Boosting Self Esteem Guide
ce be your guide", the same applies in real life, follow your heart, your inner thoughts and feelings and you will never go far wrong. It is only when we begin to lose faith and doubt ourselves that we become unstuck and indecisive and this leads us in the wrong direction or at a standstill.
Mental imagery works
One of the most powerful and inspirational tools which can be used daily is something which every one of us possesses, our very own imagination. Your own thoughts, insights, ideas and intuition can be used in your daily life to make positive changes for the better in any aspect of your life. Everyone has an imagination although some of us have a more vivid one that springs to life quicker than others do, but with a little practice, we can all form imagery in our mind to benefit us.
Using the imagination as a tool
How you use your imagination to benefit you in your daily life is only limited by you, you can use your imagination to visualize any number of things and use it for almost any situation. Visualization works by forming a positive picture of the outcome of a situation and seeing this positive outcome in your mind as though it's happening and letting it replace any negative thoughts you had. You must develop the visualization as much as you can and look at it from all angles and perspectives, the mental picture which you build in your mind must be as clear as possible of how you wish the situation to turn out. Think of your imagination and the mental picture you build as a blueprint for developing and building on, just as an architect uses a blueprint when designing a project from start to finish.
The foundations
Start by laying out the foundations of your idea or what it is you wish to change in your mind and slowly build up from the bottom, clearly visualizing every little nook and cranny of the idea, the foundation work behind your idea is the basis for your success. When lying down the foundations think about the following
* What is it exactly that I want to achieve or change?
* What difference will this make to make?
* Can I achieve what I want on my own?
* What do I have to change in my life to accomplish this?
* What do I have to learn to accomplish this?
Once you have laid the foundations for whatever it is you wish to change in your life then you can go ahead and build up on your plan, visualize the project every step of the way as clearly as possible and seeing the project from start to finish build in your mind as accurately as possible. When you have the visualization completed in your mind then you can take steps to achieve what it is you desire, if you wish you can then note down the steps you took in your mind in writing to achieve the outcome, and follow these through from start to finish.
The key points
The key points to using mental imagery successfully for any aspect of your life are
* Focusing your imagination on one idea
* Forming as clear a mental picture or image of the idea and outcome in your mind
* Building up the idea from the foundations to completion
* Successfully executing your plan
Taking care of your mental health
In order to live a happier, healthier life you should take care of more than your physical health by way of dieting and exercising, you should also take care of your mental health. Only by having a complete system of healthy living can you be a healthy person, while exercise is important for your body it is also important for your mind.
Stress comes to all of us in some form or other with worries about finances, job security, responsibilities and relationships all taking their toll on our mental health. Stress is one of the biggest factors to disrupting our mental health and ultimately our well-being, it is as important to reduce stress in your life, as it is to reduce your fat, sugar and calorie intake to remain healthy.
There are many ways which we can take care of our mental health and eliminate some of the stress from our day, some of the steps you can take to remain stress free include
* Learn to manage your day and time better by setting out realistic goals which you can manage to meet everyday
* Learn how to utilize your time more efficiently throughout the day by focusing and completing one task at a time before moving on to another
* Remain flexible in your thinking when it comes to completing tasks, if you cannot accomplish them the way you had planned then do it another way
* Take small breaks throughout the day, these will give you time to clear your head and get back on track and stay focused on the task at hand
* Admit that you are only human and you cannot do everything, admit when you need a little help and don't be afraid to ask for that help should you need it'
* Learn when to say "no", while we all like to do favors we can sometimes take too much onto our plates and when this happens we cannot manage to fit everything in and stress sets in
* Never try to over exert your body, you can only do so much in a day, by trying to push yourself continually beyond your limits will stress your body and mind
* Learn to recognize when you are starting to get stressed and take immediate action to relieve that stress
* Learn techniques which you can quickly eliminate stress, there are a wide range of techniques which you can use, with some working better than others and giving you better results. Techniques such as breathing exercises and visualization are very eff
