doing some amazing tasks so he felt confident and tried to walk on the water and to the utter surprise of the saint and others he could do so and experienced it he was walking on the solid surface.This is the miracle which can be done by having self belief and self confidence.
This story can be very helpful to the teachers and the students. The teachers are the ones who can enhance the self esteem of the children.They come across many students who are not confident about their capabilities and need someone to help them realise their strengths and if done so in the right manner and at the right time by the teachers that can make a difference.I shall cite two examples here, though there are many like this in my life and many other teachers must have also experienced the similar kinds. But before that I would like to caution all that this should be done with a lot of care and proper calculations.There was a child who was considered to be an average student in academics but as always happens,the father and the mother being doctors, wanted the child do very well and become a doctor.He had not done well in class XI and the worried parents approached the teacher of physics and told him that if the child could do well in this subject there was a possibility that he would get admission in some medical college.The teacher concerned tried his level best but not much improvement could be seen. One day the teacher sat with the child and told him that he was capable of securing ninety marks in this subject and if he did not get, then his talent would be wasted. The teacher supplemented this statement by another sentence for the knowledge of the child that he had given a word to his parents that he(the boy) would definitely get that percentage of marks.The teacher could see the difference in the attitude and the efforts of the child and he scored nearly the same marks as promised.What made it to happen was, undoubtedly the self confidence and self esteem.Another such example is of the games field. The same teacher is very fond of playing with the children because he feels that he is able to understand the children better while playing with them than in the classroom.Though winning is not the only criterion of the teacher but the sincere efforts to win definitely has been his important goal in life.One day the players of his team(they were the students) were not playing up to their strength and they lost the two games of a volleyball match . In the third game also they were trailing and the teacher player  was not really happy with that. He told the student players that he did not mind defeat, but not in this manner. He told them that you all are better than the other team players but not realising that, was making the difference. The other statement the teacher gave was that if you did not win this game that meant they did not want the teacher to be the member of their team. This worked as a magic and the team which was at the verge of defeat won the third match. Now this again was the awakening of  self belief and self esteem in the minds of the players.
What I want to convey and suggest to the teachers is, that they should try to make children realise their strengths and help them to exploit that to the optimum and for this the teacher will have to use all his wisdom and experience. The teacher must be aware of the consequences of all his actions in and outside  the class but the most important of that is to have a positive and unbiased feeling towards the children even if you are expressing anger to them for some wrong deed of theirs. Most of the teachers form their opinion about a child by over hearing certain comments from other teachers, which is not the right approach. If the teachers think positive about their children they will definitely be good and perform better than expected by others. One word or one sentence uttered by the teacher can make a difference in the life of the child.     

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