Personal Development
« Previous EntriesSelf Renewal - The Critical Factor
Monday, May 12th, 2008I love watching the Home and Garden channel, especially when they renovate a house. Often times, when I watch the amazing home transformations that take place, I think about self renewal. For some reason, I started to relate the wear and tear and abuse we go through as people in comparison to a house. It’s amazing how a house weathers the external elements around it. In time, the house starts to show the signs of the battles it’s endured - the sagging shutters, the peeling paint, the loose shingles. Then there is the interior of the house - with its own unique set of needs - new plumbing, interior paint, new flooring.
Pitfall of Negative Thinking
Sunday, February 17th, 2008Negative thinking has a sneaky way of creeping up on you if you’re not careful. Even the most dedicated self-help, personal development junky finds his or herself falling victim to negativism at times. It happened to me today in the workplace. One of the supervisors I work with was explaining why one of our employees was unhappy in the office. This employee is one of the employees I label as the ‘floundering five’ because they are always critical, negative, whinny, complainers that never focus on anything positive. It gets old and irritating at times. I guess I let them get to me today. Years of ‘automatic’ negative thinking patterns snatched the opportunity to take over. This type of thinking became so natural over the years that I hadn’t even realized I was doing it.
Why Care What Other People Think?
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008I believe we care about what other people think because we want to be accepted. For many years, especially in the workplace, I let my concern over what other people think about my actions and behaviors control me.
By caring what other people think - I placed myself in a very bad place. For starters, we can never please everyone and there will always be people who do not like us. Moreover, instead of caring what we think of ourselves (internal forces that we can control) we place our happiness and wellbeing on external forces (which we cannot control).
Tired Vs. Lazy
Thursday, January 17th, 2008Personal progress is damn hard work. When you’re busy it can make you wonder whether lack of progress is because your too tired or just plain lazy. I’ll be the first to admit, it’s easy to use my busy lifestyle as a scapegoat for lack of personal progress or results. When I come home from the office, I’m usually overworked and emotionally drained, which makes me tired.
Stress Less
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008Stress less. These were the beginning words in a magazine advertisement I noticed today. I started thinking, “how in the heck do I stress less?” Truthfully, I’d have to eliminate everything that gets on my nerves and irritates me on a daily basis if I’m really going to stress less.
As I’m sure you know, I can’t realistically ignore or eliminate every daily stress factor. However, I can incorporate techniques and habits to help myself stress less. As I matter of fact, lowering my stress levels is high on my personal growth list.
Understanding Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Monday, January 7th, 2008A lesson I’ve learned the hard way is the importance of knowing and understanding your strengths and weaknesses.
The funny thing is….. when most of us talk about improving some area of our lives we focus on fixing weaknesses. For instance I hate public speaking. Granted, public speaking is an excellent and important skill to have; however, if I’m a much better writer than speaker then guess where I should place more of my efforts? You guessed it. I should focus on how to capitalize on my love and talent for writing.
Simply Words
Saturday, January 5th, 2008Words are powerful. Words inspire, words motivate, words hurt, and words influence. Words are the foundation of our internal and external communication process. Many of us take words for granted - something we really can’t afford to do.
One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible states we should “be quick to listen and slow to speak.” In reading Proverbs the Bible provides many scriptures on words and speaking. For instance, “a fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating” or “the words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts” and one of my favorites, “he who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”
Coping Skills For Life
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008Do you have a list of coping skills? Over the past several years, I’ve come to realize the importance of good coping skills. It’s still hard for me to believe that within a year’s time , I have suffered the lost of my last living uncle, the restructure of my position at work, negative office politics, brain surgery, and the loss of hearing in my right ear. It just seemed as if one event happened right after the other.
Overcoming Fear
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008Overcoming fears is difficult, because we have the innate reflex to protect ourselves from pain. The problem is this wondrous and necessary ability to protect ourselves often spills over, to extreme, in all areas of our lives.
In my case, I’m a cautious person by nature. I instinctively protect myself from everything - meaning I don’t like to take risk. For me this meant years before I gathered the courage to walk down the aisle in front of hundreds of people to join a church. This meant overcoming my fear of public speaking and joining Toastmaster. I had to gather my courage to join a group of complete strangers to improve a terrifying fear. I also had to gather my courage to step out of my comfort zone and go after a new job.
Never Be Discouraged
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008We all become discouraged at different times in our lives. Below I am sharing on of my favorite inspirational sayings that has carried me through many trying times. I hope it can help you as well.
Never Be Discouraged:
There is really nothing we need know or even try to understand, if we refuse to be discouraged and trust in God’s guiding hand. So take heart and meet each minute with faith in God’s great love. Aware that every day of life is controlled by God above.
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