Why is Humility Essential For a Transformed Life? By Stuart Migdon

In our self-help society, the conventional wisdom is that you must control every aspect of your life to find success and happiness. What a shock, then, when so many people finally achieve the career goals they have worked so hard for over the years only to discover that the attainment of their goals didn’t bring them the happiness they anticipated.

Could the dissatisfaction be because our definition of success is faulty? Would we find true happiness in success if we evolved from a self-centered, worldly view of success to one that is more God-centered?

Living in a culture that worships at the altar of money, people can find it difficult to view success with God at the center. This is a critical point to fully comprehend, however. What God will reveal to us, if we listen to Him, is that true success is to love Him and to love others as He loves them. Success for a Christian is glorifying His life by the way we are living ours.

It can seem counterintuitive in modern Western culture to believe that by yielding to God, we can actually achieve greater success. The more control we give Him, the more He rewards us. If we listen to Him, He will show us that the only way to achieve this type of success is through humility. Humility is somewhat difficult to learn and to define, but when we see it in someone else’s life, we know it instantly. They live for the Lord and not for themselves.

To think about how to live in humility, one could think about the humility of a child. With that type of humility, we will be filled with child-like enthusiasm and be eager to be led and instructed by the Lord. With such an attitude, we will be teachable, moldable, and willing to change.

Humility is what brings the right balance into our lives. Instead of thinking that we can handle things without God, or feeling unworthy to walk with Him, we recognize that our life in Him is all His grace. When we have that right focus we are yielded to the Spirit and walking in a right relationship with God, and in turn, we grow more in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus.

A good way to think of it is to imagine God holding your hand, teaching you His ways as you walk beside Him. It takes the humility of a child to not get ahead of the Lord and to listen and to trust Him to set the right pace. It also takes humility not to lag behind Him and to remember that in His grace, He forgives our unfaithfulness and even forgets our transgressions as we come back to Him, and allow Him to continue to lead, guide, and direct us. God recognizes that this childlike quality of humility is not possible for us to develop on our own.

When our hearts are hardened by our sinful reactions to life’s circumstances, we forget how to accept God’s helping hand. Yet the Lord welcomes us in our sorrow and repentance with open arms of love, and bestows upon us all the blessings reserved for His children. Once you have put your faith in Jesus as Lord, He is there to teach you what it means to live a life of humility as you purpose yourself to let Him take the wheel of your life.

If you are finding that despite your efforts to control every aspect of your life, you are not finding the happiness and peace you seek, the answer can be found in learning humility. By opening your heart to Jesus and walking with Him, and by turning your life over to Him, you can reach heights of success you never imagined.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=347302&ca=Self

Self-Transformation: Five Steps to Being the Person You Want to Be By Kim Olver

There was a time I can remember when some people used to wear bracelets with the inscription “WWJD”? This question, 'What would Jesus do?', was designed for its wearer to be reminded to act in a way he or she valued and wanted to emulate. This provided a path for Christians but what about those who didn’t believe?

Now, anyone can ask themselves a similar question: “What would I be doing in this situation if I were being the person I want to be”? You no longer have to compare yourself to the son of God. Simply craft a vision of the person you want to be.

It is very similar to the process companies go through when deciding their vision, values and mission. We do it in companies, why not in our personal lives as well? What is your vision of the person you want to be? If you were being your best self, how would you behave?

What are the guiding principles and values by which you choose to live your life? If you are an adult, you no longer have to live by the values of another. You get to choose the ideals you want to emulate in your private life. What will they be? Kindness? Success? Wealth? Fairness? Friendship? Power? Loyalty? Competition? Cooperation? Respect? Honesty? You get the idea. Decide the values you will use to guide your life. Values become the measurements of how you make your decisions. They aren’t just nice to use when all things are going well. Your values are the tools you use to help you decide what to do in every situation. How can you know what to do if you haven’t identified your highest values?

Here is the process of self-transformation:

1. Develop your own true north. Know your values, the path you are on and the steps necessary to stay true to your beliefs and direction. Write out your vision statement for your life and determine your life’s purpose.

2. Identify supporters and detractors. Surround yourself with your supporters and limit or eliminate time with detractors.

3. In every situation, ask yourself the question, “If I were being the person I want to be in this situation, what would I be doing”? Access your values and higher ideals to answer this question.

4. Assess the likely consequences, both positive and negative, and prepare for those consequences.

5. Line yourself up and act in the way you would if you were being the person you wanted to be.

There will likely be saboteurs along the way. You will have strangers, friends and enemies alike who don’t want you to succeed. When you lead your life by values instead of situations, others may not appreciate your new direction. You have changed and are no longer the person they want you to be. In systems theory, when you change one part of the system, the entire system must adjust to compensate for the change. Those around you may not want to change, thus they are invested in keeping you just the way you are. Watch out for this kind of external sabotage.

The second kind of sabotage comes from within. Self-sabotage can be your worst enemy and it requires your constant, alert, conscious attention to overcome it. The scientific truth is that as we develop certain behaviors under certain circumstances, our brain creates neural pathways which cause us to behave in the same manner under similar circumstances unless we constantly pay conscious attention to what we are doing and we make different choices. We need to override our default brain chemistry in order to do something differently. If you are serious, you must be vigilant. Getting an accountability partner, a coach or a mentor can help you overcome self-sabotage.

Enjoy your transformation to becoming the person you want to be.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=346507&ca=Self

Self Esteem Issues - Their Growth and How to Overcome Them By Henry Marshall

Self esteem is how we perceive our self, the way we value our self, the worth we put on our self as a person. Although this has nothing to do with how other people perceive us, it is about how we perceive other people to perceive us.

If we suffer from low self esteem we will feel very lowly about ourselves thus filling us with self doubt. We can end up doubting everything about us, including our appearance, intelligence, capability, how much people like us and the worth of what we have to say. We can feel very lonely and different from other people.

Low self esteem can be caused by many different things. It could be bullying or constantly being put down. Someone, very often a family member, telling the person that they are not doing well enough, that they are useless or worthless or a combination of all of those things.

Whatever the cause is, it makes little, if any, difference to how the person feels. The overwhelming feelings of being a lesser person, inadequate, useless or worthless, and above all – different!

This can happen at any age. Sometimes it can be in the very early, formative years of a child possibly living in the shadow of an older sibling, but could just as easily be at a much later time of life caused through a controlling relationship

These feelings can have a devastating effect on the person’s life, restricting them and stopping them from going to certain places. They may avoid some activities or associating with some people for very often the unnecessary fear of being ridiculed. This can stop them from making relationships or pursuing a particular career.

Abusing somebody, be it by bullying, controlling, putting them down by telling them how useless they are, or in any other way, will understandably give that person doubts about themselves. They will think why do people treat me like that? What is it about me that make others treat me like that? There must be something wrong with me. It is these negative thoughts that are the seeds of low self esteem.

When someone has those self doubts and negative thoughts it effects how they act. They avoid situations where they might feel uncomfortable. They act in a negative way and therefore, get a negative response from others making them feel even more negative. This starts a downward cycle of feeling negative, acting negative, getting a negative response, then feeling even more negative.

How other people perceive the sufferer is of enormous importance to them. Unfortunately, what they imagine others are thinking about them will invariably be negative.

So how can we overcome low self esteem? The first thing we should remember is that it will have probably taken a long time for our self esteem to have sunk so low. Going down that spiral of negative feeling, negative actions, getting negative response, making you feel more negative. So what we need to do is become more positive in the way we feel. As negative feelings grow so do positive feelings. To many of us the thought of changing from feeling and acting negative to positive is a massive step and so it is, but the good news is all we need to do is feel a little bit more positive and then allow that feeling to grow.

The thought of changing negative thoughts to positive ones for anyone suffering from low esteem can be very daunting, but all we need to do is start the process.

I have found with my clients if they can accept the fact that they are not as important to others as they feel they are, it can very often help them to start those positive feelings. It is a fact that the only people we are important to are those who love or care for us. It is ironic that it is these people that we all feel confident and comfortable with. To all others it is unimportant what we look like, what we wear, what we say or how we act, as they are unimportant to us. If we are walking along the street and we see someone fall over or walk into a lamp post we may feel sorry for them or have a little smile, but a few steps further we have seen something in a shop window and that person has gone from our thoughts forever because there are too many other things to think about, and that is how every one reacts.

If we accept what we are like is not that important to other people we need no longer worry about what they think about us, a very positive thought. It is only a start, but very often that first small, positive thought is all that is needed to allow the growing process to begin.

Add a relaxation therapy like hypnotherapy or aromatherapy to help the sufferer become more relaxed and calm, then those feelings can start to change and that negative, downward cycle can turn into an upward, positive one.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=347901&ca=Self

Depression Panic Attacks and Kundalini Energy By Nick Nikolis

Hectic lifestyles and a propensity towards diseases have given rise to cases of severe depression and panic attacks. While medicinal treatment as well as therapy is used mostly to alleviate the negative impacts and effects of these ailments, recent studies have shown that using the Indian concept of Kundalini healing can help to cure these psychological ailments permanently.

Let us begin by examining what the two interrelated illnesses of depression and anxiety signify. Studies have shown that panic attacks and accompanying depression are the most widespread psychological problems as they can manifest due to a number of reasons and can be triggered off by various factors that we encounter in daily life. Regular stressors such as traffic jams, financial worries and arguments can create a tendency towards these ailments.

According to medical data, people who are prone to anxiety have a core biological susceptibility that increases the risks. Anxiety follows a defined path. People develop a fear of a certain situation or encounter which causes them to have calamitous thoughts regarding the same. These negative thoughts continue to expand until the individual is rendered almost helpless by the fear.

Consequently, the individual tries to avoid that situation and over time, the avoidance actions as well as multiple physical symptoms of the stress become aggravated and develop into a chronic illness.

Anxiety is known to often be by accompanied by depression. Depression can be understood to be chronic levels of feelings of sadness, helplessness, hopelessness, distress and despair. The effects can cause a problem in every aspect of life, be it personal, social or professional.

The symptoms of anxiety and depression include trembling, sweating, heart palpitations, and dizziness. Breathing problems, stomach ailments and chest pains and discomfort too indicate the onset of an anxiety attack.

It is important to understand that the effects of anxiety disorders and depression, such as anger, disinterest, fear and despair also work to cause more of the same illness, thus transforming into both causes and effects.

The ailments form a vicious cycle and give rise to other lifestyle problems such as malnutrition, stress and inefficiency. Seeing as to how these illnesses can damage an individual's life in a variety of spheres, ranging from mental and emotional to social and professional, it is imperative to be able to cure them effectively.

As mentioned earlier, while medicines and therapy do help, the Kundalini form of treatment has gained much recognition and appreciation of late. While it is an extremely popular phenomenon, the method is still gaining recognition.

Let us study the concept and how it can be used to cure depression and anxiety related health issues. The term 'Kundalini' is a Sanskrit word that can be literally translated to mean 'coiled'. It refers to a certain intuitive, subconscious, and often inherent life force that is visualized to lie coiled or curled at the base of the spine in one's body.

According to lore, the Kundalini force is to be visualized in the form of a sleeping serpent or a goddess that rests coiled at the base of the spine.

It is believed that this life force or power can be awakened as needed to combat various illnesses of the heart, mind, soul and body. By description, the Kundalini energy force is said to constitute a part of the 'subtle body' covert, almost hidden components that one is not consciously aware of but can delve into, should the need arise.

It is believed that the Kundalini energy force falls into the category of bodily energy points such as the various Nadis (channels of energy) and the Chakras (the centers of energy) that are used in Yoga, Tantra, Chinese Acupuncture and other forms of alternate medicine and healing. The Chakras are all said to possess unique properties and special healing powers that can be used to overcome health problems and ensure a healthy and wholesome way of living.

The use of Kundalini techniques implies awakening this sleeping energy by the means of methods of breathing, physical exercises, chanting, visualization techniques and following a life of ascetics. The Kundalini energy is said to then travel upwards from the spine to the head, where it strengthens the mind by bringing in a state of psychological illumination and enlightenment.

Let us now study how Kundalini energy is to be used to cure depression and anxiety. It is believed that the depression is caused by confines or injured areas of the brain which could have been caused due to some arrested development.

These damaged areas are referred to as the Miasmas and it is believed that they have been caused due to some stressful factor and have been further augmented due to prolonged stress. One of the practices advised in order to be able to cure the depression is to spend significant amounts of time in the sun. It is believed that sunbathing along with sun gazing helps to lift the spirit, release the Kundalini energy and overcome the state of mental fugue that clouds the spirit and dampens hope.

Depression is also said to be caused by deficits in serotonergic levels and exhaustion of the noradrenalin adrenergic receptors. This also causes excess secretion of the hormone aldosterone which has sodium retaining properties, causing salt and fluid retain in the body. Regular exercises and intensive Yoga are to be practiced daily in natural environments in order to be able to overcome these effects of depression.

Greenery and fresh air are imperative during Yoga as they help to clear the mind and air the body, thus also lifting the spirit and battling negative thought processes.

It is said that this exercise serves as a form of movement therapy induces rehabilitation of the brain by creating new brain cells that form healthy neural connections and do away with the prior ailing ones.

This awakening of the Kundalini energy must be accompanied by a healthy and happy environment which comprises of strong emotional bonds of love, caring and mutual trust because a happy and content frame of mind is required before being able to tackle serious problems of the brain.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=350587&ca=Self