1. Make a list of your strong points.

All positive things about yourself and things that you are good at doing. Think of compliments you have received or things that come easily to you. It doesn't matter what it is, if it's good, write it down.

2. Choose two of those things that you want to work on to improve even more.

It's important to succeed and by concentrating on areas you are already good at you will have a better chance of becoming even more sure of yourself. Remember that success builds upon success.

3. Exude confidence even if you don't feel like it.

Talk to yourself in an encouraging way and stay away from negative thoughts and people as you can.

Instead surround yourself with positive, confident, and successful people. This will become a habit and one that will build confidence.

4. Look at yourself in a different way than you are used to doing.

It can change your life and help your confidence level to rise. See yourself as self confident person you want to be and before you know it you will become that person.

If you have a set-back do not let it get best of you. Remember times when you exhibited self confidence and how good it felt and then try again and each time will help you to build confidence and confidence building will become a way of life.

4. Just as we cannot build a house without first securing a solid foundation, we cannot achieve fulfillment without first ensuring that our body is sound, thanks to a healthy diet and lifestyle.

5. To be free to do what we please is a precious right that we have as members of a liberal society. This right comes with a corresponding duty: to respect that right in others. Indeed, we are free to do what we please if what we please is not to make our fellow creatures suffer. Mutual respect is sine qua non of collective harmony. It is chief principle behind human justice.

The right to freedom, within liberal society, also means that we are free to believe what we please. No institutionalized ideology is imposed on us besides basic moral principle dictating that we respect one another so that society, however liberal, remains sufficiently ordered to be operational. The reverse of order is chaos, which only knows law of jungle: dog eat dog.

Now, right to believe what we please comes with a corresponding duty: to think by ourselves and for ourselves to define our own ideology according to which we see and do things in a certain way. Again, only imposition is basic moral principle dictating that we respect one another.

6. Within context of my own ideology, which I cannot impose, but only propose, love is essence of life, its essential purpose. It includes love of ourselves, which consists in promoting our own life. This love is instinctive and foundational; it is instrumental in love of others, as we feel solidarity with them.

At a deeper level, love extends to that of everything. It proceeds from divine principle behind universe, thanks to which everything is way it is, capable of being and better still, within certain limits, capable of flourishing. Like this principle, these limits can be ascertained through their obvious manifestations, but never explained. Ultimately, universe and our relative knowledge of it are founded on a fathomless mystery.

Laurent Grenier’s writing career spans over twenty years. During this time he has broadened and deepened his worldview, by dint of much reflection and study, and in the end has crafted A REASON FOR LIVING, his best work to date.