The Importance of Self-Care: Why and How to Prioritize It

Hello everyone. Today I want to discuss something very important and it is self-care. So many times we are so busy that we don't really take the time to do a lot for ourselves and to really focus on ourselves, and this is not a good thing because self-care is just so important. We need to all take that time to pamper ourselves a little bit, to get in tune with ourselves, our bodies, our minds–see what sort of thing we need, what could help us, and try to fulfill those needs. And so self-care is something that often gets thrown to the wayside because we're so busy. We have so many things to do in our lives, whether it is work or taking care of people in our lives: relatives, even reaching out to our friends and helping them. All kinds of things get in the way of us focusing on ourselves. And so it is important to make an effort to really focus on self-care: to recognize that it is important and to focus on it. Because otherwise if we neglect ourselves, we won't be in top form, and then we won't be able to help others like we want to because we won't ourselves be in top shape. 

So things like self-care, it really depends on your own personal preference and needs what kind of self-care that we're talking about. It could be something to de-stress, something as simple as taking a long warm bath, where you just retreat and just focus on relaxing. It could be taking some time for meditation, to have a mantra, to think quietly and clear one's mind and meditate. It could be doing something that you really enjoy like listening to music, watching the TV show that you really enjoy, renting that movie. And just relaxing and doing things like that help us to get outside of ourselves. So it can be very relaxing. It can be a nice thing to watch a movie, to watch a TV show. It is not just about the entertainment value but it is also a way to de-stress.

And so there's all different kinds of self-care. There's also just making sure that we're getting proper nutrition, so eating well–if you take a multivitamin, taking your vitamins. Things like getting enough sleep, that is really important too. That is a form of self-care because if we don't get enough sleep, we get run down, and that is not good. Then we lose our energy, and we just don't have the energy to do the things that we want to do.

So all kinds of things fall under the umbrella of self-care: getting enough sleep, taking the time to socialize, to talk to our friends and to talk to our family. Sometimes that gets put on the wayside and neglected because we're so busy, you know, taking care of people, working, all of that. And so reaching out to friends and family and taking time to socialize, that is actually another form of self-care because it is something that helps our spirits to feel awesome. And so it is nurturing to ourselves.

Another thing that can be considered self-care is taking care of our appearance, you know, because when we look good we feel good. And so taking care of one's appearance can be considered self-care, whether that is makeup, clothing, going out and getting some nice clothes that you really enjoy wearing, different things like that, taking care of your hair–just putting oneself together so one looks good. And that helps a person to feel good. So that also falls under the umbrella of self-care.

Self-care is very personalized to the person, what they consider to be important to nurture themselves. It could be spending time in nature, going for a walk, getting into nature. That could be considered self-care for somebody. So it is really personal as to what exactly the self-care entails, but really the important thing is to make time for it in one's life. Put it on the calendar because it is important. So rather than it getting to be something that gets neglected because we're so busy, it is something that should be put up there with important priorities and prioritized.

Another aspect of self-care is medical care, making sure one goes to their checkups, their appointments, and takes care of their medical needs. Because sometimes even that gets postponed because people are busy, and that really shouldn't happen. It should be a priority.

So we've discussed different types of self-care. Let's focus again on how self-care ends up not being a priority or not happening. Part of it is just that so many of us are so busy. But part of it is that some people believe self-care can be considered that they're being selfish somehow, that it is not something they should really focus on. And that is a mistake because it is not selfish to make sure that your self-care is prioritized. It is something that is nurturing for yourself, and if you're the type of person that is really a giver and you always want to help other people, it is important to realize that if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be at your best to help others. So even if you're the type of person that tends to put yourself last, you still have to realize that with self-care, that is something that will help you to help other people.

So self-care is so important for so many reasons, and it is something that we really need to focus on. We need to make sure that that is on our calendar, prioritized in front of our minds. And what happens when we prioritize the self-care? Well, we feel better. We feel better physically. We feel better mentally and spiritually. And all of those things help us to blossom as a person.

So self care is really important. It is something that is important to focus on, and I'm hoping that you all will take some extra time to focus on self-care.

Give Yourself Permission to Dream

 Having a dream to pursue makes life richer. You may or may not attain the dream you have, but you are trying, and along the way, good things happen as you chase a dream.

A dream is similar to a goal. It is a goal that involves your passion and may not be as attainable as your other goals, but that is okay. It is worth pursuing a dream because in the end, whether or not we attain it, we can at least say that we tried. And there is satisfaction to knowing that you gave your dream a chance to come true. What we attain for sure is the experiences that come about as we pursue our dreams. Those experiences add to our fulfillment, and they can offer us learning opportunities as well.

Giving yourself permission to dream unlocks your imagination. As you think about what your dream would be, you can consider many possibilities that would bring you happiness. Those possibilities will never come true unless you allow yourself to dream. As you dream, your imagination flourishes. Why stop yourself as you are dreaming? Why psyche yourself out, saying this will never happen? Let your dream flourish and develop. The more your imagination is awakened, the more ideas you will have that could potentially lead to your dream coming true.

 Following your dream requires action on your part. Once you have brainstormed ideas on how to take initial steps in pursuit of your dream, you need to take action and just begin. Sometimes it is fear that holds us back from pursuing our dreams. We can have a fear of failure, or even a subconscious fear of success that holds us back. It is important to let go the fear to enable one to go after their dreams. How to do this? Well, positive thinking and meditation can help to assuage the fear. Asking yourself, what is the worst that can happen—you fail to attain your goal? Then at least you will have tried, and most likely learned something along the way.

Sometimes we end up not pursuing our dreams because we assume that we will not be successful. We psyche ourselves out from the get-go, and then just decide, consciously or sometimes subconsciously, to not attempt the dream at all. This is a shame because we cannot know for sure that we will fail in our endeavor. As well, our definition of success may change as we go through the experience of pursuing our dream. We can develop new skills along the way. And who knows, we just might find success and fulfill our dream.

Pursuing a dream can seem daunting. But one can start with baby steps. Then, step-by-step, one can move closer to attaining their dream. It is important to set realistic goals along the way, which will keep you focused and on course.

Sometimes we lose patience in pursuit of a dream. We are in a rush. We want success right away, straight out of the gate. But reaching one’s goals takes time. We will need patience in order to carry on in our quest and not give up prematurely. Telling yourself that the end goal is worth pursuing and reminding yourself of why it is your dream can help you to find the patience needed for your pursuit.

If you can see it, you can be it. Creative visualization is a helpful tool to utilize when in pursuit of a dream. Using one’s imagination to visualize the hoped for end result and the steps along the way can increase motivation. Visualization helps to remind you of why you are taking the steps that you are, what the end goal is. Visualization can also help to boost your confidence, which can increase the likelihood of your success in your endeavor. We can just close our eyes and imagine, imagine what it would be like to attain our dream, or imagine what successful steps along the way will look and feel like. We can also draw a picture that symbolizes what attaining our dream would mean to us. That can be used to help motivate us along our path to success. So don’t forget about the power of creative visualization when it comes to going after your goals.

Writing about our dream can help to keep it alive and burning within us. We can write down our goals and steps along the way to our dream. We can write down our feelings about our dream and why it holds importance to us. Talking to others about our dream can also help to keep our dream alive. Some dreams we may not want to share with others, and instead prefer to keep them private. We may feel that another person could psyche us out, or that our dream is more powerful when kept to ourselves. It is fine either way. Dreams are a personal thing, and how we dream is personal to us.

There is comfort to knowing that we tried to attain our dream, even if we fail. At least we did not give up, or never try at all. It is worth the effort to see where it leads. It could lead to an unexpected good thing as well, even if not to attaining the dream. Dreams add color and passion to our lives. For that reason alone it is worth striving to achieve one’s dream.

Following one’s dream is good for the spirit. It unleashes one’s imagination and creativity. Believing in possibilities is uplifting. Who knows what lies ahead anyway. Pursuing a dream can lead one to wonderful places.

Before one can attain one’s dream, one has to unlock that dream from within. If we don’t believe in dreaming, how will we spur our imagination onto what could possibly be? Giving oneself permission to dream is the first step to achieving one’s dreams. So dream, dream, and dream again! Dreaming is good for the soul. It can transform our thinking and allow us to see new possibilities on the horizon. So give yourself permission to dream.

A Collection of Affirmations to Help Brighten Your Day

Affirmations can be empowering. They can make us feel better about ourselves and about the world around us. Affirmations can be a base of positive thinking practices to build upon. They can lift your mood and take the edge off your day.

Affirmations can be said to oneself, read, or spoken aloud. It does not matter how you absorb the message of an affirmation, just that you focus on it, if even for a brief moment.

Affirmations are powerful. They are packed with positivity and kernels of wisdom. Having affirmations ready at your disposal is the best idea. That encourages you to review them, and they are ready for you when you are. So read on the following affirmations to help brighten your day!

1. I Am Beautiful

I am beautiful because I was created as I am. I am beautiful, whether or not I think that when I look in the mirror. My uniqueness makes me special. No other person is exactly like me. I am a beautiful addition to this world, bringing my own distinct aura—in both action and appearance. I must not compete with or compare myself to others, after all, that is like comparing an apple to an orange. I am exactly as I was meant to be. I am special, a truly distinct person who leaves my own mark on this world, with my appearance and everything I say and do. In my uniqueness I am a creation that was meant to be just as I am. I am beautiful, in my own way.

2. The Rain Will End and a Rainbow Will Emerge

The one thing that is static is change. If I am going through a rough time, I need to remember that “this too shall pass.” Nothing lasts forever. Life is like a rollercoaster, with plenty of ups and downs along the way. I need to just find strength to hold on till tomorrow. Each tomorrow is a new beginning for me. It is a chance for change, of both myself and the circumstances I find myself in. Change can be scary too, but it offers the promise of new opportunities. Sometimes we welcome change, or pray for it. These are the times I need to remember that the storm will pass. The sun will come out. Life will go on and it will become brighter. The promise of a new day gives me hope. The storm will not last forever. If I just keep holding on, a new day will come, one that is better. Life is full of twists and turns. We cannot know what is around the corner. I need to have faith that I will survive the rain and make it through. A rainbow I shall see. The rain will end and a rainbow will emerge.

3. I Am Much Stronger Than I Think

I can handle whatever comes my way. I am strong and capable. I will manage what hurdles are thrown at me. I have faith in my abilities and competency. I will always do my best, and my best is good enough. I will not fear the future, because I have the inner confidence to face it, whatever it may bring. I know I can handle what will transpire tomorrow. I know this because I have handled events and circumstances in my past. And I know this because I try my best. I will continue to make my best efforts in navigating through this life. I will not worry about the future because I know I can handle what will come. Tomorrow will bring a new perspective and renewed energy. I am much stronger than I think.

4. There Is Light

No matter how dark a place I find myself in, I know there is light. I may not see it now, but it will emerge to me. There is light representing goodness all around me. I just must look for it in order to see it. The toughest times that come my way build strength. And I must just hold on. After darkness, there will be light. I need to remember in times of trial that I shall bathe in the light once again. The light represents promise—promise of a new day. Each morning, the sun rises. It signals the start of a new day, full of promise. The more we look for the light in each day that comes, the more we will see it. Sometimes the light is faint and sometimes it is brightly shining. Sometimes we may feel that we cannot see any light at all. But then there will be a glimmer of light, faint as it may be. And soon the light will shine upon us full force.

5. There Is So Much for Me to Be Grateful For

Today I will try my best to find gratitude in my heart. I can be grateful for having another day to live and to shine my special light. I can be grateful for the people in my life who keep me company and offer their support. I can be grateful that I am me, myself. I am a unique individual with my own special talents and qualities. I can be grateful for the sunrise and the beauty of nature. I can be grateful for that cup of coffee and danish that start my morning, or another food or drink that I enjoy in my day. I can be grateful for my pets, and all their beauty and companionship. I can be grateful for the children in my life, with their laughter and innocence. I will be grateful today. There is so much for me to be grateful for.

6. I Am Happy to Have Cherished People in My Life

Like the shade of a tree protecting us from sunburn, we are protected in this world by the caring of people in our lives. A tree is strong, and the emotions that connect us to others give us strength to rise up like a tall tree ourselves. The people in my life offer so much to me. Their special qualities surround me and expand my horizons. By being there for me, the people in my life give me support in getting through my day-to-day struggles. Together, we laugh, and we cry. It is the togetherness that is the important thing. The people in my life empower me to feel I can take on what comes my way in this world. I do not feel alone because of them. Having cherished people in my life gives me strength and brings happiness to my life. Their presence is enough. They do not need to be perfect. Having them in my life helps me to build a foundation of core strength. I am happy to have cherished people in my life.

7. It’s the Power of the Spirit

I will let the power of my spirit guide me and give me strength. We all have great power within ourselves. Our spirits are full of energy, strength and wisdom. We each have our own personal insights, emotions, experiences and goals—a unique inner life. We can always know that our spirits will guide us through the maze of life, leading us to what lies ahead by way of our unique inner life that constantly evolves through our individual life experiences. We can have faith that the power of our spirit lies always within ourselves. It is that spark that motivates us to get up every morning and keep on trying. Life can throw hurdles before us, but the trials and tribulations of life make us stronger. Our spirit within is a flame that burns brightly through the storm. It’s the power of the spirit that keeps us growing stronger and stronger every day. The strength of the spirit inspires us to stand tall and let the light of our souls shine bright.

Conclusion

Affirmations can be a powerful tool in helping us to feel good inside. Whether we read them to ourselves or memorize an affirmation and repeat it in our minds, affirmations can have a positive effect on our mood. Affirmations can help to clear worry and sadness. They help us to focus on positivity instead of the negative thoughts that can bring us down. So try utilizing affirmations in your life, and see how it improves your outlook!

10 Steps to Realizing Inner Happiness

 Happiness is that sometime elusive thing that we all want. Who does not want to be happy? But what is happiness really? Happiness is when you feel good generally. It can comprise feelings of inner peace and contentment. Happiness means different things to different people. Some seek adventure and excitement to feel happy. Others seek comfort and predictability. It all depends on our unique qualities and preferences, what happiness means to us.

Happiness is not always something that just happens. Sometimes we need to make an effort to attain happiness. There are things we can do to make our sense of happiness blossom. Read up on the following guidelines to help you in your quest towards happiness.

1. Surround Yourself With Positive People

The people around you have an undeniable effect on your state of happiness, or lack thereof. If you are spending time with negative people, do not be surprised if their negativity rubs off on you. Being in a negative mindset is not the base to build happiness upon. Conversely, spending time with positive people can buoy one up in mood. The positivity rubs off on you and brightens your day. So choose who you spend time with wisely in your quest for happiness. Choose positive people to create a positive force in your life.

2. Set Goals for Yourself

It is difficult to feel a sense of motivation if we have no goals. Setting goals for yourself fosters a sense of challenge. It spurs motivation. A goal gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning and start your day. Motivation contributes to our feelings of happiness. Goals should be realistic. They should be something that with effort we can accomplish. Setting unrealistic goals will not serve to increase our sense of happiness, in fact it will likely do the opposite, causing us to feel bad about ourselves and therefore less happy. We want to feel good about ourselves to increase happiness. Accomplishing goals creates a sense of pride in oneself. That sense of pride contributes to one’s self-esteem. Having higher self-esteem increases happiness, because with healthy self-esteem you are happy with yourself. So set (realistic) goals to increase your happiness.

3. Do the Things You Enjoy

In order to increase our happiness, it is important to spend some time doing things we enjoy. This could be listening to music, watching your favorite show on Netflix, cooking, partaking in a hobby, or just relaxing. It is important to carve out time to do the things we enjoy. Leisure activities can act as a happy distraction from troubles, a time to heal from our stressors. TV shows and movies can offer an escape from our reality, an escape that gives us, at least temporarily, relief from our problems. Listening to music can soothe and calm us, energize and uplift.

Life can be hectic, and taking time for enjoyable activities can fall on the backburner. We may believe that it is not of importance for us to have that time for fun. But nurturing our happiness is important, and taking time for the activities we love is part of nurturing our inner happiness. So don’t feel guilty the next time you watch your favorite show. You deserve that leisure time, and it will serve to increase your happiness.

4. Find Your Spiritual Center

Getting in touch with one’s spiritual side can be very uplifting to one’s psyche--whether that means practicing a religion, independent prayer, meditation, or quiet reflection. Finding one’s spiritual center can help one attain a sense of inner peace. Life can be very hectic, and taking the time for spiritual reflection can easily fall to the wayside. But nurturing one’s spirituality is important to increase one’s happiness. Simply spending time in nature can help to guide our spiritual growth. The beauty of nature is awe-inspiring and can lift our spirits and serve as a backdrop that welcomes our quiet reflection. It is in those quiet times that we can get in tune with our inner spirit and find our way to inner peace and increased happiness.

5. Take Time for Physical Activity

Taking time for physical activity is another way to boost one’s feelings of happiness. Physical activity gets our metabolism going and stimulates hormones that make us feel good. Physical activity can mean structured exercise, like working out in a gym or running, or it can be the walk you do for your morning commute. Dancing is a wonderful form of exercise that most anyone can do. Exercise is an individualized activity. We can all exercise in our own way, and in so doing, pump up our energy level and increase feelings of happiness.

6. Practice Positive Self-Talk

What we say to ourselves in our own minds has a direct bearing on our happiness. Negative statements about oneself or one’s life psyche one out. They make you feel low and even without hope. The negative statements could not be more personal than coming from you yourself. Ironically, ideally you should act as your own best friend. But when you make negative statements to yourself, you are acting like an enemy.

Negative self-talk can become a bad habit that can take effort to break free from. But with diligence, you can break free. The first thing you need to do is to catch yourself when you are engaging in negative self-talk. It can be helpful to take an action once you have caught yourself, like clapping or pinching yourself. This reinforces the fact to you that what you are doing is wrong. Next, replace the negative statement with a positive one. Dig deep if you must and find some positive statement, however small, to say to yourself.

Positive self-talk buoys you up. Over time, it helps you to gain confidence and to feel good about yourself and your life. The positive statements can run the gamut. They can be most anything, as long as they are positive. They can be about yourself, an aspect of your life, a person in your life, or your pet, for example. The task is to come up with some statement that is positive, and that is all. Practice positive self-talk and feel your happiness rise.

7. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

In this modern age, we are offered a peek into other people’s lives, including the rich and famous, through social media. It is easy to get caught up in a game of comparison. Seeing the highlight reel of another person’s life can easily make us feel that our own life is lacking. But we have to remember that what is displayed on social media is just that, a highlight reel. Everybody has their own set of problems. These are just usually not displayed on their social media feed. It is important to remember that, and to not get caught up in comparing oneself to the highlights inundating us on social media. The focus should be on one’s own life. And if you are going to compare, compare your own life to your life in the past. This can bring insights and motivation. Self-improvement should be your focus. So stop comparing yourself to others, and feel your happiness grow.

8. Focus On Self-Care

Our lives can be busy and hectic, and sometimes self-care can fall to the wayside with all that we have to do. But it is important to put self-care on your to-do list too. Taking time to care for yourself lays a foundation for your personal happiness. It signals to you that you are important. It exhibits self-love. We all need time to destress and relax. Those times of self-care can rejuvenate us. Self-care can include anything from taking a relaxing bath to eating nutritional food, caring for one’s appearance, or spending time doing destressing activities that we enjoy. Taking that time for self-care is crucial to one’s happiness. Life shouldn’t be made up of constant stress and constantly focusing on others. That is not an optimal situation for our happiness to thrive. Focus on self-care too in order to allow your happiness to thrive.

9. Practice Gratitude

The feeling of gratitude leads to a sense of happiness. Gratitude can be cultivated. Taking time in your daily life to think about the things you are grateful for is a habit worth developing. One can write down those things in a list or journal, or just contemplate them in one’s thoughts. We all have something to be grateful for. In the rush and stress of daily living, we may not take the time to think about what we are grateful for. That is why it is good to develop a habit of remembering what you have to be grateful for. Practice gratitude and feel your happiness expand.

10. Live in the Present Moment

Focusing on the present moment helps one to destress. Focusing on the past can lead to feeling regret. Focusing on the future can lead to worry. The past is over and the future is not yet here. But what we do have is the present. It is the here and now. Living in the present moment helps one to live more fully. It is the present where new memories are being made. You do not want to lose that time by thinking too much about the past or future, when the present is right here. Focusing on the present will help you to seize the moment, instead of letting it slip by without fully experiencing it. Live in the present moment to increase your happiness.

Conclusion

Happiness is that thing that we all want. Some of us chase it; some of us hope it comes our way. Happiness is about finding our place in this world. It is about finding a balance in one’s life. Our outside circumstances contribute to our level of happiness, as do our inner thoughts and mental state. So looking for happiness involves looking outward, as well as looking inward. There are things we can do to increase our happiness. Follow these guidelines and you will be on your way to happier times!

How to Deal with Regret in a Healthy Manner

Regret can be a painful emotion. It can lead one to feel bad about oneself, especially if the regret involves a decision or action that one took. Regrets can play in our minds over and over again. This can lead to reliving painful emotions, causing us more pain.

But there are healthy ways to deal with regret. Most everyone has regrets at some point or another. It is a part of being human. We all make mistakes and face challenging situations that can lead us to feeling regret. So read on for healthy ways to help you navigate through those feelings of regret.

The first thing to do when faced with a feeling of regret is to remind yourself that you are not alone in this. Regret is part of the human condition. Perfection largely does not exist in the real world. All the imperfection around us is fertile ground for feelings of regret to grow. We all feel regret at times. Reminding yourself of this fact can help you get through your regret by feeling less alone in it.

Trying to fully understand the past is a challenging endeavor. If you are grappling with trying to understand why you made a particular decision or took a certain action, realize that recreating the past situation you faced is impossible. There will be factors that have been forgotten, and intangible factors that flew under the radar but affected your actions. When you try to recreate a past situation in your mind to fully understand it, you are only recreating part of the picture. Some of the factors that affected your thinking at the time cannot be recreated in your mind.

That is why it is wise to trust that you did the best you could at the time, and leave it at that. We cannot go back in time, and trying to go back in time in one's mind in order to analyze past events is at best an imperfect analysis, with missing information.

It is important to realize that so much that happens in life is beyond one's control. We do not have control of everything, far from. Occurrences beyond our control are continually affecting our decisions and actions. Remember this the next time you start to blame yourself for a past regret. Stop yourself and remind yourself that factors beyond your control influenced your actions. We do the best we can with the circumstances and challenges that we face. Things do not always go according to plan. The factors beyond our control continually affect how our plans manifest. So do not kick yourself when you have a regret. Realize that no one is in total control of what transpires in their life. Making the best of our life circumstances should be the goal.

Regret can be painful. Sometimes the only way to ease pain is to go through it and out the other side. When faced with the pain of a regret, remind yourself that everyone goes through this at times. Analyze the situation that led to the regret if you must, being cautious not to overanalyze. Increasing our understanding of a regret can help to prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Thinking about the regret can be painful, but it can provide us with much needed closure. Once we have analyzed the situation that led to the regret as best we can, it is time for healing. We are then ready to focus on moving on, getting past this regret, and getting past the pain.

The reality is that we cannot change the past. Everybody makes mistakes, and so everybody would like to be able to go back in time and change a decision they made or an action they took. As they say, hindsight is 20-20 vision. But we cannot go back and change things. It is fruitless to frustrate ourselves by going over in our minds the things we would do differently. There is no point to this type of thinking, except to make ourselves feel bad. Everyone faces regret at some point, but it is how one handles their feelings of regret that will decide how one ultimately feels in the face of a regret.

Just reminding ourselves that we are not alone in having regrets is comforting. Acknowledging that regret is part of the human condition can help lead the way to acceptance. Ultimately, accepting our reality is the healthy approach to dealing with regret.

It is crucial that instead of wallowing in regret, we choose to focus on finding solutions to our problems. We cannot always find a perfect solution that will turn around and ease our regret. But an imperfect solution will help to do just that as well. If something has been lost, think about how you can fill the place of it with something else, even if something different. The focus should be on what you can do now to better the situation that has caused your feeling of regret.

Practicing forgiveness is important when faced with a regret. Being angry at someone else or at oneself will cause the regretful feelings to fester. This is not a healthy way to deal with regret. Forgiving ourselves and others for whatever perceived missteps that occurred is a first step to letting the pain of the past go and moving on from the regret. Harboring anger is toxic for your system. It is a negative emotion, and it will bring you down emotionally. Remind yourself that everyone makes mistakes. That cannot be avoided. There is no sense in harboring anger when a mistake occurs. Understanding that making mistakes is a part of being human, and then practicing forgiveness, is a healthy way to deal with a regret.

Conclusion:

Regrets will occur in everybody's life at one time or another. Things do not always go according to plan. Even if they do, sometimes, with hindsight, we see that we would have changed our plan. Making mistakes is a part of being human. There are unhealthy and healthy ways to deal with regret. It is important to develop healthy manners of dealing with our regrets, to avoid feeling bad about ourselves, our lives, and others. Healthy practices in dealing with regret will prevent us from becoming consumed by the regret and enable us to learn, grow and move on from past regrets.

9 Ways to Deal With Mistakes in a Healthy Manner

 Mistakes are a part of our lives. Human beings will make mistakes. That is just a fact that one has to live with. How we deal with the mistakes we make can be healthy or unhealthy. It is important to deal with our mistakes in a healthy way, to avoid sadness, regret and even misery.

1. Remind Yourself That Mistakes Are a Part of Being Human

So how does one deal with a mistake in a healthy way? First, it is important to remind oneself that mistakes are to be expected. No one glides through life without making mistakes. By reminding ourselves of the reality of mistakes in one’s life, we are discouraging the unhealthy practice of self-blame. We should not blame ourselves even if we are the ones who made the mistake. Why? Because we are human. And mistakes come along with being a human being. There is no way to avoid making mistakes. Mistakes will happen. It is part of the human condition.

2. Try to Learn From Your Mistakes

Another healthy way to deal with one’s mistakes is to try to learn from them. Is there some lesson you can extract from the situation? As they say, no good lesson is easily learned. Life is full of learning experiences. And sometimes we have to make a mistake in order to learn something and to grow in a certain area. Like a child learning to walk, we stumble along the way as we progress through our lives. That is okay. It is a necessary part of the learning process.

3. Practice Forgiveness

Learn to forgive yourself for your mistakes. Harboring anger against oneself is unhealthy. It festers, and comes out again at an inopportune moment, like when we are already feeling down in the dumps. Add to that unresolved anger toward ourselves, and we could be heading to an emotional breakdown. Forgiveness takes effort. It can take time too. Try to think of yourself as a friend. Would you forgive your friend if they had made the mistake you made? Chances are, you would understand that your friend is human, and mistakes come with the territory. Well, the next time you make a mistake, try pulling out that same understanding you would for a friend. And the next time you rehash an old mistake, focus on showing yourself the same understanding you would a friend. Forgive yourself and release the anger. You will feel much better then.

4. Move On From Past Mistakes

Mistakes can turn over again and again in our minds, reminding us again and again of our disappointment. It is important to practice moving on from one’s mistakes. Churning in one’s mind about a mistake, how it could have happened and the details of it, is a natural response to making a mistake. But there comes a time when this needs to stop. It is unproductive and unhealthy to continuously ruminate about one’s mistake. If you find yourself ruminating about a mistake, tell yourself that you have analyzed the situation already, and there is no point in analyzing it over and over again. Try to distract yourself with something else, like music or reading. Meditation can also be helpful. Breathing deeply, counting to ten, and repeating a mantra to yourself all can bring you relief from the rumination.

5. Drop the Perfectionism

Being a perfectionist can make making mistakes quite painful. As perfectionists, we harbor an unrealistic expectation that we can go about our days mistake-free. We feel that we should not make mistakes, and when we do, because we most assuredly will, it can be extremely difficult to grapple with. The problem is the perfectionism. Perfectionism is not a good thing. It creates unrealistic expectations and stress for us. Perfection is largely impossible in the real world. We need to remind ourselves of this reality, and drop the perfectionism. It is unhealthy and spurs negative thinking, like self-blame when things go wrong. Remember, mistakes are part of being human, but perfection is not.

6. Remind Yourself We All Make Mistakes

Realize everyone makes mistakes. We are not unique in this way. Human beings will make mistakes; it is part of the human condition. At times when we make a mistake, we can feel isolated and alone. We can feel like this sort of thing happens to us, but not to others. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Realizing that other people grapple with their mistakes, just as we are, can make us feel less alone in the process.

7. Focus On Solutions

It is best to be solution-oriented, rather than dwelling on past mistakes. Going over a mistake in your mind over and over again is a fruitless endeavor. It will not get you anywhere but feeling down. And it will not help to solve any problems caused by your mistake. Instead of focusing on the mistake, you can improve your situation by focusing on solutions. Being solution-oriented means that you think about ways to potentially mend issues that you are facing, rather than focusing on rehashing the issues themselves. Becoming solution-oriented takes discipline and practice. The first step is to catch oneself when one is ruminating about a mistake. It can help to take an action once you have caught yourself doing this, like clapping or pinching yourself. This breaks up the rumination and serves to remind you that what you are doing is the wrong approach. Once you have caught yourself focusing on the mistake itself, turn your attention instead to trying to think of potential solutions to the problem. Even a partial solution can be helpful. It does not have to be a perfect fix, which may not be possible. But ask yourself how can you better the situation you are faced with now.

8. Realize With More Actions Come More Potential for Mistakes

Reassess the feeling that you are making too many mistakes. Some of us can deal with a mistake, if they are infrequent. But the more mistakes we make, the more frustrated and upset we can become. We feel our mistakes should be infrequent and that we are making them too frequently. We may find ourselves thinking that it seems we move from one mistake to another. But remember, mistakes are a part of life. And actions we take are breeding grounds for mistakes. The more actions we take, the more mistakes we may make. So making more mistakes can be an indication that you are taking more actions, which is a good thing. So don’t tally your mistakes and feel as though you have crossed some threshold of an acceptable number of mistakes. Because the more you do, the more mistakes you may make. This is not a bad thing.

9. Don’t Let Fear of Mistakes Stop You

Do not let fear of making a mistake stop you. If we become afraid of making a mistake, this can lead us to a reluctance to take action. We are so caught up in our idea that we should be able to accomplish tasks perfectly, that we subconsciously look to minimize our chances of making mistakes by minimizing our actions. We might also specifically try to avoid doing things that are new to us, for fear of making a mistake. This fear of mistakes does us no good. Instead of being fearful of making mistakes, we need to work on increasing our tolerance of mistakes. We need to remind ourselves that mistakes are a part of being human.

Conclusion

Mistakes will happen to everyone at times. There is no way to avoid all mistakes. But mistakes can offer us an opportunity to learn and to grow. It is important to learn to deal with one’s mistakes in a healthy manner. By following these guidelines, you will be on your way to mastering approaching your mistakes in a constructive light, and in a manner that says that it is okay.

How to Keep Moving Forward

When you stumble, and you will, keep going. It is important in life to realize one is on a journey that is imperfect. There will be times when one stumbles and even times when one falls. But what can you do when that happens? Just lie there, defeated? No! One has to find the strength to get back up and to keep moving.

Giving up will not get you where you want to go. It will only get you feeling defeated and dejected. It takes fight just to get up every day out of bed and start the day. We need to nurture our inner fight mechanism, that inner strength we have that we can pull out in times of need. That inner fight helps us to keep moving forward, even when things do not go our way.

Sometimes, when we face a setback, the inclination is to stop in our tracks. We then take time to think about what has happened. But sometimes we can think too much about that. Our thinking can become negative and defeatist. We can also end up ruminating about what has gone wrong. This rumination can paralyze us.

It is important to interrupt the rumination as soon as it starts. It can be helpful to take an action when you catch yourself. This serves as a reminder that what you are doing is wrong. Replace thoughts about the past with thoughts about the present or future. What can you do now to help your situation? What plans do you want to put in place for the future?

In order to get moving again, it is also important to curb the feeling of aloneness. It is hard to focus on moving forward when one is caught up in feeling alone in their trials and tribulations. Remind yourself that everyone has problems to deal with. Life is like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs. We all face challenges and hurdles. It is important to hold on until tomorrow, because we do not know what tomorrow will bring.

In order to keep moving forward, we need to set goals for ourselves. Without a goal, we will lack direction and focus. Our goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. We do not want to set goals that are unrealistic, because that will just cause us frustration and even sadness when we cannot attain them. We should focus on realistic goals. These will spur our motivation. 

A goal gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It adds purpose and a sense of challenge to your days. It can add an element of fun for you too. Having goals helps to nurture our passions. Living life without goals and challenging oneself is less purpose-driven. Being more purpose-driven in our lives by setting goals for ourselves can be a catalyst that increases our zest for living.

Practicing proper self-care is important to enable one to keep moving forward. Sometimes life gets so busy that our self-care routine suffers. But it is important for us to focus on self-care. How can we expect to be there for others if we do not care for ourselves? Self-care includes things like getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, and taking time to relax and partake in activities we enjoy. Self-care is something that easily falls to the wayside in the busy shuffle of our lives. But that should not be. Without proper self-care, we will not feel good and may even fall ill. It is impossible to keep moving forward without taking the time to focus on self-care to ensure one is feeling up to living fully.

Practicing gratitude will help to buoy our spirits up, better enabling us to move forward, especially in times of challenge and stress. Taking the time to think about the things that are good in our lives, big and small, brings a healthy mental reset. It is easy to get caught up in complaints about things going on in our lives. Those jump out at us. But those things that are good in our lives may not jump out at us, and we may start to take them for granted. That is why consciously directing our thoughts to things we are grateful for is important. We can have a mental list, or write a list down. We can take the time to think of just one thing every day that we are grateful for, or more. This thinking lends perspective to our mental state, leading us to feel more optimistic. Optimism makes it easier for us to keep it moving in our lives, especially in times of difficulty.

Comparing ourselves to others is something that can deflate us and end up stymieing our progress. It is best to compare yourself to yourself at another time, but not to others, who have a different set of circumstances from you. Comparing oneself to others can leave you feeling defeated. This can discourage you from moving forward making your best effort. You may begin to feel that your realistic goals are not enough. But the person to compare yourself to really is just yourself, at a different time. That is the only fair comparison. It is unfair to compare yourself to others, who have a different set of circumstances than you do. But comparing yourself to yourself helps you to gauge your progress as you move along toward attaining your goals. It is a healthy form of comparison.

Taking time to destress and relax helps us to have the resiliency to keep moving forward. It replenishes us when we get depleted. If we are constantly on the go, then we will eventually get run down. When that happens, we can easily lose our motivation to press onward. It is best to prevent this from happening in the first place. One factor that will help to prevent this from happening is taking time out of one's schedule regularly to just destress. During this time, do whatever helps you to relax and unwind. It could be a hobby you enjoy, watching TV, listening to music, exercising, or simply getting more sleep. The idea is to counterbalance the stress in your life by working in times for destressing. In the long run, taking time to destress will help to keep you going. It will give you the momentum you need to go after your goals.

Conclusion:

So follow these tips and keep it moving! That is the best way to be able to attain your goals. It also keeps you feeling good along the way. It is all about the journey, and to just keep moving along on it. You have the ability to never stop and stagnate, and instead keep moving forward. It is within you!

How to Build Your Self-Confidence: 7 Steps to Greater Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is so important for an individual. How we see ourselves colors everything we do. With increased self-confidence, we will have the confidence to try new things and to expand our horizons generally. Self-confidence helps us to attain our goals because we have more confidence to go after them and are less dejected if we encounter failure along the way. With self-confidence, we still believe we can do it.

Self-confidence is not something that we all have an abundance of naturally. Some of us are more confident than others. Self-confidence is also something that is not static. One’s level of self-confidence changes with time and varying circumstances. Self-confidence levels can dip at times, leaving one feeling unsure about themselves or even bad about themselves.

It is at these times of lowered self-confidence that it is especially important to practice techniques that lead to increased self-confidence. And practicing these techniques even when one is feeling an abundance of self-confidence will help to prevent self-confidence from dipping.

So what can we do to feel more self-confident? The following is a list of techniques to practice in your daily life to help combat low self-esteem and to instead bolster your sense of self-confidence.

1. Practice Daily Affirmations

Practicing daily affirmations is one way to bolster self-confidence. An affirmation is a positive statement, usually brief. It is a grouping of powerful words put together. It can tap into both our conscious and subconscious minds to help us attain positivity. We can either speak the affirmation out loud, or say it in our own minds. The affirmation to boost self-confidence should be affirming in our best qualities and attributes. For example, saying to oneself, “I am beautiful,” or “I am a unique individual with special qualities all my own,” reinforces self-confidence and a positive outlook toward oneself.

2. Drop the Perfectionism

Perfectionism is not a good thing. It causes one to feel less than and bad about oneself and one’s accomplishments. If your goal is perfection, then you have set yourself up for failure. Perfection is truly rare in the real world. People and things are imperfectly wonderful. Perfection is largely a myth. It is an unattainable goal. It is also a goal that depletes your sense of accomplishment and competency. Trying to do something that cannot be done lowers your feelings of self-confidence. So drop the perfectionism. That will go a long way toward increasing your self-confidence.

3. Set Attainable Goals

Setting goals for yourself is an important means to boost your self-confidence. But be mindful that you are setting attainable goals, and not lofty, impossible goals. Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. As you accomplish your goals, you will feel your self-confidence building. Like building a credit history by successfully engaging in credit transactions, you will be building an accomplishment history that shows proof of your abilities and competence. This acts as a positive history that boosts your self-confidence as you go along.

4. Surround Yourself With Supportive People

Surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people is important. The attitudes of those around you affect how you feel and affect your level of self-confidence. If you spend your time with negative people, it will be difficult not to start to become more negative yourself. Those around us create an atmosphere, and like osmosis, we take the vibes up into our own beings. If we are around people who criticize us, it is hard to simply brush off those criticisms. They end up playing back again in one’s mind, and sometimes at the worst time possible, like when we are feeling down on ourselves. Criticism by others, especially those close to you, gradually chips away at your self-confidence. Listening to criticism erodes your feeling of self-worth. If you cannot get the person who is criticizing you to stop, by talking it over with them and telling them how their criticism makes you feel bad, then it may be best to cut off contact with that person or, if that is not possible, minimize your contact with them.

On the opposite side of the coin, being around people who say positive things about you is uplifting and boosts your sense of self-confidence. These are the people you should make an effort to surround yourself with: positive people who can be a positive force in your life and increase your feelings of self-confidence.

5. Engage in Positive Self-Talk

What we say to ourselves in our own minds greatly affects our sense of self-confidence. Negative self-talk makes one feel bad about oneself and decreases one’s feelings of self-worth. After all, this is criticism from you yourself, someone who should instead be acting as your own best friend. Negative self-talk can become a bad habit. It takes effort to rid your mind of negative self-talk, but it can be done. First, catch yourself when you are making negative statements about yourself. It can be helpful once you have caught yourself engaging in negative self-talk to take an action, such as clapping or pinching yourself. This can help to reinforce the fact that what you are doing is wrong and should be stopped. Once you have caught yourself in negative self-talk, replace the negative statement with a positive one. This habit may take some time to master, but with time and practice, it can be done. It is well worth the effort and will do wonders for your sense of self-confidence.

6. Focus On Self-Care

Self-care is an important component to creating our feelings of self-confidence. Taking care of ourselves, both physically and mentally, signals to ourselves that we are important. It is difficult to feel our most self-confident if we are tired or just not feeling at our best. Physical self-care, like getting enough sleep and eating nutritionally sound meals, will go a long way to ensuring we feel good physically. Mental self-care, like using positive affirmations and practicing relaxation activities such as listening to relaxing music and meditation, will go a long way to ensuring we feel good mentally. Looking our best is another aspect of self-care that boosts self-confidence. Taking the extra time and effort to make sure we look nice—our hair, our clothes—is well worth it. It is a simple way to have a positive effect on one’s sense of self-esteem. So take the time and make the effort to focus on self-care, and feel your self-confidence grow.

7. Trust the Universe

Worrying and feeling self-confident are diametrically opposed. The more one worries, the less they feel able to handle what may come their way. Worrying can become a bad habit, a habit that can be hard to break. But there are things you can do to decrease your worrying. One technique that is helpful is repeating a positive mantra to yourself when you begin to worry. A mantra is just a word or phrase that has a positive meaning for you. Breathing deeply and counting slowly to ten when you begin worrying are other helpful techniques to decrease worry. Telling yourself that you are going to try your best to trust the universe can go a long way to easing your sense of worry. Trusting the universe, that inner feeling that we can handle what comes our way, is a psychological choice we can practice that will start to become a habit in time. It is a choice that will over time build your sense of self-confidence. 

Self-confidence is a crucial factor in our ability to succeed in the world around us. Without self-confidence, we are less likely to forge a path to follow our dreams. We instead lag behind in our action plan, feeling self-defeated. Low self-esteem is disempowering. Happily, self-confidence is something that can be increased. With time and practice, using these tips, you will be on your way to boosted self-esteem and a wonderful and empowering feeling of inner self-confidence!

Ten Ways to Make a Choice Easier

Choosing between alternatives can be a difficult endeavor. Sometimes we are simply unsure of which way to go. In a choice between two (or more) options, both options may be problematic, so we are between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. Or both options can seem good, leaving us unsure of which one is the better path.

At times we may find making a choice so difficult that we agonize over it. This can be very stressful. Because this choice is one factor in the situation that we control, we bear the weight of responsibility on our shoulders.

Decisions are a part of life. Sometimes making a choice between options is a difficult and stressful experience. Our choices can have far-reaching consequences. Sometimes it is just hard to know what road to take. The road not taken can haunt us down the line.

Happily there are techniques we can practice to make the process of choosing between alternatives an easier experience. There is really no need to stress about our choices. Making difficult choices is a part of life’s experience and we can become more comfortable with it and develop habits that make it a painless process for us. Try the following techniques to be on your way to making stress-free choices.

1. Tune Into Your Intuition

When we are stumped between two (or more) options, trying to tune into one’s intuition can be helpful to lean one toward one option or the other. Not all of us are in tune with our intuition, or know how to listen to it. Intuition is part of your subconscious mind and can give clues that can help your understanding of a situation. One way to tune into one’s intuition is to let one’s thoughts flow, just flow without conscious direction on our part. This can be easier to do in quiet moments. Practicing relaxation techniques like deep breathing and listening to relaxing music can help to ease one into a relaxed zone where the mind flows and one can listen to its insights.

2. Make a List of Pros and Cons

Another action that can help one make a difficult decision is making a list of pros and cons for each option. This helps us to break down the options and further analyze them. Taking the time to write down a list of pros and cons is worth it to aid us in better understanding the situation and the ramifications of choosing each option.

3. Discuss the Situation with Someone Trusted

Discussing the situation with a trusted friend or advisor can help to shed further light on which option is the better choice. Bouncing off of someone else with our insights and ideas can spur the other person’s insights, giving us a fresh perspective. It can also spur us to delve further into our own ideas about the situation, thereby developing further insights about which choice to make.

4. Research Your Options

Researching aspects about the choices available is wise. There is no such thing as too much information, so it cannot hurt to do some due diligence in researching various factors about each choice. This can give us valuable information to use to help us make a decision. The information we gain can also jog our own further analysis on the topic.

5. Give Yourself Time

“Sleeping on it” is another avenue that can help to give one clarity when making a difficult decision. Giving ourselves some time to process our thoughts on the options can help them to crystalize in our mind and provide more clarity. Rushing a difficult decision, especially an important one, does not feel comfortable. It can cause further stress to us. It is less stressful and more productive to take some time to thoroughly weigh our options in a relaxed fashion.

6. Visualize Potential Outcomes

Visualizing what the options will end up being like can be helpful in figuring out which option seems to be the better one for us. Visualizing involves imagining what the result would be if we picked each option. You can close your eyes and picture in your mind what would happen if you chose an option. Drawing a picture is an exercise that can assist in developing your visualization.

7. Take a Break From Analyzing

Taking a break from your efforts to make a difficult choice is another helpful technique to making that decision. If you can distract yourself from the issue for a time, you can then come back to it with a fresh mindset. Taking a break and distracting yourself from the decision-making process enables you to have a mental reset, looking at the problem with new perspective.

8. Don’t Expect Certainty

Remembering that there are factors beyond our control sends the message to us that waiting for certainty before finalizing a decision is a mistake. We may never feel certain about the choice we are making, and that is okay. We cannot expect to get to the point of certainty in our feelings when we do not have a crystal ball. One cannot predict the future and one cannot control all the factors affecting the outcome. Our goal can instead be to get to a place where we feel comfortable with our choice, and feel that it is a good choice. This does not mean that we are sure it is the only choice that makes sense. It means that we have made a choice that feels right for us, even with acknowledging that there is some uncertainty as to how it will ultimately turn out.

9. Get Comfortable with Uncertainty

There is no need to feel stress when we experience uncertainty. It is helpful to remind ourselves that uncertainty at times cannot be avoided. We do not have all the answers. The goal needs to be to make the best decision one can based on the information at one’s disposal, which is at times incomplete. That is why waiting for a feeling of certainty before making a decision wastes time and creates stress. That feeling of certainty will most likely never come. We need to make our decisions anyway. With practice, one will get accustomed to making choices and moving forward even in the face of uncertainty. With experience and perspective, we will become more comfortable in dealing with the feeling of uncertainty and it will no longer create such stress for us.

10. Take a Leap of Faith

Finally, making that difficult choice involves taking a leap of faith. Once you have done your due diligence and spent time analyzing the situation and your feelings about your various options, it is time to make a choice. And in making your choice, you should also choose to trust the universe. There is so much beyond one’s control in this life. Placing a general trust that things will be okay and that we can handle whatever comes our way enables us to make decisions without worry and stress.

Making choices can be a difficult endeavor. But there are ways to make it easier. Practice these techniques, and you will be on your way to making your choices without experiencing stress and difficulty.

Ten Steps to Boosting Motivation

Motivation is one of those things that one can never have enough of. It is that magic ingredient that leads to our get-up-and-go and passion. Having more motivation is beneficial because it spurs us to action. It makes accomplishing things easier and channels us to increased productivity. Yet sometimes we can go through periods where our motivation drops.

Motivation can be a phenomenon that comes and goes. It is a rare bird who is always motivated. But do not despair if you feel a lack of motivation. Our feelings of motivation are not static, but rather fluid. Our level of motivation ebbs and flows, depending on a host of factors. This means that with some attention on your part, you have the ability to increase your motivation.

Some factors affecting our level of motivation are beyond our control. But there are factors within our control and things we can do to increase our feelings of motivation. Below is a list of ten things you can do to pump up your motivation.

What is motivation exactly? It is that feeling of purposefulness. Motivation is that force within that drives us to accomplish goal-oriented behavior. Motivation can be a seed that grows within us. The more we accomplish, the more motivation we can feel. Motivation is that base that our accomplishments are built upon. Motivation can see us through dark times, enabling us to have the drive to go on. Motivation can propel us to success.

So what can one do to increase their motivation?

1. Make Increasing Motivation a Goal

Realize that increasing your motivation is a goal that you have. Make that admission to yourself. Without a focus on bettering your drive in life, how can one expect an increase in motivation to just happen? Firstly, you should pay attention to your desire to channel your innate motivation more fully in your life.

2. Incorporate What Makes You Happy Into Your Routine

Being in good spirits is helpful in increasing both our energy level and our feelings of motivation. Think about what in your life makes you most happy. Then try to incorporate elements of those things that make you most happy into your daily routine. For example, if you enjoy socializing, find ways to socialize more, utilizing pockets of time or incorporating socialization into other areas of your life such as work.

3. Set Goals for Yourself

Set goals for yourself. These goals should be concrete and attainable. You should not set goals that are unrealistic for yourself, because this will sap your motivation and may make you feel like giving up. Major goals should be set in incremental steps, so that each step is something realistic for you to be able to complete.

4. Write Your Goals Down

Writing something out helps it to become more concrete in your mind. The written item acts as a reminder. It also gives us a chance to tweak our thoughts as we put them in written form.  Lists are great. They help us to organize and prioritize our goals. The act of writing out our goals itself is an action that we are taking toward our goals. It is a first step to taking further action to attain one’s goal. It feels good to take an action toward one’s goal, however small.

5. Practice Visualization

Taking the time to visualize oneself attaining one’s goals helps one feel more connected to that goal, which increases motivation to attain the goal. Visualization involves imagining in one’s mind what success in an endeavor would look like. It is a way to remind ourselves of what the end goal is and what its benefits are. This keeps us in touch with the goal and why it is our desire. That spurs motivation to accomplish our goal.

6. Regularly Review Your Goals

Regularly assess and review your goals and where you stand with them. If you do not check in with the goals you have set out for yourself, it is easy to lose touch with them and consequently lose your motivation. It is important to remind yourself of your goals periodically, and also to think about the reasons for your goals, why you set them in the first place.

7. Replace Negative Self-Talk With Positive Self-Talk

How we feel both physically and psychologically affects our level of motivation. Watch for any negative self-talk, which can deplete one’s feeling of confidence and along with it, one’s motivation. Do your best to replace negative inner statements with positive ones. With practice, we can choose which thoughts to follow in our minds and delve further into. So try your best to cut off the negative thoughts and delve into those positive thoughts that you are doing your best to generate.

8. Optimize Your Energy Levels

Watch your energy levels. It is hard to be motivated to take action when one is tired. Physical energy is important in order for us to tap into our full reservoir of motivation. Maintain good sleep levels and healthy eating habits to optimize your energy. This will have a positive effect on your level of motivation. Energy needs an outlet, and it spurs one to action. Channeling your energy towards your goals will increase your motivation levels, especially as you get more accomplished along the path to conquering your goals.

9. Acquire a Taste for Being Busy

Try your best to subscribe to the theory that “busy is happy.” If you can learn to enjoy being busy, you will be able to accomplish more. That success in accomplishing tasks will in turn encourage you to have more motivation to try to accomplish more. The feeling of scratching items off of your to-do list feeds into your sense of self-confidence. And higher self-confidence allows you to set goals without getting caught up in anxiety that you may not attain them.

10. Drop the Goal of Perfection

Being a perfectionist can sabotage our motivation and lead to procrastination. All of that pressure to be perfect creates a barrier to action. We develop anxiety about making our next move. But if we drop the goal of perfection, and retool our goals to be in line with the reality that there is no such thing as perfection anyway, we can stop the sapping of our motivation. We can stop psyching ourselves out of trying. The goal should be to make our best effort, and that is good enough.

So remember, motivation is something we can increase in ourselves with some effort on our part. Motivation is a crucial factor in how much we accomplish. It is a base that we build from in our journey to move forward and attain our goals in life. As such it is well worth the effort of focusing on factors that can boost our motivation. Motivation is that feeling that gets us out of bed in the morning, giving us get-up-and-go. Motivation is the fuel that ignites our passions and leads to great accomplishment. Best of all, boosting one’s motivation is possible.

Follow these guidelines and soon you will be on your way to increased motivation!

How to Feel Good About Oneself

 It can be hard to feel good about oneself. We all face times when we criticize ourselves. But some of us criticize ourselves much too much. This can affect our sense of self-esteem, and have us feeling like we are no good. That is a real shame. We are all valuable as individuals, with our own unique qualities. We were made as we are, and it is glorious to celebrate oneself just as you are. 

There are things we can do to help to get us feeling good about ourselves again. The mind can play tricks on a person, and negative thinking can snowball and leave one feeling down in the dumps and like there is something wrong with yourself. But there is nothing wrong with you! You are a human being, with flaws and imperfections like everybody else. We are human, and that means we will make mistakes. We are also not perfect. In fact, perfection does not really exist in the real world. It would be nice if it did. But this is the real world we are in. Mistakes happen and bad things also happen. Life is like a roller coaster, with ups and downs. So we cannot expect perfection of life or of ourselves. That would not be accepting the reality of living in the real world as we do.

So one of the first steps to feeling good about yourself is to remind yourself that we humans are flawed, and that day-to-day life is flawed too. We are imperfect, and life is imperfect. We need to remind ourselves that we are living in the real world, not a dream world. So our expectations cannot be of perfection, or we will be continually disappointed, in ourselves and our life.

Keeping our expectations in line with the realities of real-world living will help us to avoid feeling constantly disappointed in ourselves. We should remind ourselves that we are trying our best. That is what matters in a world of constant uncertainty. When we give ourselves credit for trying our best, we can feel good about ourselves even when things do not go our way. 

We should also remind ourselves that we cannot control everything in our lives. We have only limited control of what happens to us. We can control our efforts, and ensure that we are trying to move forward in our lives toward our needs and wants. But we cannot control the fact that obstacles my arise, blocking our best efforts toward a goal. When this happens, sometimes we may tend to dwell on the problem and our sense of regret. This is a mistake, because it will hamper our future efforts to continue to move forward. When an obstacle comes our way, as it likely will at times, it is best to once more remind ourselves that we are living in the real world where this can and will happen. It happens to everyone at some time or another. The key is not to dwell on the problem, but to focus on how we might be able to move around the obstacle and then to continue on our path to our goal.

Moving toward our goals will increase our sense of self-esteem. Those feelings of accomplishment as we achieve steps toward our goals boosts our sense of confidence. And the fact that we are trying our best is at the heart of feeling good about oneself. It is imperative to keep trying, even in the face of obstacles that life throws your way. Keep keep trying. This will help you to feel good about yourself and not dwell on the problems, but instead to keep your focus on your goals. 

Moving forward in life and making efforts to reach one's goals feels good. It helps a person to stay active, mentally and/or physically. This discourages one from getting caught up in negative thoughts, which are more likely to happen when we stagnate. By focusing on other, positive things, we pull ourselves out of the bucket of negativity that one can fall into. It is easier to avoid negative thinking when one is distracted by healthy, positive activities.

It is important to be aware of one's negative thinking if and when it does start to creep in though. It is better to tackle it head on and nip it in the bud, before it multiplies and drags us down into feeling bad about ourselves. When a negative thought about you creeps in, remind yourself that you are human, and as such you are imperfectly wonderful. It is wrong to pressure yourself by expecting perfection, of yourself or of your life. That thinking can only lead to misery, because it is unrealistic.

Now is the time to say positive statements to yourself, to buoy yourself up and build your sense of self-worth. Remind yourself that you are trying. Remind yourself that it is okay that you are not perfect, that is expected. Remind yourself that you are unique and wonderful, just as you are. It is a great habit to get into, making positive statements to yourself about yourself and your life. This can counteract the habit some of us can fall into of negative thinking. So bathe yourself in positivity, and watch yourself begin to glow with self-esteem!

By being careful to temper your expectations with the constraints of the real world, you will stop setting yourself up for constant disappointment. And by developing a habit of making positive statements to yourself, you will be able to drown out and crush that negative thinking that makes you feel down about yourself. Feeling good about oneself is possible for everyone! It takes some effort on one's part, but it is well worth the effort to rid oneself of that voice that jumps to criticize oneself, which can lead ultimately to feelings of worthlessness.

So make some changes in your thinking, and you can see your sense of self-worth blossom. That wonderful feeling of self-confidence can make your days more enjoyable and also more productive. Negative thinking interrupts our focus on moving forward. It creates its own hurdle blocking us from reaching our goals. By being aware of our negative thinking, and counteracting it with focusing on what we can do to reach our goals, and by replacing it with a habit of positive thinking, we can reduce and even eliminate the negative thinking that diminishes our self-worth.

Everyone has the potential for feeling good about themselves. With time, patience and new habits, self-esteem will grow and confidence bloom!

Hello Again

I just want to say hello to everyone again. I started this blog in 2018, then life got in the way. I stopped publishing articles. But I realized that I miss being able to express myself and be creative with my blog. I just celebrated my birthday, and I made the decision to restart my blog from 2018, SunBright Soul. I am so very happy to begin anew again with this blog. I welcome you back, and I hope that you will join me in this journey toward the light. 

In the past five years much has happened, some positive occurrences and some negative. Such is the roller coaster of life that we find ourselves in. There have been times of happiness and times of grief. One thing that transpired was I became a teacher. But after a year teaching, I lost my voice. My voice just would not come out. It became very weak. I could not project. And it was uncomfortable for me to speak. It became very difficult for me to teach with that situation. So I ended up leaving the teaching profession. I was sad to do so, as I loved teaching. But I am much more comfortable in a job in which I do not have to speak so much and am not constantly feeling the need to raise my voice. 

It was a sad transition for me, and I miss having a voice that would project well. Now when I speak to people they ask am I okay, or say, "Get well soon, feel better," even though I am not sick. It is just my voice that makes me sound ill. I still have discomfort when I speak very much. And one of the saddest parts for me was that I can no longer sing. I used to sing, and I was proud of my singing voice. Singing was a very enjoyable hobby for me. It brought me great joy to sing. When that was no longer possible for me, I felt sad and lost. I had not realized how much singing meant to me and what an important part of my life it was. Singing cheered me up and served as my creative outlet. Now that outlet was no longer available to me. 

And so I began to search for another creative outlet. That is when I thought of my former blog, SunBright Soul. I realized I missed pouring my heart and soul into writing, and sharing that writing with all of you. I feel it is important for people to have a creative outlet. It helps one just to get through difficult times, knowing there is a way to express your feelings. It helps me to stay motivated in this life of ups and downs, knowing that I can fall into a creative flow and take my mind off of my sorrows. 

I hope you will join me in my renewed journey with SunBright Soul! I am looking forward to sharing motivational and inspirational writings, and sharing my experiences with what comes my way. I hope too that you will share your feedback with me, comment and contact me with any questions or insights. 

I would like this blog to help others to be empowered to be their best selves. That is my goal for SunBright Soul. In sharing my insights and experiences, I strive to help others. If nothing else, I know it is helpful to me when I feel that I am not alone in a situation. Like my vocal issues. By sharing my experience with the loss of my voice, I hope to let others facing a similar experience know that there is hope and you will come out on the other side, stronger. 

In sharing our experiences we can forge a bond with others, and can support one another through our trials and tribulations. Life is filled with challenges and hurdles to overcome. It is so much harder if we try to surmount the obstacles on our own. I feel that like they say, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Together we are stronger than on our own. And sharing our thoughts and experiences with one another helps us to not feel alone. We are reminded that we all face challenges in this life. And we realize that we are not alone, that we can be there for one another in our difficult, and also our happy, times. 

I am hoping that SunBright Soul can be a place of hope and sharing. A place you can come to to feel better, to spark your motivation. I know how hard it can be to stay motivated. I have suffered with depression most of my life. I do my best to power through it, with the help of my medication. We can all be too hard on ourselves at times, myself included. That inner voice can tell us all sorts of negative things. And instead of being our own best friends, as we should, we can end up being our own worst enemies. That is sad. And that is something that one can work to change. 

I want SunBright Soul to be a dose of positivity and hope in a world that can bring one down. It is important to strive for a positive outlook, to remember that there is always hope, whatever our situation is. The sun will be shining tomorrow, and tomorrow is a new day. Life is never perfect, but it is good. It is worth getting up and out of bed in the morning and striving to live one’s best life. The more we give of ourselves, the more we get back. 

So welcome back to SunBright Soul. Get ready to join me in a journey toward positivity and light. I am so happy you are here. We are stronger together. And we will find the light together. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. And hello again :)