It’s something all of us aspire to achieve, but unless we consciously choose to get rid of our weaknesses and promote our strengths, there is no way to self improvement. Improving the self is an exercise that is sporadic at best – to make it work on a continuous basis, you must be constantly aware of your thoughts and actions and be able to steer them towards a more positive direction. Self improvement starts with self awareness, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s possible to observe much from the world of children in taking your first steps towards improving yourself:
- If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again: If you’ve seen a child trying to take their first steps, you’ll know what I mean. They may fall on their butt an awful lot, but then, they’re always up and at the attempt to walk again. Soon enough, walking becomes second nature rather than a conscious attempt. This instinctive attitude of kids is a lesson in self improvement to keep trying again and again even if you fail at first. For example, if you’re trying to quit an addiction, don’t be upset by setbacks or relapses; just keep trying until you’re able to rid yourself of the habit for good. Sooner or later, staying free of your addiction becomes the norm rather than an anomaly.
- Once bitten, twice shy: When a child touches an electrical socket or falls off the edge of a bed once too often, they’re wary of getting too close to a switch or the foot of the bed again. They learn through experience that certain things are dangerous and so must be avoided. Similarly, when trying to improve yourself, it’s important to remember that you must learn from negative experiences if you want to achieve progress. For example, if you’ve suffered because of an abusive or otherwise unhealthy relationship, don’t go right back into another one simply because you’re too weak and have no self-control. Remember the hurt you suffered – it’s going to happen again if you repeat your mistakes instead of learning from them.
- Beauty is on the inside: You don’t see children complaining about the way they look or worrying that they’re too fat or too skinny or just not right. They look in the mirror just to make faces at themselves; they choose their clothes based on the bright colors and funny pictures – they don’t care that they don’t match; and they look beyond the outside appearance of people and focus on what’s inside. So in your attempt to improve yourself, look not at the way you look, but on how you treat people and yourself. Focus on improving your inner beauty rather than boosting your outward appearance. When you’re a truly warm, kind and caring person, your external looks don’t matter.
Self improvement is a process that must be consciously done and continuously adhered to if it is to work. So know what you need to improve, and strive to achieve the necessary improvement.
This article is contributed by Susan White, who regularly writes on the subject of surgical technician schools. She invites your questions, comments at her email address: susan.white33@gmail.com.
