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Is Self Improvement The Answer For You Though?I have no idea who you are, and I certainly don't know what questions most concern you, so how can I claim - as I do with the title of this website - that 'Self Improvement Is The Answer'? Easy. It's because, without a shadow of a doubt, there's one thing I do know about you, and it is also, incidentally, the most important thing I can know about you... You are not perfect. You may be perfectly content (or you may think you're perfectly content) but you're not the best you can be because NOBODY is the best they can be. That's the bad news. The good news is that EVERYONE can strive to be the best they can be. Therefore, even though you're imperfect, we all are. But we all also have the tools and drive to better ourselves, so the question is not 'How can you become perfect?' but rather 'What elements of yourself would you like to work on trying to perfect?' Before addressing this point more fully, however, there is another matter to be dealt with first which is more pressing. Truly knowing yourself. Often we think we know the underlying reasons for our thoughts, feelings, actions, and words, but we are complicated beings, therefore it's not always a simple matter discerning who we are and what fuels us. When you don't question your own motives or actions, you're being a slave to your own deeper self. Know why you do what you do before you do it. This is vital. And so the first step isn't in thinking 'What do I want and how can I get it?' The first step is in thinking 'Who am I?' I'll talk about how one might answer this question in a later article, but it has to do with the following points... * Never being afraid of the truth * Examining your life and all of the people in it * Examining your life with scrutinizing eyes And once you know why you do what you do before you do it (as fully as you ever can, that is) then often-times you'll be able to do LESS to improve your life, more often, and wholly to your own benefit. But, to reiterate, I'll explain this more fully, at a later stage, in an article devoted especially to this topic of Getting To Know Yourself. Fun! Another early step on the road to self improvement, for many people, is in realizing that, from your own perspective, the world is the way it is according to how you define it. And how you analyse the information that you take in through your many senses will largely determine who you are and how you therefore act and react to your own local reality. At this point, the process of building, rebuilding, or modifying yourself can begin. Tools of the mind will be used, methods will be put into practice, and you will change for the better. Thought is our strongest strength. However, we have to make thought into words and actions for it to amount to anything. Now it is highly unlikely that I will, in regards to this website, find the answers to every issue regarding self improvement, and equally unlikely that my answers to these issues will always be the best solutions, but I'll nonetheless do my all to reach this end-goal. But why should you read what I have to write over the countless other self improvement websites out there? I'm glad you were about to ask that. When speaking about self improvement theories which you can apply to yourself... * I often use examples from my own life, not textbook cases or merely theory. I wish never to play the part of an all-knowing doctor, because I'm far from it. Then again, I suspect we all are. * Articles on this website will NEVER be copied and pasted texts of other people’s works. * I put my personality into my articles, so they hopefully won't read as being too dry or mind-numbingly academic. Learning, I fervently believe, can and SHOULD be fun! * I frequently offer unique solutions to possible problems you may currently be experiencing, but when I do offer the 'same old advice', I will hopefully at least phrase it in a different light. My goal is always to aim high in originality though, but I do also realize most of what can be said in this world already has been said (even this particular saying that ‘most of what can be said in this world already has been said’). * I value logic and clarity hugely, especially regarding how knowledge should be conveyed, so try consistently to write my articles in the most rational and understandable manner I can. Following are a sprinkling of certain personal beliefs I hold which normally influence both what I write about and how I write... * Everything with a pinch of salt. Even ‘pinches of salt’ should be taken with a pinch of salt.
* Balance. This is what I most find life should be about if you are to be happy and healthy in body and mind.
* Words can be exceptionally powerful, and far too great a number of people don't know how to communicate properly, which is why so many communications between people often end poorly. It's not simply about communicating, therefore, it's about communicating well: clearly, non-threateningly, honestly, and with pure intentions.
* ‘The norm’ is not always normal. If living a common life is what will bring you the most happiness, then live a common life to the best of your ability. If living a common life is not to your taste though (or not suited to whatever your particular personality might be) then find another way to live.
* I try never to judge. My being human doesn’t always make this possible, unfortunately, but judgements, I think, are almost never beneficial. And when I use the term ‘judge’, I am not talking about criticism. Where one asks for criticism, or where one uses it on oneself, and where it can be used as a tool to improve one’s standard of living, then criticism should be a necessity.
* I fail sometimes in practising what I preach, totally contradicting many or all of the above points, but I ultimately respect myself enough that I usually manage to come right again after a while. Mistakes are not always bad, but not learning from those same mistakes is. Technically, it could be argued that everything on the web relates to self improvement. Sometimes it’s not easy to see why, because the subject may be far removed from what is typical of this category, but ultimately everything we do in life is done in order to attain the benefit of something in a personal capacity. When you go onto Wikipedia, this is to gain knowledge (self improvement) and if it’s for research, that research is to ultimately acquire a degree to have a better chance in life (self improvement); even entertainment is for the purpose of self improvement, because if something makes you laugh, or if it relaxes you, or if it inspires you, you're healthier for it. Self improvement, self improvement, self improvement. Self Improvement, in other words, Is The Answer. If not always, then at least mostly always. Before concluding this little introduction to my site, and because I love quotes (especially my own, of course), I'll now leave you with something I might have once said (but unfortunately never really did)... 'Everything you do makes you the person you are, but everything you don't do also does.' People often warn each other “Don't cross the line!” That said, sometimes lines should be crossed, especially if it's in the hopes of bettering yourself. Below is 'the line'... the main doors to the different sections that make up this website. Hopefully some of these doors will lead you to specific self improvement techniques you can apply to your own life. If you seek to be more than you are now, then crossing this line might be the way to go. Are you ready to maximize your life? Scroll down if you are! - the line -
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