Small Steps to Your Better Self
August 7, 2022 by MarkHaroldsen
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Do you ever wish you could just better yourself as a person? Do you feel overly pessimistic, especially judgmental, or too self-involved? If you aren’t happy with who you are, you can improve this just as you can improve your financial situation, health, or skills. Although it is less common to hear that someone’s goal is to be a nicer, more positive person, it isn’t any less important or admirable. In fact, it might be one of the most important goals you can have.
If you’ve read my book, you know about the power of the ‘Bite Size’ approach to reaching your goal. If you haven’t read it, you can get your copy here, then go to Chapter 6 on page 57 for the story of how this method kept a man alive and helped him rescue himself when everything was against his survival.
Becoming a nicer, more positive person may not sound as monumental a goal as keeping oneself alive in dire circumstances, but the approach that will get you there is not really any different. The most important thing to remember is to take it one small step at a time. That’s where the Bite Size approach comes in.
You became who you are over a long period of time, and you were affected and changed by many small influences and experiences. It makes sense that your road to changing your attitude towards others and how you live your life will likewise take many small gestures and encouraging encounters.
You can begin by taking note of the things you do that make up the behavior you want to change. Then take on just one of those little things and focus on eliminating or transforming it into something positive for others and yourself.
If something so simple as taking one bite size step at a time can be so powerful as to save a man’s life, it can certainly help you to improve the person you are and better your life and the lives of those around you. It just takes that first small step. What will be your first small step to becoming a better person than you are even now?
The Impact of a Few Words
March 6, 2022 by MarkHaroldsen
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Throughout my life, I’ve looked to others for great knowledge and inspiration. A lot of the wonderful advice and ideas I’ve found have been in books but sometimes, just a few words can really lift my life when I take time to think about them.
Here are a few favorite quotes that I believe can really help us all if we stop to think about how they apply to our own lives.
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. ~Socrates
The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. ~Robert Cushing
The searching out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man. ~Cicero
The only journey is the journey within. ~Rainer Maria Rilke
Know thyself means this: that you get acquainted with what you know, and what you can do. ~Menander
Yes, know thyself: in great concerns or small, Be this thy care, for this, my friend, is all. ~Juvenal
Collect as precious pearls the words of the wise and virtuous. ~Abd-el-Kadar
If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old. ~Lord Chesterfield
If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour instead of idling it away? ~Lord Chesterfield
Follow your honest convictions and stay strong. ~William Thackeray
He that will not reflect is a ruined man. ~Asian Proverb
Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow. ~Doug Firebaugh
So what do you think? Did one or two, or maybe all of these, make you stop and think? Did you discover something you’ve needed to learn but maybe didn’t know you needed? Whatever quote or quotes really struck you, take them to heart this week and see how just a few words can really lift your life.
The Mutual Benefits of Writing
January 23, 2022 by MarkHaroldsen
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Life can be so very interesting and exciting. It’s amazing to me that such a great source of excitement and energy, as well as fascinating discoveries for my brain, comes from just writing. I’ve found, over the years that I’ve been writing, that my words can affect me as much as they can affect any reader.
Whether it’s a book or my weekly blog, and especially if I’m writing about a subject that I’m not very good at or one that I’m not actively doing, I often find that the writing gets me thinking about it, and I begin changing and improving myself. So, not only do I write about it, writing about it makes me do it as well. I’ve said this many times over the years — whenever I preach or write to others, I am also talking to myself!
Whether it’s reading more, exercising, getting more social, or, actually, pretty much anything, I do more of the helpful things I write about after I write about it. I guess the process of writing about a behavior or habit makes an impression on my brain and that little nudge can make a big, big difference in my life. What the brain is reminded of can really make a huge difference in the lives of so many of us humans, including both good and bad things.
I don’t think most of us fully realize the great power of the brain and how we can direct it to help us accomplish almost anything we want to do in our lives. When we spend time writing about a particular subject, our brains take the hint and push us to do more about it. That is one huge benefit we can get from writing. Whether we write it in a letter to someone or in a journal or diary (or, for me, writing in my weekly blog), we usually come to understand and retain that information as well as having a chance to learn a lot about ourselves.
Wow, having now written about all the good stuff writing can do for me, I’ve decided to do a lot more of it. How about you?
Share the Power of Affirmations
There is an old Zen saying: “To know and not to do is not yet to know.†I still find it hard to believe I got so far away from using the power of my own subconscious for so long. Yes, I’m still talking about Positive Affirmations. Are you practicing them? Have you seen just how powerful they can be? I use to know and work on them all the time but somewhere along the way I got complacent and figured that I didn’t need to “practice” or maybe I just got lazy … or probably both.
Thankfully, I was reminded about something I thought I already knew. I have said it before but it needs saying again … I owe so much to Susan Jeffers’ book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”. She and Jack Canfield retaught me what I thought I already knew. I sincerely hope that whoever may be reading this blog is reminded and helped by this very powerful technique just as much as I was. I know it can lead whoever practices it to anything and everything they want out of life.
Also, be sure to share it with others. You’ll be glad you did when you see what wonderfully positive things it does for people lives. In fact if you like this or any past blogs I have written, please pass them on to your friends and relatives. I would be very grateful but most importantly I know that it will benefit them. Thank you and please spread the word.