There are so many blogs out there that write about self improvement, personal growth and personal development (all three are one and the same thing), but I didn’t see a clear and complete definition for the term on any of them. So here I am, defining Self Improvement.

The short definition would be: “knowledge that enhances personal value“. But let’s find out what’s behind that.

Self improvement represents the actions you can take to enhance how you are, and to develop your physical, mental and emotional capabilities. Another short definition for self improvement would be “improvement of one’s condition through one’s own efforts.”

The first steps you need to take in order to start your personal growth process correctly involve getting to know yourself better. For the purpose of getting to know yourself better, you could divide your person into four selves.

Physical

To begin with there is building body strength and stamina, through regular exercises. These exercises are best done outdoors, because with the outdoors comes breathing fresh air.

Equally important, if appropriate, is weight loss or gain. This can be done through changes in diet or by eating healthier. Plenty of rest and sleep are also important.

Determine your current physical status and then take the necessary actions to improve your physical weaknesses.

Mental

Mental growth comes through reasoning, conversations, problem solving, decision making and acquiring useful and healthy knowledge.

Learning to control attention, thoughtfulness and focus are also important steps in developing better mental attitudes.

Take time to determine your current mental strengths and weaknesses, and then take action to improve your mental fitness.

Emotional

Emotional development comes from the ability to recognize and develop feelings inside yourself. Learning to control these feelings is the next step in the process of emotional improvement.

Sensitivity is an essential part of your emotional self and you should work hard on it’s development, by becoming sensitive to the personal needs of others and by being open and receptive to the beauty of nature.

Like the first two attributes, analyze yourself closely and work on your weak spots, whilst improving your strong ones.

Spiritual

This doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with religion (although religion provides the most ample form of spiritual growth). Spiritual development can come from being open to the possibilities of the hidden aspects of life, and exploring the meaning of life.

If you feel like you need a spiritual guidance in your life, you should take time to explore the spiritual teachings of a religion of your choice.

These are the four aspects of the human person that the knowledge of self improvement is targeting. As you notice, self improvement helps you grow your life in a vertical direction, focusing on your inner elevation rather than the material gains (however, they comes as results of the inner elevation).

Self improvement is a science that draws its knowledge from three other sciences.

Philosophy

Philosophy is a form of social conscience and constitutes a coherent system of ideas and notions that reflect the most general aspects of reality. To put it short, philosophy is a general conception regarding the life and the world.

Knowledge of philosophy can help you develop your mental, emotional and spiritual attributes.

Psychology

Psychology is a discipline that involves scientific studies of the human mental processes and behaviours. It studies phenomenons such as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior and interpersonal relationships. It also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity (very useful for self improvement), including issues related to daily life (e.g. family, education, work, et cetera).

Psychological knowledge is used in personal development in order to grow your mental and emotional attributes.

Health Sciences

Health sciences are a group of applied science disciplines that deal with the human health. The health sciences are composed of two parts:

1. The study and research of health and the application of the resulting knowledge to improve health, prevent and cure diseases;
2. Understanding how the human body functions.

As you may already know, the health sciences are helping you in your physical improvement quest.

You now know exactly what self improvement is and where it has it’s roots.

As an ending, here’s my own personal definition of self improvement:

Self improvement is a mix of philosophical, psychological and health related knowledge that offers an individual the power to improve his life.

 

What is your definition of self improvement?

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A study conducted by the University of Georgia shows that the middle school students who are exposed to anti-smoking ads are more likely to smoke. You may wonder, how is that possible? Well, it’s a fact that the youth have a rebellious nature and don’t want to hear what they should do or not do. Often, when sending them a “don’t do that” message, they will do it just to express their nature.

In 2002, an anti-smoking foundation found that the anti-smoking campaign of the tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris had reverse effects, it was making the students more likely to smoke.

From a psychological point of view, these results are predictable if we take into consideration their target (the teens). This is because their minds are very vulnerable to sublime psychological marketing.

These anti-smoking campaigns aren’t the only ones that have positive results for the sales of the big companies. Almost everything that’s labeled as being “prohibited” or not recommended for an age group has reverse psychological effects, it creates want. Even drug use may be enhanced by the anti-narcotic campaigns, because of the human psyche.

I want to know what your opinion about this. What kind of message or approach do you think would have the desired results in stopping the youth from smoking or consuming other dangerous or restricted products?

You may already know the importance of living in the present and enjoying each moment as if it is your last. Well, I’m going to say a few things about that myself. You know, repetition is the mother of learning, and you can never have enough good motivation.

Let’s start this post with one of my favorite quotes on living in the present, by Albert Einstein:

“I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”

At the end of today, if you have been preoccupied with thoughts of future enjoyments or past griefs, you will have forever lost something of great, irrecoverable value. That is today!

Because “the future is always beginning now” (Mark Strand), you shouldn’t dwell on things that you have yet to acquire.Don’t waste your days dreaming for more money, more time, a better job or better health. Try not to be a slave of the media and take in desires that rob you of your present. Remind yourself each day of how lucky you are to live on this beautiful planet, in the company of so many friends and wonderful people.

“No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy the sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today, then enjoy it and bless God for it. Do not look back on happiness or dream of in in the future. You are only sure of it today; do not let yourself be cheated on it.”- Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1878)

Each day should be free of stresses and worries that don’t belong to it. Analyzing bad events that happened or may happen, is worthwhile only in determining a course of action. Beyond that, it’s a complete waste of time, health and happiness, to worry about things that are of other times.

Learn from the children, for they don’t have neither past or future. They just live and simply enjoy the present. Few of us grownups manage to do that.

Analyze the semantics of the word “present”. There, you see, this moment -the present- is indeed a gift. Why not cherish it!

One today is worth more than all tomorrows. - Armand

As an ending for this post, here’s a powerful collection of quotes to motivate you to start living in the moment.

“Forever is composed of nows.” - Emily Dickinson

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taunt, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all in the world, your return.” - Mary Jean Iron

“We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don’t think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you’re hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.” - Art Buchwald

“Worries are an illusion. They make you live in the future, giving you for the belief that you are very busy and takes you away from the present. Worries are an excuse for not doing what you really have to be doing. A reactive person appears very busy and worried. With worry, no problems can be resolved. A proactive person focuses attention on the present, acts with initiative, and the understanding that being cals and free from worry is far more effective.” - Brahma Kumaris

The following guest post has been submitted by John Allison from Technology for Living and serves as a follow-up for “Anchor thoughts and ideas, how to“.

In addition to desirable anchors which take us where we want to go, just about all of us have anchors in place that do nothing but get in our way. Most of us have had to live with them for some time. Learning to un-anchor what you don’t want will only multiply the effect of the anchors you do want, because you won’t be being pulled in every direction.

The methods

I’ve found three basic methods for dealing with unwanted anchors:

1. Downplay and/or delay the reaction, so as to make the anchor weaker
2. Play with the anchor’s traits to work it loose
3. Re-work the anchor to serve a useful purpose

Note that these can be used together. Playing with the anchor’s traits blends well with both of the others, so let’s start with that.

Play with the anchor to work it loose

In NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) parlance, the traits of the anchor are called submodalities, a fancy word for talking about the aspects of the anchor. Each sense you have has several submodalities. A thorough list can be found here or in just about any decent book on NLP techniques. For starters, I’ll list a few for each sensory type:

Visual/seeing:

• Brightness
• Contrast
• Proximity (how close the “picture” is to you)
• Richness of color
• Whether or not you see yourself in the”picture” (1st person vs. 3rd person)

Auditory/hearing :

• Volume
• Pitch
• Timbre
• Content/specific words
• Buzzing, or any other “sound effect”

Kinesthetic/touch:

• Heat/cold
• Pressure
• Tension
• Affect on breathing
• Physical gestures of any kind

Olfactory/smell:

• Intensity
• Direction
• Increasing or decreasing

(Taste is much the same. There isn’t a lot of literature on smell and taste for submodalities, simply because the others seem to be so much more powerful)

Work that anchor loose.

Say, for example, that you keep getting a flash image of a disturbing scene in your mind. Say you get really unnerved whenever it happens.
Obviously the anchor is not serving your interest. Especially if it is preventing you from executing something that another (deliberate) anchor prompted or reminded you to do. Here’s what you do when you see that image pop up:

• Get a good look at it. Unpleasant it may be but you want to be sure that the image doesn’t leave your consciousness. If you forget about it, you can’t un-anchor it.
• When you have opportunity, get a little time to yourself and bring the image back to the front. It probably won’t seem so threatening now, but that’s not going to save it now
• Since this is a picture, we’re going to start playing with the image. Let’s start by making the image darker. Turn down the brightness. That usually reduces the intensity of the emotion attached. How about how close it is? Does moving it farther away help?
• Alternately, and along the humor line, you can try playing with the content. J.K. Rowling was on to something when she wrote about the “Riddikulus” spell: If you can find a way to make the scene you are looking at something you can laugh at, that will go a long way in itself.
• Keep playing with it until you feel that it’s really, really weak.
  Once that is done, you can do what you like with it, but I found it very satisfying to hit it with a wrecking ball. Hammers, 10 ton weights or anvils a la Looney Tunes make for a great image because it enables you to laugh at it, thus asserting your power even more.

Re-work the anchor to serve you

Or, “What better way to vanquish an enemy than to make him an ally?”

This one is a little more sophisticated, and requires some creativity.
Let’s take an example from my own life Continue Reading �

Take a look at the photo below. Do you see the little white dot? Do you know what that is? That little speck is Earth, as seen from the Voyager 1 spacecraft from nearly 4 billion miles away.

Look at tiny pale white spot. That’s where you live, that’s home. Everyone you know, everyone you love, everyone you ever seen or heard of, is there, every living being that there is, lives there. Your family, your friends, your enemies, your colleagues, your loved-ones, they’re all there.

On that small white spot you lived your past, you consume your present, and you expect your future.

The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. –Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Our planet and our lives, what are they? They are just a tiny stage in the vastness of the cosmos. Imagine those generals and emperors who spilled rivers of blood in their dreams of conquering the world, the small dot. Those were great plans if we look at them from a single person’s point of view, but if we change the perspective and look at the object of all those cruelties and wars from this position in space, we may ask ourselves: “was it worth it?”.

Think about how people living in that little pixel are unable to understand each other, think about how frequent their misunderstandings are. Think about how much love is contained within that small dot…

A great method to gain a different perspective on your life is to take a journey, a journey alone to someplace you’ve never been before. I find looking at this picture at least as effective as that.

Imagine how more than 6 billions of people are able to live complex lives inside the fraction of a dot… When seeing things from this perspective, it’s easy to get closer to understanding what matters and what doesn’t.

Next time you want to get unstuck or simply see a problem or issue in your life differently, take a look at this picture and focus on your problem from that distant point of view. It will help you immensely.