Your Guide To Raising Your Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves. The words we use to describe ourselves reflect whether our esteem is high or not. It has very little to do about how we or others see as the physical presentation but how we feel toward ourselves.
A person could have high esteem regarding their weight but to another, with the same height and weight, feelings may induce low self-esteem. With this in mind, it would be unfair to state that everyone should possess the same physical qualities as another. Magazine articles and pictures of super slim models induce a standard that states beauty is having this particular size. Beauty manufacturers make millions each year selling products that are supposed to make you feel a particular way. Lifestyle critics will have you believe that by not having what their values on how to live is below standard.
These organisations make their money on preying upon our self-esteem. If a standard was not epitomised, then people would not readily spend their cash buying these products to 'enhance' their features, to reach the epitome. However, you may feel a slight or monumental increase in your esteem if you were of perfect weight, of perfect complexion and lived in a fantastic house but even all this would not guarantee long lasting self-esteem; because self-esteem relies solely on your feelings. There are many people who appear to have all the attributes to being happy but are not. Why is this? It is because how they feel about themselves is what influences their self-esteem, not what they may or may not have. 

I Want to Build a Better Life

Building a better life can be difficult, there's no doubt about that.
Many people are more driven to stay comfortable and keep the "status quo" rather than make a dramatic change to their lives - even if that change is a positive one and it's ultimately for the better.
It takes a rare kind of attitude to consistently seek a better life no matter where you find yourself or where you are in your life. I personally hope to find myself looking for ways to improve up until the day I die.
To grow is to live. When that growth stagnates, we experience a kind of psychological death - we lose an important sense of meaning, purpose, and motivation in our lives.
What are you truly striving for? Do you know? Are you 100% happy the way your life is or are there things you can actually be doing to improve it?
These are questions we all need to ask ourselves on a daily basis. We're all striving for something - but what is it - what are the core values that we really want to live by?
The more you know the answer to those questions, the more capable you are of building a better life. But you can't get to a "better life" if you don't first know what "better life" actually means to you.
Of course, the definition of a "better life" is going to vary depending on the person. You need to find your definition.

Rediscovering Your Feminine Self

The spirit of femininity is generous, graceful, nurturing, supportive, sensitive, intuitive, and oriented towards love and care. Despite all of these wonderful attributes, feminine energy, especially as it pertains to sexuality, has been suppressed, condemned, and vilified on a global scale for thousands of years. It is no wonder, then, that so often we associate shame, fear, and guilt with sex and sexuality. Through reawakening our feminine energy, we can learn to celebrate our femininity in all its forms and bring greater joy and intimacy into our lives and with ourselves.
Reintegrating our spiritual and sexual selves is an important first step in rediscovering our feminine self. Our culture's separation of these two aspects may be an ill-conceived view and therefore counter to fostering well-being, health, and joy in our bodies, hearts, and spirits. When we bring conscious awareness to the integration of the sexual with the spiritual and the spiritual with the sexual, we return to a sense of wholeness within.

Self Acceptance - Lessons From My Hair Affair

For our diet and, indeed, in every aspect of our lives, we must remember to relax from the demands of the unrealistic ideal. For those trying to lose weight, you cannot be the Barbie. For those lifting weights, you cannot be the Governor of California. Accepting this principle first, can give you the peace of mind to love what you do have, lower frustration, and actually make weight loss easier in the long run!

A few years ago while driving to the drugstore I watched a family walk across the street. There was a woman who appeared to be in her 70's with a thick mass of black hair flowing down her back. Next to her was another woman 40ish with a thick mass of black hair flowing down her back. And walking with them, a teen with a thick mass of black hair flowing down her back, and alongside her was a girl about six years old with a thick mass of black hair flowing down her back.

The teen was pushing a pram. I craned my neck and observed a tiny baby tucked inside - no there was no flowing mass of black hair. But I could see little black tufts starting up and I was willing to bet what that would look like in the future.

I drove on to the drugstore feeling a bit gloomy. When I got to the store, I saw rows of hair beautification products. Products to pump up the volume, smooth, curl, add bounce. I had tried many of them in the past with maybe some improvement but not much. What I really needed was more hair. If any of those ladies walking would give me just a little bit of their hair I would really benefit and I doubt if they would miss it. I have baby fine blond hair. The kind that wilts in the heat, hangs limply in the rain and loses its style quickly.

Later that week, I happened to catch the talk show Maury. Women were on the show complaining about their hair. One young African American lady caught my attention. About 14 years old, she had wiry black hair. It sprouted out from her head and went all over the place. She cried as she told Maury that she had not had a comb in her hair in years because it got all tangled. I was shocked as she told Maury that insects landed in her hair and stayed there. And I thought I had problem hair.