Socialization is extremely critical for human beings, without it life would be dull. In 1938 it was an unfortunate but true case study of this. A girl named Anna was born to a mentally impaired woman that lived with her father. She was sent countless of places but was then returned home due to financial restraints. She was then forced into the attic and was given only enough milk to live on and lived there until she was five.
She wasn’t given no affection, no smiles, no hugs, or anything else, just coldness. Luckily, social workers saved the girl and sociologist Kingsley Davis went to see the girl immediately once he heard of the tragedy. The girl was completely unresponsive, he reported and she did not laugh nor speak. However, with some help and guidance the girl did learn how to walk, speak a little, and even care for herself. However, she died at the young age of 10. This is an example of how lack of socialization can harm someone both physically and mentally. The term socialization refers to the way humans adapt to their surroundings and learn their culture. Unlike animals that behavior is biologically programmed, humans learn and adopt over time. Social experience and interacting with people is what helps forms an individual’s personality or an individual’s consistent pattern such as emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Animals generally tend to act similar such as a cat.
A cat in America will usually act the same as a cat in Egypt, but the same can’t be applied to humans. We build a personality it just doesn’t come automatically to us, and we build it by our surroundings but as the case I mentioned earlier, without socialization a personality doesn’t form. In Anna case it is defiantly clear that humans depend on other people to not only mature physically, but mentally. About a century ago it was believed that people was born with certain instincts that would form personality and behavior.
An example is Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution that led people to think this. The US economic system led some people to believe that some behaviors just occurred “naturally,” such as some people are born criminals, or women tend to think more emotionally while men think more rationally. People also used this thinking for centuries to justify their “ethnocentric” view on society.
They claimed that members of a technologically inadequate society were not as biologically evolved as they were so they were viewed as being less human. Why not exploit others if they seem to be less evolved and not as human as us? You can obviously see the flaw in this. In the twentieth century a psychologist who helped explained behavior clearer is known as John B Watson, and developed the theory of behaviorism. This refuted the theory mentioned above and stated that behavior was not something that people are born with, but more learned by their surroundings.
He also stated that people around the globe are equally human beings, just they share different cultures and that behavior can be correlated to not nature, but more with nurture. However, that does not mean that biology does not play any part of behavior.
Most people usually share biological traits with their parents such as height and hair color, and their parents genetic makeup could influence their intelligence and artistic talents such as art or music. But, as again it deals with socialization, and individual can’t develop a personality without interacting so children tend to pick up habits from their parents through years of socialization. Also, it’s interesting to note that people brains can’t fully develop if they didn’t utilize it when they were a child. So yes, it’s quite important to get mysterious games and puzzles for your children so you can help them develop a more elastic brain.
So avoiding people is not good for numerous of reasons. An interesting and classic study was conducted by psychologist Harry and Margaret Harlow using monkeys. It would be illegal to use human beings for a study like this. Since monkeys show the closest correlation to human beings than they were used for this experiment. The experiments included testing monkeys in various environments and comparing the results to one another. When a baby monkey was placed in complete isolation (except for food and nutrients) for six months they reported some deformities in their development. They found that when they returned to their group that they were extremely fearful and subservient. They then placed a baby monkey in cage with an “artificial mother,” and this mother was made of wire and had a wooden head, and a feeding tube for a nipple.
These monkeys also showed some deformities because when they were placed back in their group they were unable to interact properly. However, for the last experiment a baby monkey was placed in a cage with an artificial mother made of “soft cloth,” than the monkey held on to the artificial mother very closely and show very little sociological deformities. So what was the difference between the artificial mothers?
Well, with the hard wired one the monkey was unable to hold on to the mother because it was rough and didn’t give back. However, with the soft artificial mother the baby monkey held on to it very deeply because it was soft more like the way a mother is and it developed a bond with it. So, this experiment confirms how important it is for infants to receive love and hugs so that they can develop properly. It’s also interested to note that the psychologists studied that the infants can recover from as much as three months of isolation, but around six months the behavior was noted to be “irreversible.” Like the story I mentioned earlier with Anna, after ten days the sociologist visited her she showed immediate improvement and even smiled. A year later she show some slow but steady progress showing some interest in objects and people and even teaching herself how to walk. About six months later she could take care of herself such as feeding and even played with toys.
Even though she showed drastic improvement by the age eight she showed the mental development of that of a two year old, and at the age ten she died of a blood deformity. This is evidence that some things are irreversible but this statement can easily be argued. As noted earlier she was born to a mentally disabled mother so that could have stunted her developing process even greater and the mystery remains unsolved even to this day. A more up to date case of child isolation took placed when a California girl was tied up in a dark garage in a basement.
The girl name was Genie and when she was saved at the age of thirteen she weighed only about sixty pounds. She had the mental capacity to that of a one year old, and her language remains that of a young child. Today she lives in a home of mental disabled adults. This is evidence that socialization is crucial for the development of humans and animals for that matter. Human beings can sometimes recover from damage but to what extent is the answer, and I will assume it will remain the same because every individual is different.
Socialization and is it all that important?
Personality and what’s the Real You?
Personality like many things in life is sort of concrete and can be difficult to define at times. The basic definition is the relatively stable characteristics that are enduring and distinctive which means it separates people from the crowd. Psychologists that study personalities try to analyze why people act differently to different situations such as why one person acts shy when they first meet a stranger or while some people are just natural and funny and be themselves. Some scientists believe that this is genetically engraved and that people don’t have much control over this. Other psychologists believe that it’s the environment has a significant say in the way people act. The truth is that personality is a multi dimensional topic and requires pieces from various theories because everyone is unique.
One theory is the psychodynamic perspective which was discovered by Sigmund Freud. This theory basically states that personality merely exists on the surface and to find someone true personality you have to dig deep in mind.
Psychologists who favor this approach believe that personality is an unconscious process, or that the individuals are not aware that they conceited or confident. He was known for his controversial theory that young boys have a sexual attraction to their mother, maybe he was referring to himself with his romantic relationship with his mother who was 20 years younger than his father.
A theory about the unconscious mind that makes somewhat sense is when people are having a conversation and calls someone they know a different name. For example, if a woman broke up with her boyfriend and got a new boyfriend and calls her current boyfriend her ex boy friend name it could mean that he is still in her thoughts. Freud also believes that dreams hold important motifs in behavior. He also believed that personality can be constructed into layers like an ice berg. The part that is buried far below the water is the id or the unconscious aspect. A good example will be children because a lot of time they will act on pleasure without thinking about the end result much.
If people would have a strong id personality than this would be a very scary place to live. People would act on natural impulses rather than conforming to society norms. The ego is nice to have because it helps people realize reality and help conform to society norms. For example, a lot of people realize that they can’t have their sex and aggression levels high and unmanaged and when they let it go than it usually lead to crimes like rape for one. Last, the superego also referred as the conscious aspect is the moral decider.
It decided what is right and what is wrong. A lot of psychologist didn’t follow Freud’s unconscious theory and a psychologist that was heavily against it was Alfred Adler. He believed that people were motivated by purposes and goals to achieve something in life. He also believes that people had the ability to be aware of what’s going on in their life and to consciously monitor their day to day events.
He also believed that people try to compensate for things they don’t have. For example, a person that tries to be superior may being doing it for their own insecurities because they will feel better about themselves by bringing other people down. This theory was known as individual psychology, in which states that people are motivated by purposes and to attain goals. When people attempt to overcome their insecurities this is known as compensation. When psychologists ignore the unconscious mind they tend to look at the environment more when determining personality, and this is known as the behavior approach.
They believe that you can only determine personality by what you see on the outside surface. For an example, if someone is shy, work hard, and are motivated to achieve something, this is apart of their personality. This theory was founded by an early psychologist named BF Skinner. He also believed that a person personality can change due to the stress in the environment, so he believed that personality was never consistent. So a person that is shy can be shifted to someone that is aggressive and out going, and a person that is out going can be shifted into a shy personality all due to their environment.
If a person is giving a positive reinforcement for a particular behavior, than it is more likely that it will come up again in the future. A different approach from Freud and Skinner’s theory is the humanist approach discovered by Carl Roger. This approach is a less pessimistic view, and finds the good in humans and believes that humans have the freedom to choose their own destiny. The central theme in Roger’s approach is self concept which is an individual’s view of their own abilities, behavior, traits, and personality.
If a person has a distorted self concept than most likely they will be awkward to hang around and associate with. When analyzing self concept Rogers talked about distinguishing yourself between the real self and the ideal self. The ideal self is the type of person that we would like to be. If a person has a large conflict between their real self and the type of person that they would like to be than the more awkward or maladjusted they will act.
To correct this we should try to focus more on our real self and develop a positive view on it and stop caring about what other people want or expect of us and try to have more positive experiences in our everyday lives. Another way we can help develop a more positive view of our real self is by a concept known as unconditional positive regard.
This term can be defined by being accepting of different individuals regardless of their behavior which is kind of hard to do. When a person is being rude, aggressive, or disrespectful, as weird as this sounds they still need support and to be loved. This doesn’t mean to hug someone after hey punch you, but more like “I don’t like the way you are acting but I still care about you and respect you as a person.”
I prefer Long term Assets
To see how well a company is doing with managing their long term assets you just need to know where to look. Some places you can find this is in the reported total assets, net income, and cash flows that are related to the investing activities of a business. An idea of how a company is utilizing long term assets can be found in their financial statements.
A company that is particular good at this just happens to be one of the largest food companies and goes by the name of H.J Heinz
A very important part of long term assets are its carrying value, or the part of the price of an asset that hasn’t expired yet. It is also known as the book value of an asset. If a long term asset just happens to lose part or all of its money producing potential before the end of its self life than the carrying value is reduced. Asset impairment occurs when the cash flow of the asset ends up being less then the carrying value.
When the carrying value is reduced then it is counted as a loss. Long term assets can be further broken down into three distinct items. They are tangible assets, natural resources, and intangible assets. A tangible asset is a type of long term asset that is physical like land, buildings, and equipment. Natural resources are a type of long term assets that is exchanged for economic value and can be obtained from the land, like gas, gold, and ore. Last a intangible asset is an type of long term asset that doesn’t have any physical worth but have a value based on the rights that is granted to the owner. An example of this is copyright, patent, and trademarks.
The way that tangible assets loses value is through depreciation, the way that natural resources lose value is through depletion, and the way that intangible assets loses value is through amortization. Picking long term assets are a very concrete and intricate process. Before choosing a long term asset the management must decide how they will finance an asset one they have it. Companies that generate enough profit can pay for long term assets from the cash flow of their day to day operations. It’s very similar to how an individual pays for the loan of a car or the loan on mortgage.
When companies want issue a long term acquisition then they must do this through capital stock, bonds, or long term notes. A nice place to analyze a company’s long term financing is through the financing activities in the statement of cash flow. When you’re dealing with long term assets you must make sure that you’re using the matching rule appropriately. The first thing you should do is find the total expense in the current accounting period. Second, you should see how much money is retained from the on the balance sheet to see if the asset will be beneficial in the future. To solve these dilemmas there should be four important questions that you ask yourself. First, how is the value of the long term asset determined?
Second, how much the depreciated value of the long term asset should be allocated against the revenues in the long run. Third, how much money on expenditures such as repairs is use? Last, how would the disposal of the long term asset is recorded in the financial records? Because long term assets are very confusing, they have many alternatives to manage them. It’s best to think of long term assets as something that will provide a particular need or operation over the years. For example, you shouldn’t think of a truck on how long it will run, but on how many miles it will drive. Another example is how much paper a photocopier machine will copy, and how many people a hotel will shelter.
It’s also important to determine if a business will have the money to finance the asset in the future. Expenditure is known as the payment or a promise to make a payment in the future for an asset such as for a payment of a service or for a new laser printer you purchased for your business. There are two types of expenditures, and they are capital expenditures and revenue expenditures. A capital expenditure refers to the expenditure of a long term asset like land for example. Revenue expenditure refers to the expenditure for something related to repair or maintenance such as the repair of a bull dozer for a construction company.
I don’t like your attitude
People always fluctuate in their behavior from day to day and we all have had our times in which we acted rude to people, and had the pleasure of having the reverse happen as well. Kay Redfield Jamison an international guru of about mood disorders has had her share of mood swings during her times. For years she kept this extreme psychological disorder a secret in which she had moods that switched from being super excited known as mania, to times that she was lethargic and depressed. She actually wrote a book about these events and tells about it in more detail. By the way, the disorder was known as bipolar disorder and effects many people around the world. With determination, a strong will, and support from her family and friends she overcame her struggles and continue to teach about psychological disorders to this day. I know that you’re probably wondering what are the types of characteristics of deviant or abnormal behavior? Well, one way abnormal behavior can be diagnosed is with some common symptoms. It may surprise you that there are about 40 million Americans that are affected by some type of psychological disorder. You may think of a psychological disorder as what the main character had in the movie “A beautiful Mind.” In essence you are right but there are a lot more other characteristics involved and a psychological disorder can also be defined by having an addiction to a substance like alcohol or drugs. To fully understand psychological disorders an individual must analyze abnormal behavior. Let’s take a look at three different case studies.
A twenty six year old woman named Helena has a need to walk in a specific way. When she is walking on the street in the public she believes that if she steps on certain cracks she will have bad luck, but in order to reverse that bad luck she has to turn around and walk back a block. She doesn’t like to do this much so she often stay home and pay people to go and pick up her groceries and other needed items.
A thirty five year old woman has recently got a divorce from her husband who she has been previously married to for eleven years and has two children with. Her husband have left her for her best friend and she is going back to college to continue her education so she can earn some more money to better support her children. She has a hard time struggling with school work and has grown separate from her friends and colleagues. A lot of the time she doesn’t feel like doing much and tends to cry a lot at nigh time. She also has a more pessimistic view in life and doesn’t believe in true love anymore.
A thirty year old man named Don has to have things arrange in his house a certain way. Even though he is wealthy enough to afford a maid he constantly has to rearrange things in his house after she leaves. He sweeps the floor and wipes off tables even though she has done that before.
Most people would say that the behavior of all of these individuals are abnormal, but are all of them bizarre? That’s a common myth about behavior, because people will automatically assume that abnormal behavior is bizarre and it’s not necessary true. Take the women in the second case study described even though her behavior is abnormal it is not necessary bizarre. A lot of times people with abnormal behavior cannot easily be distinguished from people with normal behavior. Also, just because a person currently has a mental disorder doesn’t mean that they will always have it. The term abnormal behavior varies from different academic mediums. However, the federal courts define insanity which is more of a legal term rather than a psychological on as the inability to differentiae right from wrong. This is a very common term that comes up in terms. One infamous example is in 1996 when multimillionaire John Dupont shot and killed Olympic Gold medalist wrestler David Schultz. He also has been charged with a couple of assaults earlier. Dupont lawyers used the “insanity” definition as a lame excuse to get him off the hook and it worked because in the end because the jury declared that he had a psychological disorder and he was found guilty of third degree murder. There are three criteria’s for crossing the line between abnormal behavior and normal behavior. Abnormal behavior is usually deviant which means it abstracts from the norms of society.
However, remarkable people like Martin Luther King and Bill Gates are not the average person but they are far from being abnormal. When a behavior deviate from what is expected by society than it could be called abnormal. The second criteria are that it is usually maladaptive which means that it interferes with a person’s ability to function properly in the real world. Last, abnormal behavior includes personal distress. This means that the person is deeply bothered by this and it causes them unnecessary pain and suffering. The causes for abnormal behavior can vary tremendously. We can look at several factors such as biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors to help determine this. Psychologists who favor the biological approach tend to emphasize the brain and genetic traits as the primarily cause of abnormal behavior. When using this approach the primarily form of treatment is drugs or drug therapy. The biological approach is used often in the medical model, which describes psychological disorders as diseases related to biological origins. From the medical view abnormalities are seen a mental illness.
The people that are infected with the mental illness are known as patients and they have to be treated by doctors. The biological view can also be broken done into three more categories. These are known as structural views, biochemical views and genetic views. The structural view thinks that abnormalities in the brain structure are the main lead to mental disorders. The biochemical view looks at the imbalances in the brain’s chemical structure such as neurotransmitters and hormones as the cause to mental disorders. In the genetic view they look at distorted genes as the main contributor to mental disorders. While the biological approach focuses on inherited traits to be the main contributor to mental disorders, the psychological approach looks at the environment and the unconscious mind as the main contributor to abnormalities. This has three parts to it which includes the psychodynamic perspective, behavioral and social cognitive prospective, and the humanistic perspective. The psychodynamic perspective thinks that psychological disorders come from unconscious conflicts that can cause anxiety and a maladaptive behavior. The main contributor to deviant behavior in this approach is from early bad relationships. If an individual develops bad relationships with either offspring early on in their life than the individual will develop abnormalities. Sigmund Freud was the developer of the psychoanalytic approach in which it places more emphasis on what you can’t physically see. In the behavioral and social cognitive prospective they place an emphasis on the environment in shaping abnormal behavior.
They believe that people learn behavior by observing those around them, through self control, through their beliefs in themselves, and through a variety of other cognitive factors which are the key to psychological disorders in this approach. In the humanistic perspective they place an emphasis on an individual’s freedom to do what they want and chose their own destiny and personal characteristics. They believe that psychological disorders come up when an individual fails to meet their own potential. All of the psychological perspective focuses on the individual. The next approach is the sociocultural approach. This concept places a larger emphasis on the area in which an individual lives such as their family, neighborhood, economic status, and culture. For one example, they believe that a conflict between one’s cultures will be a contributor to a mental disorder in an individual. It’s not necessary the individual that has a mental disorder but rather to an unbalanced social life. There are also some gender effects in determining mental disorders. Women are more likely to have internal mental disorders, which are disorders that affect them inside. They are more likely to be effected with anxiety attacks, and moods of depression. On the other hand, men are more likely to be effected with external disorders or disorders that are seen outward. Some examples of these disorders are substance abuse and moods of aggression. Many psychologists now believe that psychological disorders are universal which means that they are the same for people everywhere around the world regardless of geographic location or their social status. However, depending on the factors I just mentioned they do vary.
There are also some disorders that strictly effect people of one culture, and here are three big ones that I’m currently aware of: Amok, Windigo, and Anorexia Nervosa. The Amok effect people of Malaysia and the Philippines and in this disorder and individual suddenly has a fierce burst of rage and anger and kill and injure as many people as possible before they are killed. This disorder is commonly found in males and the cause of this can be numerous of factors such as jealously, or losing a lot of money through gambling. Windigo is a disorder commonly found in Algonquin Indian hunters and is very similar to a horror story in which an individual is hunted and chased by a fictionist character and become bewitched such as by a bit of a vampire or werewolf. The hunter becomes worried that they will turn into a flesh eating cannibal and harm other around them. The last disorder, I think that many Americans is aware of the last disorder and that is called anorexia nervosa and effects people of mainly Western cultures with a special emphasis on the people in the United States. This is an eating disorder in which an individual tries to maintain an unhealthy low weight through starvation which can ultimately lead to death.
Walgreens Co. is Sick
Walgreen Co. www.walgreen.com is a nationwide store chain and has over 3,000 stores and pharmacies and is a retail store phenomenon and has over 27 years of record crumbling sales. Wow what’s the secret Walgreen? Why are you so successful? Well, customers like their high class customer service, their huge selection, and quality products. Some investment and other companies with a financial interest in Walgreen look at the past success of the company and evaluate its financial management.
The companies that are interested will be seen in the Financial Highlights from the company’s annual report. Net sales, total assets, net earnings, and stock holder’s equity are all terms that are used to measure the financial stake of the company. It’s nice that you see the large increase in Wal Green over the years, but what exactly does that mean?
What financial knowledge is required of those who manage Wal Green and what methods do they use to measure Wal Green to other large companies? Wal green’s managers most be very skilled in accounting to help maintain the financial stake of the company. However, Walgreen’ managers are not the only ones that need to be skilled in accounting.
The people who have some type of financial stake in the business such as owners, investors, attorneys, employees, and creditors must also be skilled in accounting so they can analyze the financial achievement of the company. Anyone who is interested in any one of theses roles will require some knowledge in accounting knowledge and processes. That’s what the purpose of accounting is.
Contemporary accountants focus on the needs of decisions in accounting information, whether these decisions are internal or external to the business. Accounting can be defined as a systematic information system that measures, process, and produce financial information about an economic matter such as a business or a government organization.
Accounting serves as a connection between business activities because it records information. First, accounting analyzes business activity by recording data for them that they can use in the future. Second, the data is not used until it is needed and retrieved when the time is appropriate. Last, the information is analyzed and communicated through reports to the decision makers. One might assume that the data about business activities are the input and the information for decision makers are the output. A business is an economic entity that sells goods or services to customers at prices that will provide a return to the owners. Here is a list of well branded business that sell goods:
General Mills Inc. www.generalmills.com sells food products.
Sony Corp. www.sony.com sells a variety of consumer electronics.
Hilton Hotels Corp. www.hilton.com sells resorts and hotels services.
EBay Inc. www.ebay.com offers an online bidding service.
Despite their differences in the products they sell they actually have a lot in common. Each business must have enough money for the cost of doing business but still have adequate money left over. If the cost of business costs more than operating the business, than that’s when a business will start to crumble. The need to earn money to hold an investment capital is known as profitability.
However, a business must meet the goal of liquidity. Liquidity refers to having the money available to pay off debts when they are due. For example, a real estate company must meet the goal of profitability by leasing as many houses as they can, but they also must meet the criteria of liquidity when customers don’t come up with the capital to pay sometimes. Both of these goals must be aced by a company to be successful in their ventures.
All businesses try to pursue their goals by engaging in these similar activities. First, businesses much start some financial activities in order to get enough funds or capital so they can continue their operating. Financial activities include receiving capital from creditors such as banks and other suppliers. On the other hand they also include paying creditors back. Second, each business must participate in what is known as investing activities. This refers to the productive spending of capital so that it will help a business attain their goals in an orderly manner. Some examples of investing activities include purchasing land, equipment that the business may need, and buying buildings.
These resources are then sold or discarded of when they are no longer needed. Third, another essential of every business is participating in operating activities. Besides selling goods and services to customers, operating activities include hiring managers, workers, and purchasing goods and services, and paying back taxes to the government. An extremely crucial function of accounting is to provide performance measures. This refers to the measures of a business that indicates whether managers are achieving or losing their business goals, which helps to determine if a particular business is under good management. It is crucial for the performance to measure up with the goals of a business.
For a quick example, earned income is a measurement of profitability, and cash flow is the measurement of liquidity, pretty simple right? Since most managers are evaluated by whether certain aimed goals are accomplished, they must have a very sound understanding of accounting. Since managers will try to achieve these goals they must be motivated so that they can perform in the best interest of a business.
The typical accounting role of helping decision makers by processing, and communicating information effectively is furthermore divided into the subcategories of financial accounting and management accounting. Financial accounting is used for generating reports and communicating between outside decisions makers to analyze how well the business is performing. The reports to the outside users are known as the financial statements.
Companies who stocks are up for grabs on the New York Stock Exchange send their financial statements to its owners or shareholders, and several of other creditors. The financial statements reflect the goals of profitability and liability, and are used heavily by every person involved with the business.
If you have ANY type of business, it is crucial for you to be literate in financial statements. They are the back and bone of accounting. Now, let’s not get some terminology mixed up with each other. It’s critical to distinguish the system of accounting from the ways that information is processed such as bookkeeping, and some type of information management system. It’s only a small part of accounting, but it is a very important method.
The major goals of accounting are to analyze and interpret information. The computer is also an important tool in accounting and is used to retrieve and organize information in great time and accuracy. However, people may assume that the computer does all the work for the accountant, but that couldn’t be more farther from the truth. The truth is, the computer is instructed what to do by the accountant and the main use of computers is to process complicated information. Since computers are so beneficial and widespread many business use computers as a management information system.
This is a system of connected subsystems that provide the necessary information to run a business. The accounting information system is without a doubt the most important subsystem used because it is the key role in analyzing and managing the flow of financial data of a business.
"Enlightenment" Your 7 days program to Positive thinking
I'm sure you have a bright idea hidden somewhere in the back of your mind that you just can't wait to test out. Of course you're not the only one with the bright idea. So what motivates you to churn those creative, or even inspiring juices to its utmost flavor?
It's always best to set up a personal goal where you can accomplish the most in record time, maybe like mowing the lawn in an hour before the big game on TV. A correct and positive attitude in whatever you do will make things easier, and even enjoyable.
Here are some tips to make it through the week even if you're just sitting in your favorite couch. An idea takes time to form in your head and is always at work while you are busy sitting.
Having a bit of positive thinking can help you realize things that are never thought possible. Thinking big is indeed the American Way and that what made our country prosperous.
1. Take passionate action towards living your life by design. Talk is cheap. Action = deposits in the bank of a passionately authentic future. Without it, passion is void.
This is a perfect example where dreams are made of where you start by tinkering with your mind, then with your hands. And if the idea weakens, you can always go back to it later until you finish it.
2. Commit to yourself as well as those you love to create powerfully a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American Dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.
3. Recognize and embrace the thought that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Every time you hit on something that may appear too extreme, why not give it a shot and see if it will work. You will be surprised to see of there are other ways to get the task done in time. If you are not pleased with the outcome, decide to use that moment to learn from and make the appropriate shift.
4. Dwell completely in a place of gratitude. Learn to utilize what you have in your hands and make use of it in the most constructive way. Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift towards gratitude, away from poverty consciousness.
5. Use a Passion Formula of Recognize/Reevaluate/Restore in place of the Shoulda/Woulda/Coulda whirlwind. The former is based in increased knowledge and abundance while the latter focuses on scarcity and lack. As you face people or tasks that may seem harder than scaling the summit of the Himalayas, allow yourself to realize that the task is just as important as giving out orders to your subordinates. You would rather be richly passionate!
6. Keep humor at the forefront of thought, laughing at and with yourself when possible. You may find yourself quite entertaining when you loosen up! I am yet to see a comedian ever go hungry even though his jokes are as 'old as great-grandma'. Life has so much to offer to allow you to mope around in self pity. Humor is very attractive, very passionate: life-giving.
7. Believe that you are the architect of your destiny. No one can take your passionate future from you except for you! Create your life authentically. As long as there's still breath in your body, there is no end to how much you can accomplish in a lifetime. The concept of thinking big is all about enjoying your work, which would lead to celebrate a discovery that is born within your hands. Watch everything flow into place with perfect, passionate precision.
It's interesting how people get wallowed up by something trivial as learning to use a computer, when nowadays that top computer companies are manufacturing software that even the kids can do it. I don't mean to be condescending, but that's the idea of not having any positive thinking in your life-you'll just end up as a dim bulb in a dark corner. So instead of subjecting yourself to what you will be doomed for, make your path by taking the first step with a positive attitude.
Why you should get your own self improvement video?
It cannot be denied that what works for one does not work for another. If what your friends say and what you read does not seem to inspire you to improve yourself, then it is time to consider self improvement videos.
It cannot be denied that some people can better comprehend something when they see it on screen. That is the psychology behind these videos. Getting the focus of the person watching them like no other ways can do.
The need for self improvement is now an issue many people are focusing on. There are already a lot of self improvement articles out there. Not only that, a lot of experts are also lending their talent and expertise in helping people develop themselves.
With the internet came the easiest means of looking for self improvement advice from other people. For those who took pleasure in reading, they turn to articles and other forms of writing. But for those who just likes to sit back, see and listen, self improvement videos are the ones chosen.
There are websites that are capable of providing you with all the self improvement videos that are necessary to get your commitment power out and utilize it to whichever change or improvement you want to make with your own person.
These videos consist of information and exercises. When you start these readings and exercises, you will immediately feel the desired change inside yourself.
And with repetition of the exercises the change or improvements will become automatic. Repetition is the key to a life long improvement of your personality.
These videos are meant to aid in everlasting self-improvement and personal growth in all areas of life.
Some are concentrated on a few areas that many people may feel especially important and hard to improve.
For example, the people behind can help you with your effort for self esteem improvement. Low self-esteem and confidence are the cause of many personal as well as inter-personal difficulties.
Self improvement videos will assist you take command of your career as well as your financial freedom and independence. You can get the career you wish as well as the wealth and prosperity that you decide you deserve.
They can also help with building positive relationships and finally show you how you can apply the tools inherent for you to change habits.
These videos may not come cheap for some who would rather have self improvement tools that come for free. The only advantage in getting self improvement videos is that it will be available anytime you want to watch them.
Videos on self improvement are not the only tools you can use if you are intent on achieving personal improvement. There are also e-books and e-courses available.
Try to also see look at the other self improvement tools offered by these sites. Most of the time, the products offered are well reputed and researched thoroughly for quality and effectivity.
When to get a self improvement video? When it came to the point that the advices you get from family, friends and even on the internet are not getting through your head. This would also be your choice if you need a tool you can use anytime and anywhere to help you on your self improvement.
Chances are, if you have seen these self improvement videos twice or thrice, you have probably memorized all the things it had to say and show.
Do Yoda Proud: Meditation 101
Meditation refers to a state where your body and mind are consciously relaxed and focused. Practitioners of this art report increased awareness, focus, and concentration, as well as a more positive outlook in life.
Meditation is most commonly associated with monks, mystics and other spiritual disciplines. However, you don have to be a monk or mystic to enjoy its benefits. And you don even have to be in a special place to practice it. You could even try it in your own living room!
Although there are many different approaches to meditation, the fundamental principles remain the same. The most important among these principles is that of removing obstructive, negative, and wandering thoughts and fantasies, and calming the mind with a deep sense of focus. This clears the mind of debris and prepares it for a higher quality of activity.
The negative thoughts you have ?those of noisy neighbors, bossy officemates, that parking ticket you got, and unwanted spam?are said to contribute to the olluting?of the mind, and shutting them out is allows for the leansing?of the mind so that it may focus on deeper, more meaningful thoughts.
Some practitioners even shut out all sensory input ?no sights, no sounds, and nothing to touch ?and try to detach themselves from the commotion around them. You may now focus on a deep, profound thought if this is your goal. It may seem deafening at first, since we are all too accustomed to constantly hearing and seeing things, but as you continue this exercise you will find yourself becoming more aware of everything around you.
If you find the meditating positions you see on television threatening ?those with impossibly arched backs, and painful-looking contortions ?you need not worry. The principle here is to be in a comfortable position conducive to concentration. This may be while sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and even walking.
If the position allows you to relax and focus, then that would be a good starting point. While sitting or standing, the back should be straight, but not tense or tight. In other positions, the only no-no is slouching and falling asleep.
Loose, comfortable clothes help a lot in the process since tight fitting clothes have a tendency to choke you up and make you feel tense.
The place you perform meditation should have a soothing atmosphere. It may be in your living room, or bedroom, or any place that you feel comfortable in. You might want an exercise mat if you plan to take on the more challenging positions (if you feel more focused doing so, and if the contortionist in you is screaming for release). You may want to have the place arranged so that it is soothing to your senses.
Silence helps most people relax and meditate, so you may want a quiet, isolated area far from the ringing of the phone or the humming of the washing machine. Pleasing scents also help in that regard, so stocking up on aromatic candles isn such a bad idea either.
The monks you see on television making those monotonous sounds are actually performing their mantra. This, in simple terms, is a short creed, a simple sound which, for these practitioners, holds a mystic value.
You do not need to perform such; however, it would pay to note that focusing on repeated actions such as breathing, and humming help the practitioner enter a higher state of consciousness.
The principle here is focus. You could also try focusing on a certain object or thought, or even, while keeping your eyes open, focus on a single sight.
One sample routine would be to ?while in a meditative state ?silently name every part of you body and focusing your consciousness on that part. While doing this you should be aware of any tension on any part of your body. Mentally visualize releasing this tension. It works wonders.
In all, meditation is a relatively risk-free practice and its benefits are well worth the effort (or non-effort ?remember we're relaxing).
Studies have shown that meditation does bring about beneficial physiologic effects to the body. And there has been a growing consensus in the medical community to further study the effects of such. So in the near future, who knows, that mystical, esoteric thing we call meditation might become a science itself!
Life Mapping: A Vision of Success
Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route.
Origin: Who you are
A map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, i, I Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior highschool student.?It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human dignity.
Destination: A vision of who you want to be
who do want to be??this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Continuing Jean story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in serving her fellowmen.
Vehicle: Your Mission
A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Bases on Jean self-assessment, she decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict-areas.
Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude
Food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to gain along the way. This two-fold assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something she wanted to change.
Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives
Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your measures of success. These measures must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master degree is two years. Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the age of 35.
Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes
The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.
Psychological Self-improvement: Ways to overcome fear
People are usually afraid of negative things. They are afraid of self-improvement because of this fear. Psychological self-improvement may help you in this situation.
In psychological self-improvement, The best way to remove this fear is to understand that life is always in the cycle of ups and downs. No one is permanently up or permanently down. Remember that no one can avoid these ups and downs even the most envied Hollywood stars.
What we should do about these downs is to learn from it and not to avoid it. We should learn how to handle our problems for our psychological self-improvement.
Problems affect us every day. These problems bring us misery due to the fact that we have feelings. We should never loose hope in figuring out solutions to these problems. All we need is to learn how to overcome it and not to be overcome.
Problems can never be overcome but we can learn from them. This is where Psychology plays an important role.
Psychologists say that we should always be careful in our decisions concerning our problems. We should handle our problems properly and learn how to deal with it. Learning from mistakes helps us in preparing ourselves for psychological self-improvement
There are a lot of myths about every event in our lives is due to pre-determined reason. Another belief says that what we encounter in our lives today is our preparation for other things that may come in our lives. To understand what may happen to us in the future, we must learn from the present.
With all that, it is also true that the unexpected can happen anytime. However, you should keep in mind that a psychological self-improvement is not always for the worse and consequently, you must never let go of a chance, because you are afraid to take the risk.
Remember that, from time to time, something has to happen in order to free you from monotony, so you shouldn be surprised if, at a certain moment in time, instead of being afraid of change, you desire it with all your heart.
If there are some things that hinder you from going on, here are some tips to help you move forward:
Just think of the positive impacts results from the psychological self-improvement. Know important they are and reflect on how to increase them, by adding some other good aspects, which need certain assistance.
Try to picture somebody else in your situation, as picturing ourselves in a less desirable position, always looks more dramatic than it really is. If you realize that the other person can handle the change, you can be sure youl be able to handle it as well. This is a good psychological self-improvement.
Think of the worst situation that can result after the self-improvement. Try to find various solutions to it. Reflect on how much you can loose, if the worst happened, and how important those things are to you. If you find more than one reasonable solution, you are safe and the self-improvement can be stronger than you are!
Self-improvement is not bad at all. All we need is to learn how to handle some negative changes. We should also reflect from it to learn and use it in the future events that we may encounter. This could be your ultimate psychological self-improvement.
Life is About Choices and the Decisions We Make
Life is like a road. There are long and short roads; smooth and rocky roads; crooked and straight paths. In our life many roads would come our way as we journey through life. There are roads that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and religious vocation. There are also roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand, or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and jubilation, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment.
Just like any road, there are corners, detours, and crossroads in life. Perhaps the most perplexing road that you would encounter is a crossroad. With four roads to choose from and with limited knowledge on where they would go, which road will you take? What is the guarantee that we would choose the right one along the way? Would you take any road, or just stay where you are: in front of a crossroad?
There are no guarantees.
You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things you need to realize about life. Nobody said that choosing to do the right thing all the time would always lead you to happiness. Loving someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Gaining fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness. Accepting a good word from an influential superior to cut your trip short up the career ladder is not always bad, especially if you are highly qualified and competent. There are too many possible outcomes, which your really cannot control. The only thing you have power over is the decisions that you will make, and how you would act and react to different situations.
Wrong decisions are always at hindsight.
Had you known that you were making a wrong decision, would you have gone along with it? Perhaps not, why would you choose a certain path when you know it would get you lost? Why make a certain decision if you knew from the very beginning that it is not the right one. It is only after you have made a decision and reflected on it that you realize its soundness. If the consequences or outcomes are good for you, then you have decided correctly. Otherwise, your decision was wrong.
Take the risk: decide.
Since life offers no guarantee and you would never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping yourself in limbo. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, moreover open more roads. It is all a matter of perspective. You have the choice between being a lost traveller or an accidental tourist of life. But take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Here are some pointers that could help you choose the best option in the face of life crossroads:
- Get as many information as you can about your situation.
You cannot find the confidence to decide when you know so little about what you are faced with. Just like any news reporter, ask the 5 W: what, who, when, where, and why. What is the situation? Who are the people involved? When did this happen? Where is this leading? Why are you in this situation? These are just some of the possible questions to ask to know more about your situation. This is important. Oftentimes, the reason for indecision is the lack of information about a situation.
- Identify and create options.
What options do the situation give you? Sometimes the options are few, but sometimes they are numerous. But what do you do when you think that the situation offers no options? This is the time that you create your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most simplistic to the most complicated, entertain all ideas. Do not shoot anything down when an idea comes to your head. Sometimes the most outrageous idea could prove to be the right one in the end. You can ask a friend to help you identify options and even make more options if you encounter some difficulty, but make sure that you make the decision yourself in the end.
- Weigh the pros and cons of every option.
Assess each option by looking at the advantages and disadvantages it offers you. In this way, you get more insights about the consequences of such an option.
- Trust yourself and make that decision.
Now that you have assessed your options, it is now time to trust yourself. Remember that there are no guarantees and wrong decisions are always at hindsight. So choose?decide?believe that you are choosing the best option at this point in time.
Now that you have made a decision, be ready to face its consequences: good and bad. It may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems. But the important thing is that you have chosen to live your life instead of remaining a bystander or a passive audience to your own life. Whether it is the right decision or not, only time can tell. But do not regret it whatever the outcome. Instead, learn from it and remember that you always have the chance to make better decisions in the future.
Self improvement and success go hand in hand
How do you know if a person is willing to attain self improvement? This is a question with no definite answer. It will all depend on the individual.
Many people have goals, dreams or ambitions but do not know how to go about achieving them. They may have thought about what would make up self improvement and their ideal life, but have no idea how to even begin to make the plans and take the actions required to make them a reality.
Some people have a vague idea on how to go about self improvement. These are the ones that believe that if only they had a better job, or had been given better opportunities, or met the love of their life, or whatever else, everything would be fine and they would be happy.
They feel that their happiness or lack of happiness is decided by external factors and their thoughts and actions are of little consequence.
Some believe that if only they had more money they could have whatever they want and be on their way to self improvement.
They may have spent little time thinking about what they actually want from life, and do not really believe there is anything they can do to create their fuzzy version of utopia anyway, apart from buying more lottery tickets.
Other people do not even know what they actually want from their lives and may even have little idea what would really makes them happy. They seem to just drift from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, and do little more than just about get by.
They may have seemingly secure jobs and be earning enough to live relatively comfortable lives. They seem happy enough and have no great ambition to achieve anything more from their lives than they currently have.
Is self improvement important?
The reality is that throughout our lives we are all constantly growing and developing. Circumstances make us grow and develop, even if we do not make the conscious decision to do so.
Up to a certain age, we learn through formal education and we continue to learn through our experiences for the rest of our lives. We have to learn and grow to deal with everything that life throws at us. We all have to go through self improvement.
Modern life moves at a dramatically faster pace than at anytime in history. For anyone living in modern society there are more opportunities to do anything that you want to do with your life than ever before.
But there is also more competition than ever before, and ever changing technology means that there really are few, if any obs for life?anymore. It is now normal not only to change jobs quite often throughout our working lives, but even to completely change careers and industries.
Because the workplace is so competitive, people who are ambitious and hungry for success know they need to learn new skills and knowledge to keep ahead of the pack. To attain this, self improvement is needed.
These are the people that will be most likely to keep their jobs, or progress within their chosen field, or that will be readily employable in different organizations or industries.
A commitment to self improvement and personal growth may well be the deciding factor in how anyone future will turn out.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO IMPROVE YOUR SELF?
Sometimes, when all our doubts, fears and insecurities wrap ourselves up, we always come up with the idea of wish I was somebody else.? More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better than us.- when in reality, the fact is, most people are more scared than us.
You spot a totally eye-catching girl sitting by herself at a party, casually sipping on a glass of Asti Spumanti. You think to yourself, he looks so perfectly calm and confident.?But if you could read thru her transparent mind, you would see a bunch of clouds of thoughts and you might just be amazed that she thinking re people talking about why I am seated here alone?... Why don guys find me attractive? don't like my ankles, they look too skinny?I wish I was as intelligent as my best friend.?
We look at a young business entrepreneur and say ooh?what else could he ask for??He stares at himself at the mirror and murmur to himself, hate my big eyes?I wonder why my friends won talk to me?I hope mom and dad would still work things out.?
Isn it funny? We look at other people, envy them for looking so outrageously perfect and wish we could trade places with them, while they look at us and thinks of the same thing. We are insecure of other people who themselves are insecure of us. We suffer from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and lose hope in self improvement because we are enveloped in quiet desperation.
Sometimes, you notice that you have an irritating habit like biting off your finger nails, having a foul mouth, and you ?of all people, is the last to know.
I have a friend who never gets tired of talking. And in most conversations, she is the only one who seems to be interested in the things she has to say. So all of our other friends tend to avoid the circles whenever she around, and she doesn't notices how badly she became socially handicapped ?gradually affecting the people in her environment.
One key to self improvement is to LISTEN and TALK to a trusted friend. Find someone who you find comfort in opening up with even the most gentle topics you want to discuss. Ask questions like o you think I am ill-mannered?? o I always sound so argumentative?? o I talk too loud?? oes my breath smell?? o I ever bore you when were together?? In this way, the other person will obviously know that you are interested in the process of self improvement. Lend her your ears for comments and criticisms and don give her answers like on exaggerate! That just the way I am!? Open up your mind and heart as well. And in return, you may want to help your friend with constructive criticism that will also help her improve her self.
One of Whitney Houston songs says earning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.?True enough. In order to love others, you must love yourself too. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have.
Before telling other people some ways on how to improve themselves, let them see that you yourself is a representation and a product of self improvement. Self improvement makes us better people, we then inspire other people, and then the rest of the world will follow.
Stop thinking of yourselves as second-rate beings. Forget the repetitive thought of f only I was richer?if only I was thinner?and so on. Accepting your true self is the first step to self improvement. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others only to find out at the end that we're got 10 more reasons to envy them.
We all have our insecurities. Nobody is perfect. We always wish we had better things, better features, better body parts, etc. But life need not to be perfect for people to be happy about themselves.Self improvement and loving yourself is not a matter of shouting to the whole world that you are perfect and you are the best. It the virtue of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we then begin to feel contented and happy.
How to Motivate Yourself Forever
Just as willpower is an essential factor in achieving success, at some point in time, discouragement and lack of motivation may hinder you from reaching your objective. And it is up to you, and you alone to devise techniques that will help you keep that drive within afire.
It is helpful to have visual goals. whatsoever that is you are working towards, make it visual. It maybe something material like a car, or a vacation you have been looking forward to for the longest time.
Take or cut out a picture of it and post it at a conspicuous place at work or at home where you can see it often. So that when you feel discouraged, this will remind you of your goal and will help you keep your spotlight.
Make a contract with oneself. According to motivational researches, people who write down to-do-lists are far more triumphant in achieving their intended goals than those people who just keep mental lists instead.
Putting something in writing somehow makes it more powerful psychologically speaking. This may also be the basis why most cultures have such a high regard in honoring contracts. In the contract, you may also include a certain reward that you will give yourself once you have accomplished the task.
After all, everyone likes to be rewarded for completing a good job. Even a simple pat on the back, ood job? or hank you?may do the trick to give the person the additional push to carry on, but unfortunately, these may not always be readily available. Considering that these are also essential in keeping oneself motivated, you must learn to find a way to get that encouragement on your own through pleasing yourself.
Abusive people lower your self-esteem and bring you down. Get these negative people out of your life. Surround yourself with positive people. Imitate their example. Smile amply and think happy thoughts.
These will give you a brighter outlook and lets you see a clearer picture of what you really want and a fresh mind to know what steps to take to get there. Rather than wait for things to happen, try to be proactive and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Inactivity idles the brain and stagnates your potential to reach your goals.
Read inspirational books and literature. These will help you improve your attitude and heal your mind. A book of success stories also proves to be encouraging. You will not only learn from others' experiences and derive confidence boosting insights from them but the story will be instrumental in motivating you to go for your goal and move ahead with your plans. If this still seems to falter, get training or education.
Oftentimes, not knowing how or where to start is frustrating. Knowledge is power. Having a clear understanding of how and where to start is empowering and it will provide the extra drive needed to hit the mark you are aiming at and follow it through.
Having enumerated all these tips and tricks to attain self-motivation, but still you seem to feel lacking that much needed drive, there is one last thing that you must try.
Whatever it is that you have been meaning to do, or wanting to achieve, JUST DO IT! Keep on aiming high and go for it! Actually getting your hands dirty best solves the problem of motivation. By orcing?yourself to just do it, your momentum will pick up gradually as you go along and before you know it you have finished the task or have finally achieved your goal. Divide and conquer is the key.
Break down the apparently unattainable activity to small doable steps. Not only does it become less overwhelming, but seeing the "in the meantime" results will further your confidence that it can indeed be done.
Lack of motivation happens to us all, but if you do not encourage yourself to accept opportunities and be challenged, no one else will. It is most important to keep your eye on the goal, find ways to keep going, and in no time, you shall reap its benefits.
And if at the beginning you were just doing it for the material reward, you will also learn to realize that the fulfillment, satisfaction and self-achievement you derive from reaching your goal is a much enjoyable high that will keep the drive within constantly burning.
MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT
Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ush?to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.
With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z?
A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, he future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.?
B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.
C - Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.
D - Don't give up and don't give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.
E - Enjoy. Work as if you don't need money. Dance as if nobody watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if youl live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.
F - Family and Friends ?are life greatest ?treasures. Don loose sight of them.
G - Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.
H - Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.
I - Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people ?the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.
J - Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.
K - keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.
L - Learn to love your self. Now isn that easy?
M - Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.
N - Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.
O - Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways ?how they want things to be, and how they should be.
P - Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.
Q - Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate ?are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?
R - Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn raining when Noah build the ark.
S - Stop procrastinating.
T - Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.
U - Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.
V - Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.
W - Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.
X - X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on xtras?on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.
Y - You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because youe just going to spend it once.
Z - Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!
The Road to Intuition
Have you had that experience when all of a sudden you just had this huge hunch that something is about to happen, and to your surprise, that intuition was eventually translated to reality?
When you feel strongly about something without logical basis to it, that's called intuition. It comes in three impressions: clairvoyance or "the third eye", sensing clearly and feeling through listening.
Clairvoyance is when your eye goes beyond what it can see. This is when you know what is happening somewhere.
Sensing clearly is basically what we refer to as "hunch" or "gut feel." This is the time when you are overwhelmed with a feeling and you can't explain it and all you can say is "I just know."
On the other hand, feeling through listening or clairaudience is being able to "listen" between the lines. Intuition also happens at times when a certain sound, whatever it is - be it a car's honk or a bird's twitting - ushers in an intense feeling.
They say only a number of people are gifted with intuition. Astrologers even insist that people born under the Scorpio or Pisces signs are naturally intuitive it almost borders on E.S.P. But studies have been sprouting left and right that proclaim that anyone can develop intuition.
Why the need to develop intuition, you ask? Why not let your emotional and psychological state as it is? First and foremost, intuition promotes good communication. It makes you more sensitive to the people around you; it often keeps you from hurting those you love because you are intuitive enough to understand them. Intuition also makes you far more creative than ever. Intuition means releasing more creative juices for any means of expression. Lastly, intuition has a healing power. This healing power is not in the physical sense, but in delving deep into your soul to eradicate some negative energy buried in it.
With that being said, are you ready to develop your intuition? Here are some ways to unlock this gift:
1. Hypnosis
Oh yes, get yourself hypnotized. Hypnosis is not limited to watching a pendulum move back and forth. Perform self-hypnosis or you can avail of hypnotic programs that can strengthen your intuition.
2. Meditation
Meditating means finding peace in yourself. If your mind and heart are cluttered with too many baggage and hurt, you wouldn't be able to quiet down that part of you that could eventually initiate intuition. There are so many ways to meditate: take a yoga class, or just simply practice some breathing that could bring you straight to Zen.
3. Think positive!
A worry-free, fear-free state could do so much to improve your intuitive ability. By staying positive, you attract good energy that would be able to easily recognize imminent feelings and events.
4. Just let go.
What does this mean? If you are on the brink of making a huge decision, let go of all the inhibitions and head to a quiet place where you could find out where the letting go has brought you. Sometimes you just have to listen to the voice within you, and that voice wouldn't come out unless you let go.
5. Never expect.
After letting go of the inhibitions and all those things that stop you from thinking and feeling clearly, never expect for an answer right away. Never expect that the "hunch" would fall on your lap immediately. Give it a little time then you'd just get surprised that -- wham! -- now you have your answer.
6. Believe in your first impressions.
When you see someone for the first time and think that he is a bit too arrogant for your taste, chances are that impression actually holds true. Most of the time, first impressions are brought by intuition.
7. Stay happy!
See? All you need to be intuitive is to stay happy! Happiness attracts immense power and such power includes intuition. In tapping your intuition, your motivation must be happiness and contentment. Given that premise, intuition will fall to you easily.
Intuition is helpful, because sometimes it leads you to something that cannot be achieved otherwise. A lot of lives have been saved by intuition alone. Decisions are easier done if armed by this gift. Develop intuition now and reap benefits you have never imagined.
Energy Healing 101: Pranic, Tantric, and Reiki
Are All Energy Healings the Same?
Chakra or energy center is a term used in Pranic healing, an ancient Hindu system of energy healing. rana?means life energy. ura?is another terminology traced to Pranic healing. Aura is a non-physical body that consists of energy, which exists along with our physical body. The aura that covers our body is said to have seven layers pertaining to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of an individual as manifested by energy. Studying the color and thickness of auras give ideas on the state of health of individuals. Six colors are associated with aura and interpreted into six personalities. These colors are all present in an individual but one or two are more pronounced.
Green ?ambitious achiever
Blue ?spiritual peacemaker
White ?unconventional chameleon
Red ?activist
Orange ?creative communicator
Violet - psychic
Although Tantra is popularly associated with the peculiar practice of sex and spirituality, it is another method of energy healing. It comes from the word an?which means to spread or expand. The concept of connectedness is a recurring theme in Tantric writings on sex and spirituality. As a method of healing, spirituality and sex figure prominently. It is presupposed that the union of man and woman can reach spiritual levels during orgasm, which removes the body and mind off collected impurities. These impurities being negative energies can in turn manifest as physical illnesses.
Unlike Pranic and Tantric healings, which have Hindu origins, Reiki originated from Japan. It is relatively younger than Pranic and Tantric healings having been rediscovered in the early 1900. Reiki stands for universal energy, an energy brought forth by higher intelligence. Students of Reiki are taught how to tap this energy to heal physical, emotional, and mental illnesses.
Although Pranic, Tantra, and Reiki are all systems of energy healing, they differ in the type of energy tapped for healing: life energy, sexual energy, and universal energy respectively.
The concepts of the connectedness of mind, body, and spirit; the connection of individuals to all living and nonliving things around them and to the universe; and how energy impacts physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are some of the salient similarities of these three healing methods.
Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing?
Pranic, Tantric, and Reiki are considered alternative methods of healing. In spite of the availability and relative accessibility of modern medicine, how come more and more people are being drawned to them? Here are some possible reasons:
- Energy healing worked where modern medicine failed.
For several reasons both explainable and unexplainable, modern medical treatment failed to heal ailments and conditions in several if not many persons. Research or data may not be able to support this statement. But for the families of the dying as well as for the dying patient, they would take the risk of using alternative methods ranging from herbals and organics, faith healers, witch doctors, and New Age healing techniques just to be get well.
- People perceive modern medicine to be isolating.
Medical treatments are oftentimes focused on the disease and its causative agent, which can make a patient feel isolated and treated like a mere host of the disease. Although recent developments in hospital practice are gradually promoting the holistic treatment of a patient, the perception still persists. Unlike in energy healing, since energy and spirituality are intimately linked, the patient feels that all aspects of his health are being attended to.
- Energy healing is non-obtrusive and natural thus it is safer.
Repeated surgical procedures are physically and emotionally traumatic for most patients. It is but a logical and attractive option to both patient and families to look for less stressful health interventions. Moreover, with the rising popularity of New Age religions, going natural is the way to go.
- Energy healing is a good way of relieving stress.
Meditation is part and parcel of energy healing methods and this is an added come-on for highly stressed people. Moreover, sophisticated equipment is not required thus it becomes all the more convenient for students and future students of energy healing.
The battle between alternative healing and mainstream medicine continues as both present the benefits of their approach. But in the final analysis, what matters is the restoration of good health.
Focus on your mental and emotional side to gain self improvement
Not everyone believes this but the emotional and mental aspects of a person, when combined, leads to better self improvement.
Emotions love to dominate our actions and reactions, even though we do not want it to happen sometimes. The society often see emotions as a sign of weakness, so people are used to putting them aside and focusing on the rational aspects more and more.
No matter how strict and logical you may be, you will always feel. One way or another, someone or something will get through you.
Positive emotions are a lifelong goal for many of us concerned about emotional health and self improvement. What is more important; the amount of money you made during your life or the times you laughed out of sheer joy?
People tend to put their positive emotions behind their negative feelings. This is one of the biggest problems that people come across during their lives.
There is no clear way to ignore a negative experience and try to replace it with a positive one. Life just does not work that way.
For example, when you were a child, if your goldfish dies, you would be heartbroken. Your parents will probably buy you another goldfish but the sorrow is still there.
Things get even more complex when you become an adult. A fight with your spouse the night before will affect your entire day. You will go to work angry, tired, and your mind will wander. On the way home from work you will not notice the sun shining and you would not be tempted to stop at a roadside stand to pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables.
All this because that one negative thought has contaminated the way you perceive the reality around you.
In this moment you will realize finding a safe place to relax your mind will do wonders for your emotional and mental improvement.
That place is relatively easy to find. It can be an actual place or an imaginary location. The best idea is to totally lose yourself in it.
Let us say you have a problem on your mind and it just would not go away. Go bowling. Do not know how? Just give it a shot.
Get caught up in the game. Your mind will drift away from the negative thoughts that dominated your last hours or days and start processing a whole new kind of information.
A safe haven can take many forms. It can be a song, a movie, even a person or animal. The main thing is allow yourself to get completely involved with this new activity.
You might still get flashes of the problem every now and then. Ignore it and get even more absorbed in what you are doing.
When the bowling game, the song, or the movie ends you will abruptly return to reality. You will probably want to retreat back to the safe place. Do not do it.
The safe place exists only as a helping hand, not as a solution to your life's problems, may it be a small or big. It serves only as an escape route.
You will return from your safe zone with an increased energy level. You will feel better about yourself and gain more confidence. You will see that any issue can be resolved.
This is how a small escape from a harsh reality can increase your emotional and mental health. Try to do this often and you are on your way to better self improvement.
Impossible is Just a Word
Everyone, at some point of his or her life, has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn't fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn't dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?
Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, our dreams remain just that ?dreams. And our aspirations easily collect dust in our attic.
This is a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing.
But you know what? Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.
The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can't do this. It's too hard. It's too impossible. No one can do this.
However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.
Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble, bee no one has told it so. So fly it does.
On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.
If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.
Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list down things ou know you can do? Under another header, write the things ou might be able to do.?And under one more, list the things that that are mpossible for you to do.?
Now look at all the headers strive every day to accomplish the goals that are under things ou know you can do? Check them when you are able to accomplish them. As you slowly are able to check all of your goals under that heading, try accomplishing the goals under the other header-the one that reads you might be able to do.?
As of the items you wrote under things I could do are accomplished, you can move the goals that are under things that are impossible for you to do?to the list of things ou might be able to do.?
As you iterate through this process, you will find out that the goals you thought were impossible become easier to accomplish. And the impossible begin to seem possible after all.
You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic.
Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.
On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.
Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.
Ask any gym rat and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, o pain, no gain? That is as true as it can be.
So dream on, friend! Don get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.
"What Really Makes You Tick?" 10 questions you should ask to yourself: a preparation to self-improvement
Be all you can be, but it's not always in the Army. I often see myself as somewhat contented with my life the way things are, but of course it's hard to think of anything else when where are real issues to be discussed.
Still I aspire for something deeper and more meaningful.
So we're all pelted with problems. Honestly it shouldn't even bother or even hinder us to becoming all we ought to be. Aspirations as kids should continue to live within us, even though it would be short-lived or as long as we could hold on to the dream. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks?or can they?
1. What do I really want?
The question of the ages. So many things you want to do with your life and so little time to even go about during the day.
Find something that you are good at can help realize that small step towards improvement. Diligence is the key to know that it is worth it.
2. Should I really change?
Today's generation has taken another level of redefining 'self', or at least that's what the kids are saying. Having an army of teenage nieces and nephews has taught me that there are far worse things that they could have had than acne or maybe even promiscuity. So how does that fit into your lifestyle?
If history has taught us one thing, it's the life that we have gone through. Try to see if partying Seventies style wouldn't appeal to the younger generation, but dancing is part of partying. Watch them applaud after showing them how to really dance than break their bones in break-dancing.
3. What's the bright side in all of this?
With so much is happening around us there seem to be no room for even considering that light at the end of the tunnel. We can still see it as something positive without undergoing so much scrutiny. And if it's a train at the end of the tunnel, take it for a ride and see what makes the world go round!
4. Am I comfortable with what I'm doing?
There's always the easy way and the right way when it comes to deciding what goes with which shoes, or purse, shirt and whatnot. It doesn't take a genius to see yourself as someone unique, or else we'll all be equally the same in everything we do. Variety brings in very interesting and exciting questions to be experimented.
5. Have I done enough for myself?
Have you, or is there something more you want to do? Discontentment in every aspect can be dangerous in large doses, but in small amounts you'll be able to see and do stuff you could never imagine doing.
6. Am I happy at where I am today?
It's an unfair question so let it be an answer! You love being a good and loving mom or dad to your kids, then take it up a notch! Your kids will love you forever. The same goes with everyday life!
7. Am I appealing to the opposite sex?
So maybe I don't have an answer to that, but that doesn't mean I can't try it, though. Whether you shape-up, change the way you wear your clothes or hair, or even your attitude towards people, you should always remember it will always be for your own benefit.
8. How much could I have?
I suppose in this case there is no such things on having things too much or too little, but it's more on how badly you really need it. I'd like to have lots of money, no denying that, but the question is that how much are you willing to work for it?
9. What motivates me?
What motivates you? It's an answer you have to find out for yourself. There are so many things that can make everyone happy, but to choose one of the may be the hardest part. It's not like you can't have one serving of your favorite food in a buffet and that's it. Just try it piece by piece.
10. What Really Makes You Tick?
So? What really makes you tick? You can be just about anything you always wanted to be, but to realize that attaining something that may seem very difficult is already giving up before you even start that journey. Always remember, that self-improvement is not just about the physical or philosophical change you have to undergo, but it's something that you really want.
