5 resources for personal Development

Your emotions an important resource for personal growth and self improvement

Resource No 1 for personal growth 

Resource no 2 for personal development
Emotions are like horses, they have so much force and power to pull your thoughts, attitudes and actions in any direction they please. Emotions have a will of their own and can drive you, it is important that you be a master of your emotions. Letting feelings of low envelop you could lead to you being unable to concentrate and function at your optimal levels.

Power in emotions can be channeled to become active change agents. You can convert negative emotions into positive driving forces, for instance anger towards people can be turned towards learning and change. If the critical views of others about your abilities make you angry or feel hurt you  can turn this emotion which is directed at the person or yourself towards learning a new skill or improving an existing skill and let your action speak for itself. This way you could avoid conflicts, feelings of sadness or feelings of depression and make positive use of your emotions.

Another very positive use of emotions is when you apply yourself to doing a particular task with passion. Psychology teaches us that the more we expose ourselves to a particular task we acquire a taste for it. For example if you are constantly exposed to some new kind of music though you do not like it initially, you slowly learn the lyrics due to constant exposure and later you start singing and enjoying that kind of music. Constantly expose yourself to those tasks that you need to master. It helps you develop familiarity with the task..Associating positive emotion and visualising positive outcomes and emotions from the task enables you to develop a great liking or even a passion  for the task at hand.

Pleasant emotions associated with tasks or learning processes help you achieve better result and  bring in more energy to handle the task. Make it a habit to be happy always. Channel your positive energy to the right direction to achieve your goal of personal development.

Do you stammer and stutter - help is here ( self help)

Does stammering and stuttering  bother you?

Stammering and stuttering are problems that have been there since the beginning of the human race. The Bible mentions Moses as a stammerer. He is so conscious of his problem that his self-confidence is totally eroded, even though he is the son of Pharaoh's daughter  (royalty in other words ) he is unsure of leading his people. 

Stammering is the problem of the inability to vocalize a word or a phrase fluently. It makes a person fumble over certain syllables and sounds that it deters clear communication. 

The cause of stammering has not been identified, but it seems to run in families. Whether this is a learned trait or a genetic problem is still under debate.

More men than woman suffer from stammering. Stammering, anxiety, poor self confidence, depression seem to be a chain of  events, one leading to the other.

The more conscious you are of your problem the more fearful you become and your stammering becomes more pronounced.

There is no definite treatment  for stammering or stuttering. Taking help from speech therapists could help you understand the specific areas where you need to work on, but long term treatment would only make your pockets light. 

Any action that you may have to take needs to be worked out by you. Your determination and your persistence will decide your success or failure. Remember that no problem is too difficult to overcome. 

Some of the all time greats have had the problem of stammering and stuttering. Check out the sample list that I have here for you Winston Churchill, Julia Roberts, Sir Issac Newton, Aristotle, Rowan Atkinson,  Anthony Quinn, Charles Darwin, King George VI,Marilyn Munroe, Elvis Presley  and many more.

If they could overcome the problem of stammering and stuttering and be great public figures,  so can you. Follow this link to get some  help to overcome stammering and stuttering

Don't let this problem of stuttering eat away into your self-confidence. You have an equal right to life a full and satisfied life like any other, so go and get some help. 

Self-awareness and self-development

Self awareness as a progression towards self-development- ( self awareness  Part 2)

Self-awareness is to know yourself. Self-awareness helps you take your life in the right direction. It is an ongoing process, which helps you enrich your life by bringing your actions closer to your values and beliefs. It helps you to be true to yourself and takes you in the upward spiral of self-development.

It is a realistic evaluation of your potential and other aspects of your life, such as:

Strengths and weaknesses

Thoughts, emotions, and the way they direct your life

Areas where there is scope for your improvement and change

Value and belief system

Self-esteem or self-worth

How to become self-aware

The first step to becoming self-aware is to start looking into your thoughts, actions and emotions. It is important to analyse the source and quality of your thoughts and how they impact your actions and emotions.

Studies have proven that more than 80% of our thoughts or self-talk is negative.  Most of us spend time looking at the achievements of others and thinking that they are the experts and that we do not have it in us to get that far in life. These thoughts not only undermine our potential but also de-motivate us to such an extent that we don’t even want to try learning new tasks. Such negative thoughts give rise to negative emotions and negative behaviour arising out of frustration. This is why it is so important to understand and be aware of who we really are.

The second step to increase your level of self-awareness is to journal or write down thoughts, emotions and behaviour so that we do not have to depend on memory but have facts and figures to analyse. The good thing about writing down your thoughts or emotions is that even as you start writing them you analyse them and become more objective about them even as you go about it. There is more clarity that comes out of writing as not many of us are not used to systematic thinking.

The next step to being self-aware is to record some of your speech. When you analyse the way you speak, it would be easy to figure out how much of your talk is negative and how much is positive. Unless you correct what is negative about your approach, there is little or no scope for self-improvement or self-development.

Negative thinking processes cause you to under estimate your strengths and overwhelm you with unrealistic perception of your weaknesses.  Sometimes it is good to take the inputs of more mature and experienced people whom you work with, regarding your strengths and weaknesses. Another good way to estimate and develop your potential would be to write down your achievements so far.

Now you have a platform from where you can launch yourself and draw up your personal development plan. Likewise, recording your emotional states over a period could indicate to you how much control you have over your emotions. It would be your springboard to understand how much control you need to exercise self-discipline over your emotions and take the reins in your hands.

Any self-development strategy would be meaningless if it is not in synch with your values and your beliefs. No matter what you do, you will come across as a person who lacks integrity, so it is important to evaluate every one of these areas against your value and belief systems. At the end of the day, self-awareness is all about an enriched, meaningful life of comfort from within. 

Self awareness is the path to self-development and  personal excellence. 

Living in the now

Live In The Now

Living in the past or dreaming about the future relaxes your grip on this moment called 'now'. Once this moment is lost it is in the past and you have lost the opportunity to live in the now.

The Glories of the past is past. The future depends on what you do today. If we do not live our today’s meaningfully then we have lost our tomorrows and our past would not be something worth remembering.  

Living In The Now

The decision to make each day meaningful, happy and worthwhile, is the first the first step to living in the now.
Approaching each person or situation with a positive attitude and making the best of it, is what makes the now valuable.
If I cannot enjoy the present what is the guarantee that I will enjoy the future.
Make what is good better and what is not so good, meaningful.
The past is really behind you, it cannot be changed but somehow our memories always make it appear brighter and better.
This is because we are looking at things that have been accomplished and not the finer details that make our now.
Without the minute details our accomplishments of the past would have never been possible.

Live In The Present Like You Love It

Live in the present and enjoy it, face the challenges life brings.
When you facet the present accepting very challenge accepted that comes your way and overcome it, you are ready for the future, you are strong and ready for every challenge.
That way we have an illustrious past to remember and relish.
Our accomplishments may be more than we even thought possible.

Living in the Dreams of the Future

Living in the future is an idealistic paradise consisting of 'if’s and when’s' and nothing solid or firm to hold on to.

Dreams have their place but they cannot become life itself.  

Without action and facing the challenges of life today, dreams will remain dreams alone.  
Dreams of the future need to give direction to our present moments, our thoughts and actions need to be directed towards achieving those dreams.
Every choice we make needs to be directed towards our goals, if not we are truly lost.

Living in the Past

The past is what gives us the strength to look forward tour present and our future.
Living in the past means that we have a great disregard for the present and we are not investing enough into living in the now to make it count.
When we boast of great exploits in the past but have nothing to show for the present, it could also mean we have stopped living the life we were meant to live and we are becoming stagnant.
It could also tell us that our coping skills have also become obsolete and we do not belong to the present times, in which we live.  
We are merely existing in the now while we are actually living in memories and fantasies of the past . Yes, I mean fantasies because our memories are not always perfect so we fill in the gaps with fantasies of what would have been.

It is time to stop dreaming and start living in the now.   
Life is not a series of pleasant happenings, it is a mix of ups and downs and high and lows.
How we face the highs and the lows of life decides our futures.
It is living in the now that counts.

Live the moment!! Decide to enjoy every bit of your life :) Have a great day!!

Building Self confidence

What is Self-confidence? 

Self-confidence is a positive attitude about us and our abilities. It enables us to face life with all its surprises and handle them well. It comes from having control over self, our thoughts and our lives. Self-confidence influences us to plan and achieve our goals despite obstacles without the fear of failure. Even though some of our goals may not have been achieved, we continue to be positive, and look forward to other opportunities as we believe in ourselves. It also influences the way in which others perceive us and react to us.
It is an important attitude for success and all of need it. Read on .... for some sure fire ways to build self confidence
http://hubpages.com/_ams1/hub/Self-confidence-building