Low self-esteem can often be traced back to childhood. For those who had a difficult upbringing or suffered through a traumatic event, low self-esteem is fairly common. However, it's possible to develop self-esteem issues in adulthood as well.  When you go through a difficult time, it can affect the way you see yourself. For example, if you are unemployed, go through a divorce, or file bankruptcy, you may internalize these negative experiences and believe that it’s your fault and that you caused these bad things to happen.   Learn about the steps you can take to overcome low self-est ..read more

In the last blog post, we looked at how negative experiences in your past can affect your self-concept. Self-esteem isn’t quite the same as your self-concept, but they’re related. Your self-concept is your perception of yourself. Your self-esteem is a measure of how happy you are with yourself. By increasing one, you can increase the other. Today, we’ll look at building your self-esteem. It’s much easier to present ourselves authentically to others when we feel good about ourselves.   Give your self-esteem a boost and think more highly of yourself:  Guarantee success by starting sma ..read more

In your quest to be authentic, it’s wise to examine your past and realize how it has affected your self-concept.  Everyone carries around a past with negative experiences. Some of these experiences were our own fault, while others were not. What’s most relevant is how the experiences of the past are interpreted. It’s challenging not to assign meaning to these experiences, but is the meaning that’s been assigned accurate? More importantly, is it useful?   There are several signs that you’re not using your past constructively:  You continue making the same mistakes. The past shou ..read more

Have you ever found yourself confronting painful memories of situations you experienced when growing up? Remembering these situations can be like re-opening old wounds and feeling the same emotions over and over again. Fortunately, you can use some very productive strategies to help you heal. One of those strategies is journaling – writing down how you feel and think.   Try these journaling techniques to help you resolve the pain of negative childhood memories:  Write about what you thought and felt. Going back in time, ponder what the negative situations were like for you. Did you ..read more

When you have passion, you have a life energy that allows you to achieve your dreams. Passion helps you get out of bed in the morning and seize the day! But what can you do when you feel like you've lost your passion? How Passion Benefits You  There are many benefits to being a more passionate person. With an invigorating passion for life, you can enjoy sustainable energy that motivates and inspires you. You'll also enjoy more leisure time, quality relationships, and people will be drawn to you. You'll also enjoy an enthusiasm for life that can last a lifetime. It all starts with this sim ..read more

Self-reflection seems to be a dying art. People either feel like they don’t have the time or that it’s a waste of time. Others are afraid to take a good, long, hard look at themselves. This is a mistake, because there is so much to be gained by examining yourself and your past. Self-reflection provides many advantages that can make life easier: You learn about yourself. Most people are shockingly low in self-awareness. Some people are too busy, or at least they think they are. Others would prefer to distract themselves rather than spend one second self-reflecting. However, there’s much t ..read more

It’s not unusual for a person to think they’re doing worse than they actually are. Some of us are just pessimistic. Progress can also be hard to see sometimes unless you’re looking in the right places for it. If you feel like you’re working hard with little to show for it, you’re probably mistaken. It’s likely that you’re doing a lot better than you think! Consider these positive signs: You learn the lesson that each mistake and failure provide. If you can learn something from every failure and mistake, it won't take long before you're incredibly successful. Most people repeat their errors ov ..read more

One method to increase self-awarenss is by journaling your thoughts and feelings. The idea of keeping a journal may sound strange to you; you might not think of yourself as a writer. Even non-writers keep journals, though. When you open yourself to journaling, you experience a new wealth of self-understanding. Writing bits and pieces of your life experiences can be an incredible journey. Once you start thinking about something that happened to you in the past, you’ll find yourself remembering another story, then another. Once you start making an effort to recall experiences from your past, you ..read more

To recap from our last blog post, self-awareness is having a high degree of knowledge about yourself. It’s awareness of your habits, emotional tendencies, needs, desires, strengths, and weaknesses. Having a high level of self-awareness is a powerful tool. It allows you to change your life more effectively, since you know how you tick. Those that lack self-awareness find life to be frustrating.  Develop your self-awareness: Notice your thoughts. Unless you’ve been meditating for years, your mind is constantly churning through ideas and endlessly providing commentary. You can’t just look a ..read more

It’s impossible to live authentically without first discovering who you are. Self-awareness is crucial!  What is self-awareness? The dictionary defines self-awareness as “knowledge and awareness of your own personality or character.” When you’re self-aware, you have an accurate and clear understanding of your personality, strengths, weaknesses, and beliefs. You know what makes you tick. Self-awareness also includes an understanding of how others perceive you. Lacking self-awareness can lead to a very confusing and frustrating life! Your level of self-awareness can influence your relations ..read more