7 Gita Shlokas to Be Confident Without Always Proving Yourself
Riya Kumari | Jul 24, 2025, 16:54 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
There’s a weird little performance that happens in our heads sometimes. You walk into a room, cool, composed, good hair day. And then someone says something slightly passive-aggressive, or God forbid, challenges your opinion on coffee brands, and suddenly you’re in a courtroom drama defending your entire personality like it’s on trial.
It’s that heavy, tired feeling of not wanting to be seen, but also quietly wishing someone would notice you. It’s waking up already exhausted. It’s wanting to matter, but also feeling like you’re too broken to fix. It’s messing things up, even when all you wanted was love. And then hating yourself for doing it again. If this is where you are, please know this: you're not alone. And more importantly, you're not beyond healing. The Bhagavad Gita may seem like a scripture meant for warriors. But it was spoken to someone who broke down completely, who wanted to give up, who sat down in the middle of a battlefield and said, “I can’t do this.” That’s where real guidance begins. Not from strength, but from collapse. Let’s look at 7 Gita shlokas not as philosophy, but as quiet reminders for a mind that wants peace, and a heart that doesn’t believe it deserves it.
1. The first step is not putting yourself down further
(Lift yourself up by your own self. Do not put yourself down.)
— Bhagavad Gita 6.5
The voice in your head that tells you you're not good enough? It didn’t come from nowhere. Maybe it came from people who ignored you. Or blamed you. Or only loved you when you acted a certain way. But you’ve internalized it, and now you’re the one keeping that voice alive.
This verse asks: What if you didn’t need to believe everything that voice says? What if lifting yourself didn’t mean becoming perfect, but just...not hurting yourself anymore? Start there. Just stop adding to the pain. That’s more than enough for now.
2. Trying matters, even when nothing changes
(You have the right to your effort—not the outcome.)
— Bhagavad Gita 2.47
Maybe you’ve tried. And maybe nothing changed. Maybe you opened up, only to be shut down. Maybe you worked on yourself, only to fall back again. This verse says: You are allowed to try, without needing it to be perfect.
You are allowed to show up messy. Show up scared. Show up sad. You’re not here to perform for a result. You’re here to try, even when trying feels like crawling. That is enough. That is progress.
3. You are more than what happened to you
(Never was there a time when you did not exist.)
— Bhagavad Gita 2.12
There is a part of you that existed before the pain. Before the rejection. Before the self-hate.
You’ve forgotten who you were, but the Gita reminds you: you’ve always existed beyond this broken version of yourself.
You’re not the mistakes. Not the shame. Not the fear. Those are clouds. You, you are the sky. You can’t see it now, maybe. But it’s still there.
4. You don’t have to be cruel to yourself to be honest
(See yourself in others. Treat yourself with the same kindness.)
— Bhagavad Gita 6.32
If your friend felt worthless, would you call them stupid? If your younger sibling made mistakes out of fear of being unloved, would you say they deserve the pain? No? Then why do you speak to yourself that way?
This verse says: the way you view others, with empathy, with patience, you can give that to yourself too. You are not the exception to love. You’re just someone who hasn’t been shown how to receive it without suffering first. That can change.
5. You’re not evil. You’re just wounded
(Actions happen through nature, but the ego says “I am the one doing it all.”)
— Bhagavad Gita 3.27
You blame yourself for everything. Every failure. Every toxic pattern. Every time you sabotage what’s good. But what if it’s not your fault? What if you are acting from deep wounds you didn’t ask for? This shloka doesn’t remove responsibility, but it removes shame.
You are not your damage. You’re a human shaped by trauma, survival instincts, and deep hunger to be seen. And the fact that you’re reading this, that you want to change, that already means you can.
6. Peace doesn’t come after healing. It’s where healing begins
(From clarity comes wisdom. From peace comes understanding.)
— Bhagavad Gita 14.17
You can’t hate yourself into a better life. You can’t punish yourself into being lovable. This verse says: peace is not something you find after fixing everything. Peace is where you begin. Start small. Clean your space. Sit in silence. Speak kindly to yourself for one minute a day.
Wisdom doesn’t come from chaos, it comes when the noise in your mind slows down. You don’t have to figure out your whole life right now. You just have to stop fighting yourself.
7. Even when you feel stuck, life is still moving through you
(No one, even for a moment, is truly inactive.)
— Bhagavad Gita 3.5
You feel like you're doing nothing. Like you’re stuck. Useless. Wasting time. But even now, your heart is beating. Your mind is watching. Your soul is waiting. Healing is happening even when you don’t feel it. You’re not useless. You’re wounded. And wounds take time.
The world may not see how hard it is to get out of bed, or send that one text, or sit with yourself. But the Gita does. And it honors that effort.
Closing thought
You don’t have to become someone else to be worthy. You don’t have to be impressive to be loved. You don’t have to be fixed to be human. If all you can do today is breathe and not hate yourself for five minutes, that is a victory. If all you can do is read this and not scroll past it with numbness, that is something.
The Gita doesn’t ask you to be perfect. It just asks you to stop abandoning yourself. You’re not too far gone. You never were. And the next time that voice in your head tells you you’re not enough, try whispering back: “I’m still here. I’m still trying. That counts.”
1. The first step is not putting yourself down further
— Bhagavad Gita 6.5
The voice in your head that tells you you're not good enough? It didn’t come from nowhere. Maybe it came from people who ignored you. Or blamed you. Or only loved you when you acted a certain way. But you’ve internalized it, and now you’re the one keeping that voice alive.
This verse asks: What if you didn’t need to believe everything that voice says? What if lifting yourself didn’t mean becoming perfect, but just...not hurting yourself anymore? Start there. Just stop adding to the pain. That’s more than enough for now.
2. Trying matters, even when nothing changes
— Bhagavad Gita 2.47
Maybe you’ve tried. And maybe nothing changed. Maybe you opened up, only to be shut down. Maybe you worked on yourself, only to fall back again. This verse says: You are allowed to try, without needing it to be perfect.
You are allowed to show up messy. Show up scared. Show up sad. You’re not here to perform for a result. You’re here to try, even when trying feels like crawling. That is enough. That is progress.
3. You are more than what happened to you
— Bhagavad Gita 2.12
There is a part of you that existed before the pain. Before the rejection. Before the self-hate.
You’ve forgotten who you were, but the Gita reminds you: you’ve always existed beyond this broken version of yourself.
You’re not the mistakes. Not the shame. Not the fear. Those are clouds. You, you are the sky. You can’t see it now, maybe. But it’s still there.
4. You don’t have to be cruel to yourself to be honest
— Bhagavad Gita 6.32
If your friend felt worthless, would you call them stupid? If your younger sibling made mistakes out of fear of being unloved, would you say they deserve the pain? No? Then why do you speak to yourself that way?
This verse says: the way you view others, with empathy, with patience, you can give that to yourself too. You are not the exception to love. You’re just someone who hasn’t been shown how to receive it without suffering first. That can change.
5. You’re not evil. You’re just wounded
— Bhagavad Gita 3.27
You blame yourself for everything. Every failure. Every toxic pattern. Every time you sabotage what’s good. But what if it’s not your fault? What if you are acting from deep wounds you didn’t ask for? This shloka doesn’t remove responsibility, but it removes shame.
You are not your damage. You’re a human shaped by trauma, survival instincts, and deep hunger to be seen. And the fact that you’re reading this, that you want to change, that already means you can.
6. Peace doesn’t come after healing. It’s where healing begins
— Bhagavad Gita 14.17
You can’t hate yourself into a better life. You can’t punish yourself into being lovable. This verse says: peace is not something you find after fixing everything. Peace is where you begin. Start small. Clean your space. Sit in silence. Speak kindly to yourself for one minute a day.
Wisdom doesn’t come from chaos, it comes when the noise in your mind slows down. You don’t have to figure out your whole life right now. You just have to stop fighting yourself.
7. Even when you feel stuck, life is still moving through you
— Bhagavad Gita 3.5
You feel like you're doing nothing. Like you’re stuck. Useless. Wasting time. But even now, your heart is beating. Your mind is watching. Your soul is waiting. Healing is happening even when you don’t feel it. You’re not useless. You’re wounded. And wounds take time.
The world may not see how hard it is to get out of bed, or send that one text, or sit with yourself. But the Gita does. And it honors that effort.
Closing thought
The Gita doesn’t ask you to be perfect. It just asks you to stop abandoning yourself. You’re not too far gone. You never were. And the next time that voice in your head tells you you’re not enough, try whispering back: “I’m still here. I’m still trying. That counts.”