Discovering Inner Strength

Even though life can be a fantastic ride, sometimes it can also knock the wind out of your sails. When tough times trigger your insecurities, you can discover an inner strength that will get you through practically anything.

Try these ideas to get started:

1. Reflect on the tough times you’ve had before. Ask yourself how you got through it. What did you do? What did you think? What did you tell yourself? Your resilience will become evident as you do this exercise and give you real hope for the future in dealing with other obstacles.

• Recognize that you’ve made it through those difficult situations. Then think about what you’re experiencing right now. Is the current situation similar to or much different from your other tough times? Use what you’ve learned from your past challenges.

1. Learn to talk to yourself in positive, encouraging ways. This will help you build up your inner strength.

• As if speaking to your own best friend, tell yourself what will most help and encourage you. What do you most want to hear? What do you need to hear to help gather your strength? Is there something specific you’re hoping will happen?
• Practice providing yourself with encouraging, uplifting messages. The messages you give yourself can be less than helpful or they can propel you through the roughest of circumstances.

• Talking to yourself with respect, care and positivity builds your inner strength so it’s there when you need it. When the going gets tough, you’ll have yourself to fall back on.

1. Allow yourself time to think through whatever the situation is. It’s okay to feel confused.

• What are your ideas about how to weather the storm? Examine all the solutions you can come up with. Explain to yourself what you’ll do and how you’ll do it.
• A sense of your own resourcefulness can be found in your ability to problem-solve through challenging situations.

1. Consider who you regard as role models or mentors. You selected those people because you respect and admire them. They’re strong enough people that you want to emulate them.

• Think about their strength of character. How do you know they have it? What does that strength look like? How does it manifest?

1. Reflect on what you’ve done or been through that you’re most proud of. Was it making it through college although you had to work while you attended classes? Maybe it was moving out on your own for the first time and figuring out you could take care of yourself.

• Even though you might have felt afraid, uncomfortable, lost, or confused, you discovered your internal resources and made it through those experiences.
• When you examine what you did to handle those situations and how you made it through, you’ll recall your inner strength.
• You can get in touch with your own resourcefulness by re-visiting those events that bring you pride.

1. Sometimes, you’ve just got to “fake it till you make it.” You can probably recall a time when you felt afraid or weren’t sure you could succeed, but you stood up and met the challenge head on.

Discovering your inner strength is possible, even in the toughest of times. Following the steps above will help you discover your courage and resourcefulness. And with this self-understanding, you can handle anything!

Developing a Healthy Body Image

You’ll receive many great benefits from appreciating, respecting, and learning to love your natural body shape.

You can love yourself just the way you are while still working on becoming healthier and moving toward the size and shape you prefer.

Try these strategies to increase your comfort with your body:

1. Appreciate everything your body can do for you. Consider that your body can climb, run, walk, dance, sleep, laugh, dream, and myriad of other things. That’s impressive.
2. List the top 5-10 things you love about your body. It might be your hair, eyes, skin, bellybutton, and feet. You know what parts you like. Take a few minutes to think about it or ask your friends.
3. Acknowledge that physical beauty is only skin deep. That applies to certain physical attributes. However, the physical beauty caused by vibrant health – from eating nutritiously and exercising – is inside and out. The beauty of your personality can also cause others to see you as a great beauty, even if you notice flaws.
4. Keep your thoughts positive. We all have the power to choose our thoughts. Think positive things and avoid letting the internal criticism creep in.
   
5. Wear clothes that make you feel good. We all have stuff we like to wear. Go with the clothing that makes you feel like a million bucks.
6. Realize that society’s role models for the physical ideal are impractical. Most of us could not look like a male or female fashion model regardless of how much work, time, and money we spent. It’s simply not possible. Those people are one in several million. It would be like the average person trying to play center in the NBA.
7. Think about the most impressive people throughout history. Ask yourself how much their body or appearance mattered to their success. Do you think it mattered at all? The most important accomplishments in history were not accomplished with beauty or brawn.
   
8. Ask yourself how you’re benefiting from disliking your body. Is it making you shy, miserable, or less effective? Is it keeping you from being able to focus on creating the fulfilling life you desire? Chances are, all the results of your disdain are negative. This realization can help put you back on the road to thinking more positively about yourself.
   
9. List 5 reasons why it is silly to believe that the more slender or attractive are happier. You can certainly think of 5 without too much effort. Every group of people has members that are unhappy. That includes the beautiful people.
10. Exercise because it feels good. Don’t exercise for the sole purpose of losing weight. Enjoy moving your body and lifting your mood by naturally releasing your endorphins with exercise. If you need to lose weight, the accompanying weight loss is a great bonus!

Take some time to implement these tips to help you enjoy and appreciate your body more. It’s important to keep the whole issue in perspective. Focus on the positives and avoid any negative thoughts about your body. Think about all the incredible things that your body does for you each and every day.

Once you’re able to stop focusing on whether or not your body looks “perfect,” you can move forward with things that are most important to you, like creating the life you desire in the here and now (not “someday when you look different”).

5 Easy Ways to Make Your Life More Exciting

If you find yourself spending too much time with the television remote in your hand or taking too many daytime naps, it could be that you’re simply bored with the life you’re living. Maybe you have a home that suits you and a job you like, yet you feel like something’s missing.

Perhaps, little by little, you’ve simply settled in to a hum-drum existence.

Wouldn’t you love to wake up, shake things up, and feel some passion again?

Consider these strategies to pump up the joy, interest, and excitement in your life:

1. Do at least one activity you enjoy each day. We’ve all heard the saying about all work and no play. Life can get pretty boring pretty quickly if all you do is work and come home, only to flop down in front of the TV.

• What are some activities that bring you joy? Indulge in doing something that makes you smile, brings out your creativity, or satisfies your yen for a familiar hobby.

1. Vow to read at least 10 pages a day. There’s great knowledge, wisdom, adventure, and joy in reading. Whether you enjoy finding out more about topics you love or getting lost in a great adventure, there’s something that will perk your interest.

• You’ll find yourself reading more than you ever thought you would. Feast your mind and intellect on the written word. You’ll like it.

1. Allow yourself to daydream. Maybe you want to travel to France or you’d really like to take a stab at writing the Great American Novel. Close your eyes and let your mind go wild.

• Where would you travel first? What do you want to see?
• What type of novel would you write? What would the characters be like?
• Indulge yourself in your dreams. They might spark ideas that you can start making concrete plans for.

1. Be honest with yourself about your strong points. When you do, you’ll be compelled to move forward to create a life you truly enjoy.

• Provide yourself with opportunities to engage in things you do well or even excel at. When you show a talent for something, it’s usually something you enjoy as well.
• Spending more time in these activities will enhance your confidence and help to banish boredom for good.

1. Return to doing something you did in the past. For example, if you used to take part in dance contests, yet haven’t danced in years, you might be interested in dancing again. Something that brought you happiness once before can vastly enrich your life again.

• You’ll challenge yourself and relish in all the things you loved about the activity all over again. Re-discovering your passion for something you loved before can spark new excitement now.

Take responsibility now to jazz up your life. You’ll build a fulfilling, enriching life when you turn your focus to your off-work hours. Immerse yourself in activities you’ve pined for, dreamed about, or loved in the past. The exciting life you deserve is just around the corner!

3 Healthy Ego-Boosting Tips

If low self-esteem has you feeling uninspired, there are brighter days ahead. You have the power to renew your ego within a matter of days. You may need to put in a little bit of work to overcome the roadblocks in the way of your rising self-esteem, but your efforts will certainly be worth it.

These tips will help you develop a healthy ego boost in no time at all:

1. Consider your needs. Do what makes you happy without allowing what others may think about you or your decisions to deter you. Once you stop worrying about keeping up with appearances, your mind and soul will be free.

• Living without fear of judgment will allow you to open doors that were once only a dream. Often, you’ll even find that your financial situation will improve because you aren’t making expensive purchases to keep up appearances.

• Sometimes, family can be your biggest judgment worry. If this is your situation, learn to set boundaries and allow the negativity to roll off. Occasionally, it may be helpful to listen to the advice of family members, but when that advice turns to criticism or begins to run your life, remember to put yourself first.

1. Take pride in your appearance. When you present yourself in a neat and stylish manner, your ego will instantly increase because when you look good, you feel good. You’ll automatically walk with your head a bit higher when you’re confident in your appearance.

• Contrary to common belief, it doesn’t take a lot of money to look good. Simply eat a healthy diet, treat your skin before bed each night, brush your hair, and ensure that your clothing is clean and pressed.

• If you’re concerned about your appearance, try to fix it. If you’re unhappy with your nose, contour it with makeup. If you’re unhappy with your hips or tummy, purchase a body shaper. Almost all body issues can be addressed quite inexpensively.

1. Surround yourself with positivity. Surround yourself with people who care and appreciate you. If your friends and family are constantly giving you unwarranted criticism, this can undoubtedly lead to low self-esteem. Have a talk with the people in your life about how negatively their harsh comments affect you; if they truly care for you, they’ll put a stop to it immediately.

• Some people are simply hardwired to dish out negativity. If your circle includes people like this, you may have to distance yourself a bit from the negative influences in your life.

• Of course, your loved ones aren’t required to praise you in order to be on your priority list, but your efforts to give yourself a healthy ego boost will fall short if you’re constantly being torn down by the negativity of others.

• Rediscover an old hobby or find a new one. By involving yourself with something you enjoy, you’re creating your own positivity. You’ll feel better about yourself as you increase your happiness.

Developing a healthy ego may seem like a simple concept, but many people struggle with insecurity and self-doubt. However, if you’re able to effectively implement the tips above, you’ll notice your self-esteem rise quickly. Remember, you’re worth the effort and your contribution is important to the world.