Sunday 17 January 2010

Six Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem By: Leslie Sokol, Ph.D. and Marci Fox, Ph.D. January 18, 2010

Has your self-esteem gone into hibernation with the bears or fallen by the wayside like the leaves on the trees? Before you let one more moment slip away, put the spring back into your step without waiting for the thaw. Whether your self-esteem is still going strong, fading, has disappeared all together, it makes sense for all us to nurture our confidence. Confidence equips us to face the tough and unpleasant times and allows for joy and pleasure when living is easy.
Here are 6 ways to give a boost to your self-esteem:
1. Recognize and embrace your positive qualities. Make a list of all your assets including skills, experiences, physical and social resources, talents, and anything else that makes you feel good about yourself. Add to the list the compliments that others have given you as well. Reminding yourself of all your assets is a sure confidence booster.

2. Accept that you are a desirable package rather than any one individual item. Accept that you are not perfect. Don’t let any one particular shortcoming negate that you are a complex, multifaceted desirable package. See the desirable package that you are by taking a picture of yourself with a big smile on your face and post it on your bathroom mirror. Every time you look at your smile think of each of the positive characteristics that define you.

3. Trust that you are competent. Remind yourself of all the problems you have faced and tackled. Have faith that even if you cannot deal with a problem yourself that you will have the ingenuity to get the help, skills, or knowledge that you need. Doubting your capability? Take on a new challenge and prove to yourself you CAN rather than you can’t. Pay attention to each accomplishment regardless of how small and make a mental note or, even better, keep a note pad. Give yourself extra credit when it required significant effort and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back.

4. Believe in your own worth. Recognize that means making yourself a priority some of the time. Think of something you want to do and do it. Give yourself permission to say no, ask for what you want, or maneuver into a position to make it happen. Be prepared to tolerate disappointing others for the sake of recognizing that you matter and taking care of yourself.

5. Think back to most recent experience where you felt you fell short, made a mistake, or messed-up and force yourself to name five things that went right. We are not defined by any one thing but by the accumulation of our experiences.

6. Look in a full size mirror and pick five things that you are looking at that make you feel good. You can pick five things you see on the outside such as your physical attributes: eyes, lips, hair, nails, legs, feet, toes, or smile. You can also pick things related to your style such as: your hairdo, clothing, stance, make-up, shoes, or jewelry. In addition, you can pick items that come from the inside such as: your sparkle, spirit, energy, compassion, or kindness. Having trouble? Ask someone that matters to you to name five things you have to feel good about yourself. Try this every day for a week.

Friday 8 January 2010

The Gift of Imagination Conscious Evolution and Spiritual Growth With Creativity

It is vital to the happiness of every individual that he or she continues to evolve in spiritual growth, self awareness, and personal development. This growth and expansion as our true and authentic self is the basis of all spirituality. Accordingly, this growth and expansion can be enhanced by the use of the gift of imagination for creativity.

Progression and advancement in consciousness is the Universal Law of Continual Consciousness. And just how does creativity and imagination play an impacting role in our progression and advancement in consciousness? It plays a role through our ability to constructively and productively use the imagination to co create life. The imagination when use properly begins the process of allowing the Creative Spirit to move.

Each time we use the gift of imagination properly we stir creative expression (the movement of the creative spirit). Creative expression promotes conscious evolution and spiritual growth. This growth and evolution is possible because as we use the gift of imagination, we are inspired and we inspire others. This inspiration is the substance which allows us to become more and add more life to life. Accordingly, if we were to ever wonder what the greatest desire for all mankind and womankind could be, the answer would be—more life. More life is riches and we have a divine right to live richly and in abundance.

Now, the question is, how can we use our imagination effectively to enhance creativity, conscious evolution, and spiritual growth? The answer is, go to the core of your being where your true and authentic self resides. Your true and authentic self is a natural co creator who has been implanted with a vision for purpose in life. When we use the gift of imagination from the core of our true and authentic self, we are powerful co creators and most importantly we are functioning as unstoppable visionaries.

A fine illustration from an artistic perspective is the art form of performance art, specifically acting and dramatic interpretation. An actor or actress who wants to deliver a powerful and dynamic performance always looks for ways to relate to the character from his or her true and authentic self—why? By taking the time to relate some aspect of the character’s nature to his or her true and authentic self, the performance becomes more authentic. And if this actor or actress is seeking to communicate something about life and the human condition, he or she evolves and grows from having “played” the role of the character.

For example, if you were an actress who wanted to play the role of Lady Macbeth and you wanted to identify with her character, you may want to tap into your desire for success and fame in order to understand Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed. To heighten the identification and relation to the character, you may use your imagination to intensify your desire for success in order to understand Lady Macbeth’s level of ambition. You may ask yourself: “What lengths would I go to achieve success?” With greater intensity with the use of your imagination, you may imagine what Lady Macbeth is feeling. How she make think she is justified in her actions. Later as she is tormented with guilt of her actions, you may use your imagination through the knowledge of your true and authentic self to understand her guilt.

Once your performance of Lady Macbeth has ended, it would be beneficial to you the artist to take the time to discover what new things you have discovered about who you really are and what is important to you. As such, by way of creativity and your imagination, you have grown in some way spiritually and consciously for having played the role of Lady Macbeth.

The same is true when we sing a song, draw picture, paint a portrait, or read literature. The same is true when we visualize how we want to live our lives, take meditative journeys to understand our true desires, or journal for self realization. Creativity is creativity. It does not matter if creativity is used for art, personal development, spiritual development, self actualization, or self improvement. It does not matter because in the process, we are embarking on a journey to discover more about who we really are. The authenticity of this discovery is what leads to spiritual growth, conscious evolution, personal power, and success. This freedom of self discovery becomes contagious and it inspires others to reach within to create more life.

So, if you desire to grow, progress, and expand spiritually and consciously, use the gift of imagination in the creation process. The imagination can be a great tool for personal development. Imagination is a powerful gift and it is most powerful when we use it as our true and authentic self. The journey begins when we let go and let the Creative Spirit move.

Carmellita M. Brown is the Founder and Creative Director for Blue Lotus Living, a Spiritual and Personal Development Community and Holistic Lifestyle Media and Education Company. She has developed a creative success system to teach the power of co-creating life at http://www.bluelotusliving.com

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Monday 4 January 2010

Personal Development For Success. What Are The Alternatives?

Young people growing individually is the underpinning theme of Personal Department. Included are the development of yourself as a person, and how you acquire capability and knowledge. Additionally it is about how you develop in maturity, in the way you are educated, how you work, and how you develop socially.

Understandably, the influence we receive from our parents, socially, at school and in later education, all has a significant impact on Personal Development. The bottom line however is self effort. A swimmer can be provided with the best coaches, but races will not be won until they have trained long and hard, and are self motivated to take the gold medal.

Individual growth in terms of one's character, and in terms of one's skills, represent two important components of Personal Development. And the third is about the growth of self inspiration to achieve. Most of us when we are young, develop personally in a Conventional manner.

Developing personally in a Conventional manner means quite normal early and later education. It also means experiencing pastimes and activities outside of academic education. I found in my study of 100 people who are world famous and successful, that 52% of them were Conventional in their Personal Development as youngsters.

Other young people develop personally in more of a Specialized manner. We may have been a great guitar player, or an outstanding athlete. Our family may have been prepared, and inspired us to grow our talent in a focused way, also meaning that we left formal academic education early.

Other Specialized forms of personal development include pursuing vocations, apprenticeships or trades while still young. So developing personally in a Specialized manner, can embrace many alternatives. In researching the patterns of success behind famous people in the world, I found 24% of them were Specialized, as youngsters.

In addition to the more Specialized or Conventional forms of Personal Development, there is one more significant development option. This is Personal Development through Broad Life Experience as youngsters. In so doing, they leave the more typical pathway of academic education.

With Broad Life Experience, young people pursue their own lives, wherever this takes them. This is how they learn and acquire capability, in other words by being involved on the ground in different walks of life. This also comes about by watching other people and life happenings all around them.

So this is experiencing life for real, compared to reading about it. Some would call this their life university, although they may have regrets that they didn't undertake formal tertiary education. In my study of famous people, 24% seemed to have developed via Broad Life Experience as youngsters.

Article Source : http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com

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Friday 1 January 2010

Can Life Coaching Turn My Dreams Into Reality?

A person assigned to help you with various issues in your daily life is called a life coach. To help the clients achieve whatever goals in life they have is the purpose of life coaching. Besides that, they also help in getting their clients through a difficult phase in their lives.

All kinds of people can seek the services of a life coach. One could be on a very prestigious post and one could be a total professional failure; that does not matter. What matters is your need for someone to guide you for direction and support. A life coach can give you pointers about things, like a career change or regarding difficult decisions in your life.

Furthermore, your role can also differ. For instance, it can be a mother or a housewife who needs help regarding her life pattern. Also, you can be someone who is seeking a positive, more cheerful outlook towards life, with which a life coach can help you. The problems that a life coach can solve are of every nature and kind.

There are two categories of life coaching. The first one is personal life coaching. For instance, there are phases when you are in confusion about what path to take. This crossroads state could be crucial and advice is needed at this stage. A life coach is just the right person you need. Or else, in another case, if you think you are lacking something in your personality, such as eloquence or courage, a life coach could be helpful in improving your traits.

If you need help in your professional life, you can hire a career life coach. Sometimes, it so happens that you are stuck in a career, which you are no longer motivated for, and wish to choose a different career path. A life coach can help you consider all your options, and take steps to rebuild your career. A life coach can also help you perform better in a working environment, and to gain more confidence, and competitive drive. In this way, you can excel at work with the help of your life coach.

To achieve your dreams, a life coach could be very helpful. Be those life purposes or goals, hiring a life coach can be very helpful in the fulfilment of that particular aim or purpose. With the help and guidance of a life coach, we can facilitate our dreams to the shade of reality, something that we seldom deemed possible.

However, with the stresses, and pressures of the modern life, we find too little time to work on our dream, and we let our potential go to waste. A life coach can help you come up with a schedule, which you can balance with your other commitments. He/she can help you remain motivated, and positive, and will help you bring changes in your life.

These days, life coaching is turning out to be a popular profession with more people opting out for it. One can easily find a life coach with the help of a personal reference or through the internet, a decision that can help you achieve your life dreams.

Article Source : http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com

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