The Art of Self-Development; Create Your Life with PD

It's good practice to be more mindful and in control of your life. But even when things are planned in the best way possible, something can happen that can change our course unexpectedly and dramatically. Fortunately, things are rarely what they seem, and a seeming adversity is often really an opportunity to do something new and better.

There's one quality we all have when we are children that most lose over time. And it's not hard work or intelligence alone. At the end of the day, those who can keep their openness and curiosity (or learn to get it back) will always be the ones to succeed.

There are several components to what we call self-esteem. There is the influence of our genes, there's our place in our social order (and how well we stick to it), and perhaps most importantly, how we progress in things that matter to us (that is, how we set and achieve goals for ourselves). All of these will reward us with positive feelings through chemicals in the brain. While some things are more easily influenced than others, there's a lot we can do to live better, fuller lives than we previously thought possible.

We are conditioned to do what other people want us to do, which we take for the right thing to do. Yet, each individual life is unique and requires our own unique and sometimes out-of-the-box decisions to be made. Because a life half-conscious is a life half-lived. It all boils down to two questions: What do you want, and why?

So often, in our day-to-day lives, we become stuck in our own heads, not really feeling our bodies or connecting to the people around us. Great things happen when we reconnect with ourselves, knowing we can only benefit by becoming more of who we truly want to be.

Too often, we focus on what we want to achieve without considering why we want it or how we can create the best results. We put our focus outside of where our power lies. Taking that focus and putting it back where it belongs - on doing our best in the situation and learning from the experience, rather than just on "what's in it for me" is the key to any real and meaningful success and to becoming a force of positive influence for others.

We are each the most important person in the world. Most of us have known this since childhood and never relinquished this idea. There are good psychological and biological reasons for this as a default outlook on life. At the same time, we benefit greatly from a more balanced perspective. The mature person can understand and live with the notion that they are insignificant in the bigger scheme of things and, at the same time, the most important, because that is how we make important changes in our lives.

Many of us grew up believing there was something wrong with us if we were quiet or kept to ourselves while doing our things or read a lot of books instead of socializing. Yet, as a society, we are beginning to realize that introverts have the power and focus to make things happen that will change our world.

Healthy self-esteem is the foundation for self-respect and confidence, each of which will build a better, happier life. There are several qualities that make for strong self-esteem, not least of which, paradoxically, is humility.

This is one of the "heavier" episodes. Drawing from CBT (or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) it focuses on the relationship between cognition (mainly thinking, feeling, and beliefs) and taking action. It explores how these influence and strengthen each other and how understanding why we think and do things the way we do can help us positively transform our lives.

Learning new skills and becoming better versions of ourselves is one of the biggest (and most addictive) pleasures life has to offer. One which will work amazingly well for us...as long as we put it in service of a greater good.

Sometimes we feel we're not measuring up, and that everyone else can see that. We might even feel helpless and isolated. When that happens, we often miss that the feeling can in fact be a blessing in disguise that can skyrocket our self-development to new heights.

Being authentic means saying no at times - to ourselves and the people around us. Learning the process also means choosing guilt over resentment, understanding it, and letting it go.

This day and age gives us a lot to think about. We have our jobs and assignments, our mortgages, the future of our kids...All of these things lead us to live more in our thoughts about the past and in planning for the future than in the present. We become so torn between our mind and our emotions that we often end up trying to dissociate from the one thing that can lead us back to ourselves.

Growing up, many of us have been taught to be more cautious and serious and to downplay our curiosity. And for sure, there are times when being cautious is the right approach; but apart from the rare situations that warrant it, cultivating healthy curiosity brings much more benefits than anything else.

Most of us don't understand what good sleep does for us and just how important it is for our health and well being. Let's take a deeper dive into why your tonight's good sleep is one of the best gifts you can give yourself today and for many years to come. 

Relationships can be hard work, especially when we don't have enough experience and don't know exactly what we are doing. While there are tons of tips and ideas on how to make a relationship strong, these ideas can be broken down to several key principles that, when maintained, will keep your relationship strong and healthy for life.

Intelligence is not just being smart. It is one of the most important and most transferable life skills that will help you do better in life and work alike.

Becoming your best self doesn't necessarily require studying a ton of books or going to fancy self-improvement workshops (or listening to sophisticated podcasts). It really is about going back to the basics - and making sure every part of your life and personality aligns with your life vision and purpose.

We all want that special someone waiting - we think - for us somewhere out there. You know, the One. The good news is, he or she really is there for us. The even better news is they're more than one. And best of all, we will attract them to our lives when we make ourselves ready for the relationship, and not a moment sooner.

Most of us grow up thinking we are not good enough being ourselves, that we don't measure up. This can be a healthy thing that drives us to be more active and achieve great things, up to a point. In excess, the same drive is exactly the thing that will limit us the most. Until, that is, we learn to balance the learned drive to always judge and criticize what we do and who we are with allowing ourselves to be at our best.

We all like to increase the highs and diminish the lows in how we feel, but at times we may feel like the pendulum swings almost too far in both directions. It's okay to feel strong emotions, but sometimes we need to equalize them and find some equilibrium.

Each one of us has core beliefs that we've formed mostly in our childhood that affect everything we do - mostly without us knowing it. These will lead to situations we don't seem to know how to resolve or how we got there. Until, that is, we resolve to dive deep, shine light on our needs and core beliefs, and transform and fulfill them. When we make sure we truly take care of ourselves first, we can do our part in transforming the world for the better.

We often think we remember events exactly the way they happened, but that is not true. We generally only recall a tiny slice of our past, tailored by our unconscious mind to help us move towards something or away from something. This served us when were younger, especially to avoid danger, but now the ability to change your perception of what happened in your past - and focus on what is the most useful in it - can literally transform your life.