 Self Healing Techniques
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You can change your life by changing how you see yourself – i.e. the mental picture you have of yourself.
The picture we have of ourselves affects every aspect of our lives – our level of self- confidence, our performance, our attitudes and beliefs, our choices of friends, the amount of risk we are willing to take in pursuit of our dreams, and even our career choices. The mental picture we paint for and of ourselves impacts virtually everything we do, or will ever attempt to do. It\'s not other people, circumstances or events that keep us from reaching our full potential. It\'s the mental picture we carry around with us each and every day. When we change that picture, we change our lives.
The picture or image we have of ourselves is largely developed during childhood. When we were born, we literally had a clean slate. Over the years, our picture was shaped through experiences with parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and sometimes the media. If a negative image resulted from those early childhood experiences, then we must transform or change the picture. Changing the picture is much like eradicating weeds. You must start at the root.
Here are five things to do to get started.
Examine your past. Make a thorough examination of your past, especially those early childhood experiences. You examine your past, not to play the blame game, but to discover the important events that might have shaped your life. You want to know the events (positives or negatives) that shaped your life so that you can make them work for you, not against you.
Get to know yourself. You must get to know the real you; the 'you' who is separate and apart from what you do; the you who is defined not by labels describing your physical characteristics, age, or career but by who you are inside. In order to get to know the real you, sit quietly and list all of your positive qualities. Focus only on the positives. Too often, we feel the urge to throw in a few negatives. Do not include even one negative on this list. If you can\'t find a lot of positive attributes, then ask your closest friend or a family member what they like most about you. Getting to know yourself helps you to get in touch with your feelings and it helps you to have a greater appreciation of yourself.
Listen to the inner voice and train that voice to always be positive. The inner voice can think or say whatever it\'s trained to think or say. Our thought processes are habits, built from the feedback of parents, friends, and self. The initial step in changing our self-image is to change our inner conversations. For example, instead of saying 'I can\'t do this' say, 'I don\'t how to do this but I can learn.' Changing your inner voice allows you to tell right from wrong, make the right decisions for your life, and solve problems more easily. As Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently stated 'A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.'
Practice self-care. Taking care of yourself seems to fly in the face of childhood lessons of modesty and humility. Yet, it\'s the responsible thing to do. Self-care allows you to give much more freely of yourself to others. A good first step in self-care is exercise – a proven benefit for both physical and mental health. It\'s a known fact that physical exercise does wonders for your mental picture.
Leave past mistakes behind. 'Should have, could have, would have ... ' Try not to constantly second guess yourself, criticize yourself or beat yourself up for what you 'should' have done better. Don\'t put expectations on yourself that you wouldn\'t put on others. It\'s great to want to do well, but expecting yourself to be perfect and then punishing yourself when you fail is a vicious cycle. Using expressions like 'I should have' is just a way of punishing yourself after the fact. Instead, learn from your mistakes. Learn from the past and look to the future.
To change your picture you don\'t have to dive in head first. Take small steps. Work on improving a small amount each day. In time, you will see amazing changes in your life.
About the Author:
Daisy M. Saunders... speaker, author, life coach, and certified personal trainer provides self empowerment and lifestyle education workshops/seminars and personal coaching to individuals who want to improve the quality of their lives. Daisy is the author of Big Eyes...Big Eyedeas for Achieving Optimum Success in Business and in Life, Empowerment: How to Chart and Shape Your Future, and 100 Quotes to Inspire Possibility Thinking.
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