WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO IMPROVE YOUR SELF?

Sometimes, when all our doubts, fears and insecurities wrap themselves up around us, we think "I wish I was somebody else." More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better off than we are, when in reality, the fact is, most people are more scared than we are.


You spot a totally eye-catching girl sitting by herself at a party, casually sipping on a glass of Asti Spumanti. You think to yourself, "she looks so perfectly calm and confident." In reality, if you could read thoughts, you might see a bunch of swirling clouds self doubt! You might just be amazed that she's thinking "are people talking about why I am seated here alone... Why don't guys find me attractive? I don't like my ankles, they look too skinny? I wish I was as intelligent as my best friend."

We look at a young business entrepreneur and say Wooh! What else could he ask for?? He stares at himself at the mirror and murmurs to himself, I hate my big eyes, I wonder why my friends won't talk to me? I hope mom and dad would still work things out.

Isn't it funny? We look at other people, envy them for looking so outrageously perfect and wish we could trade places with them, while they look at us and think the same thing. We are insecure of other people who themselves are insecure of us. We suffer from low self-esteem, a lack of self-confidence and eventually lose hope in self improvement because we are enveloped in quiet desperation.

Sometimes, you notice that you have an irritating habit like biting off your finger nails, having a foul mouth, and you of all people, are the last to know.

I have a friend who never gets tired of talking. And in most conversations, she is the only one who seems to be interested in the things she has to say. So all of our other friends tend to avoid the circles whenever she's around, and she doesn't notices how often she becomes socially avoided because of her overall effect on the people in her environment.

One key to self improvement is to LISTEN and TALK to a trusted friend. Find someone who you are comfortable in opening up with . Ask questions like Do you think I am ill-mannered?, Do I always sound so argumentative?, Do I talk too loud?, Does my breath smell?, Do I ever bore you when were together?. In this way, the other person will obviously know that you are interested in the process of self improvement. Lend them your ears for comments and criticisms and don't give answers like Don't exaggerate! That's just the way I am! Open up your mind and heart as well. And in return, you may want to help your friend with constructive criticism that will also help them improve.

One of Whitney Houston's songs says Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all. True enough. In order to love others, you must love yourself too. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have.

Before telling other people some ways on how to improve themselves, let them see that you yourself are a representation and a product of self improvement. Self improvement makes us better people, we then inspire other people, and then the rest of the world will follow.

Stop thinking of yourselves as a second-rate being. Forget the repetitive thought of If only I was richer? if only I was thinner? and so on. Accepting your true self is the first step to self improvement. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others only to find out at the end that we've got 10 more reasons to envy them.



We all have our insecurities. Nobody is perfect. We always wish we had better things, better features, better body parts, etc. But life need not to be perfect for people to be happy about themselves.

Self improvement and loving yourself is not a matter of shouting to the whole world that you are perfect and you are the best. It's the virtue of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we then begin to feel contented and happy.



Until next time,
Take care and be safe!

Mr. Don
Safe Kidz Educational Services

Related articles by Zemanta

• 7 Ways Your Self Esteem is Holding You Back (crystalsquest.com)

"The Way to Wellness" It's time to start a Healthy life: your 7 days program

How many times have you gone to sleep at night, swearing you'll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you don't feel like exercising?

While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn't mean you should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness -- and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The more you know about how your body responds to your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you. When you eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This translates to burning fat more efficiently for energy.

In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work with less effort.

The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message to the body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength, aerobic capacity and overall fitness and health. Each time you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night, Exercise doesn't have to be intense to work for you, but it does need to be consistent.

I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25 minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to increase lean body mass and burn more calories.

Here's a sample exercise program that may work for you:

* Warm Up -- seven to eight minutes of light aerobic activity intended to increase blood flow and lubricate and warm-up your tendons and joints.

* Resistance Training -- Train all major muscle groups. One to two sets of each exercise. Rest 45 seconds between sets.

* Aerobic Exercise -- Pick two favorite activities, they could be jogging, rowing, biking or cross-country skiing, whatever fits your lifestyle. Perform 12 to 15 minutes of the first activity and continue with 10 minutes of the second activity. Cool down during the last five minutes.

* Stretching -- Wrap up your exercise session by stretching, breathing deeply, relaxing and meditating.

When starting an exercise program, it is important to have realistic expectations. Depending on your initial fitness level, you should expect the following changes early on.

* From one to eight weeks -- Feel better and have more energy.

* From two to six months -- Lose size and inches while becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely. You are gaining muscle and losing fat.

* After six months -- Start losing weight quite rapidly.

Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a week, don't stop there. You should also change your diet and/or eating habits,' says Zwiefel. Counting calories or calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is impractical. Instead, you may want to try these easy-to-follow guidelines:

* Eat several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of small snacks throughout the day

* Make sure every meal is balanced -- incorporate palm-sized proteins like lean meats, fish, egg whites and dairy products, fist-sized portions of complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread and pasta, wild rice, multigrain cereal and potatoes, and fist-sized portions of vegetable and fruits.

* Limit your fat intake to only what's necessary for adequate flavor

* Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the day

* Take a multi-vitamin each day to ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

Always start any exercise program slowly and only after consulting with your health care professional. This is a gradual program that requires that you do just a little bit everyday for maximum results.

Until next time,
Take care and be safe!

Mr. Don
Safe Kidz Educational Services

If you would like to learn more about fitness for your family, we will be releasing our new program aimed at helping families acheive fitness in a way that does not break the bank or require huge amounts of time! We will keep you posted as we go!

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT

Pain sometimes is the reason people change. It is a very powerful motivator. Getting f's for grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to generate enough income. Being humiliated gives us the push to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend's tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that may well help us get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves. To give us that "boot to butt" wake up call that drives us to action.

As always, there is no easy button! Initially we may be all fired up to achieve our desired goal, but with the countless negatives the world brings about, how do we keep motivated?

Try these A to Z tips

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C - Consider things from every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides. (Pretty Zenish!)

D - Don't give up and don't give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation your steering wheel.

E - Enjoy work as if you don't need money. Dance as if nobody?s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you'll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F - Family and Friends are life's greatest treasures. Don't loose sight of them.

G - Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H - Hang on to your dreams. They may dim for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I - Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don't let other people to get the best of you. Stay away from toxic people, the kind of people who hates to hear about your success.

J - Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K - Keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.

L - Learn to love your self. Now isn't that easy? (Maybe yes, maybe no! More on that later.)

M - Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N - Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game. We all have to live with ourselves, be the person you like to see in the mirror.

O - Open your eyes. Most people see things in 2 ways - how they want things to be, and how they should be, but seldom how they are in reality.

P - Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes. Make sure you are practicing the right things.

Q - Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate. Are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R - Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn't raining when Noah build the ark.

S - Stop procrastinating.

T - Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U - Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood second.

V - Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W - Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is grown from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X - X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put in extras in your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y - You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you're just going to spend it once.

Z - Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!





Staying focused and motivated are two of the biggest obstacles to being successful in achieving your goals. Use these tips when ever you feel you are getting distracted!


Until next time,
Take care and be safe!

Mr. Don
Safe Kidz Educational Services