I found to Halley's Comet via Joi's recent post.  Actually, her blog is named "Halley's Comment" but I read it as Halley's Comet because the name reminded me of a little paragraph I wrote recently:

As I streak across the sky called life, I pickup debris that will slow me down or change my direction unless I cast it aside.  My blog is the long tail of a comet called me. – Why I Blog

I am in the middle of reading her "How to Become an Alpha Male" series of posts, recommended by Joi.  Good read.  I think of myself as an Alpha Male of sort so I found her Alpha Male series amusing and reflective.  I don't read much writing by women by choice.  When I do, I am rarely affected by the writing.  I wonder if this is just me or one of nature's mechanism to protect men from women — What dear?  I didn't hear you the first time.  Dorothy Dunnett was an exception.  Looks like Halley Suitt is another exception.

Halley's "Confidence Game" post made me think about my confidence.  I had confidence problem in my youth, but during the course of my "Selfish Pig" self-therapy, I realized that not only one doesn't need to justify having confidence, it is disadvantageous over the long run to support one's confidence with columns of justifications.

Having confidence because of how you look will fade away as you get older or have accidents.  Having confidence because of your intellectual powers lasts longer, but you are limited to the areas of your expertise.  Such confidence also tend to leak arrogance over time.

Examining and experimenting with confidence, I concluded that it is just combined effects of an internally-produced drug and not even limited to humans.  It is special because it affects not only how one performs and is affected by one's surrounding, but also affects nearby animals sensitive to it.  This is not that different from using prescriptions to overcome depression except far cheaper.

Once I chalkmarked it, next step was to figure out how to generate it and keep generating it in a constant flow.  Here is the formula* that worked on me.

• Confidence is like body temperature.
• If I lose it, I will die.
• Just have it.

Whether my conclusion is correct or not matters little for it works and I am too lazy to be scientifically-correct.

* I use the word formula to describe a set of simple sentences expressing a group of thoughts that when taken together have desired effects on one's mind.  Some are stable and persistent, others are not.  If you are gonna build one, do it carefully.  You can easily screw up your mind this way.  Just look at me, for example. <maniacal-grin/>