Self-improvement is a beautiful and fundamental part of progressing in life. When you visualise who you want to be and what qualities you wish to have, and work towards that, the results are absolutely incredible and pretty much life-changing.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the majority of people are not interesting in changing themselves, even if it is to be better overall. A lot of people feel deep insecurity at the thought that something may not be right about them that they should or need to fix, hence they vehemently reject the idea of change. As a matter of fact, this action very much hinders growth and improvement of a person's relationships and can lead to years of frustration rather than contentment. This is because when you look at yourself from an objective lense, you are far more likely to be able to see harmful faults within yourself and make a conscious effort to correct or improve upon them. This in turn influences your relationships in a positive way and gives you a clearer path to more enjoyment in your life, because you are able to see yourself as how an outsider would and fix yourself in a way to make yourself more agreeable and better-natured. This is also fosters a deep sense of wisdom and understanding of not only yourself, but others as well.
The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgment.' - J. Krishnamurthi
If you are ready to start working on yourself so that you can truly be your best self, here are some tips that can help you on the journey.
1. Reflect and think often. Oftentimes, all it really takes is periods of silence to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. When you make it a common habit to sit in silence and to think about yourself, your life and the world, deep wisdom and understanding is bound to reach you. When you reflect back on certain actions of yours and their outcomes, things you've said or done and even why you said or did those things, you are better able to understand the root causes of your own behaviour and even triggers or things that may bother you. This is pivotal to growth as acknowledgement is the first step to improvement. Being able to evaluate your actions or character without bias is a high level of intellect that not many people reach. From there on, you can shape or condition yourself to behave and react better to situations, giving you much more control over your emotions and behaviour and in turn, making you a much more aware and attractive individual to others.
2. Get In Touch With Nature
In the kind of closed in society we are so accustomed to, when thinking about life and health, it is an important question to ask: When was the last time you went out for a walk outside by yourself? When you are alone with nature, you experience a clearer mind and more optimism in general. Its no wonder a lot of the most highly intellectual individuals were those who often withdrew in solitude to nature to reflect and meditate on their existence and God. Therefore, there really is something to be said about fresh air and the sky in gaining wisdom and insight about yourself and the world.
Allow your skin to soak in some sun, as this is the best way to get some much needed vitamin D and even to elevate your mood on a regular basis.
So how does going outside help to improve you exactly? By being in nature you will:
- Find inner peace
- Not be as restless
- Become more aware of the beauty of the creation of God
- Appreciate life more
- Be less prone to be irritable
In general, it will help you to be a more peaceful and grounded person. And whenever you do fall into a spiral of stress again, know that this may very well be the habit missing from your life.
3. Explore Your Spirituality
Spirituality is an important aspect of life that adds meaning and purpose to a person's life. When you feel a sense of a bigger purpose in your existence, you can go through life's challenges with more confidence and resolution.
But how exactly do you get there?
The important thing is to be open to the messages that you receive from within. Often, God communicates with you by intuition. It is something you should observe and listen to and seek to communicate back with. It is okay to ask questions, seek guidance and help with matters. Oftentimes you will feel a sense of peace and understanding for the right solution. All it takes is really listening to that guidance.
Prayer is an integral part of many people's lives around the world and for good reason - prayer relaxes a person from within and gives hope and optimism for a good outcome, which is incredibly important to progress forward through life's challenges. Prayers are often answered, although you may not always notice, but there is certainly an effect which affirms the existence of a Creator.
It is siimply a matter of slowing down and observing yourself and reflecting upon life and existence in silence, similar to meditation but without a mantra.
Faith helps to foster wisdom and is a great way to improve yourself by looking outside of yourself at the bigger picture and realise you exist for a reason.
4. Help Others When You Can
Becoming a better person, by being open to serve others, is a surefire way to success in many aspects of life. By being someone who willingly helps people when you are able, you improve your character immensely and build a lot of good karma for yourself. Believe it or not, what goes around DOES come around.
Sure, it may seem like you have a lot to do in your own life and thus have little time for others, but as a matter of fact, helping others benefits you, too.
You get a burst of happiness when you help someone, especially when you receive their appreciative gratitude. This simple thing can make your day and having you smiling for hours. Even remembering such an incident years later can make you happy. You might think the gestures are small, but they are incredibly meaningful for others, too. That person you helped will surely remember the good will and pass it on to others. Perhaps they were even having a bad day that you made their day better. In even worse cases, they could have been even more in despair and you shimmered a little light in their life. These things mean a lot and they make you a better person overall. You humble yourself when you help others and you have a better time seeing the forest for the trees, ie the world outside of yourself. This gives you a greater perspective on your place in the world and even a functional understanding of ways you can contribute positively as a human being.
The qualities you build through positive experiences will change you for life, in a better way, that is why it is important to seek to do good and help others where you can and are able.
Some ways that you can help include:
- Holding the door for someone
- Giving people a smile!
- Helping an elder person in some way, such as with groceries
- Giving money or a meal to a beggar in the streets
- Volunteering at a non-for profit organisation
- Donating to causes that help people who are struggling
- and many more!
Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list of things of what you can do. But with the technology at home, the potential is really huge to do good even from your phone. If you are having a bad day, a good way to cheer yourself up is to send an online donation to a cause that matters to you. You will feel a lot better and grateful for what you do have in your life.
All the following above are great ways to improve yourself as a human being. By mindfully taking these type of actions, you will naturally and easily improve yourself and be a better you that others will appreciate immensely.