Self Help Motivation

You can enable self help motivation and overcome “learned helplessness” through the following two examples.

Example 1.

In many of the logging camps in India they still use elephants to fell and stack trees. The training of the elephant starts when it is still a baby and the first thing that it will be taught is not to run away from the logging camp. The trainer achieves this by driving a large wooden stake into the ground and by tying a rope around the baby elephants leg and then tying the rope to the stake. No matter how hard the baby elephant tries it cannot pull the stake out of the ground and although it keeps on trying eventually it will give up because it has learned that while the rope is attached to its leg it cannot get free. This procedure carries on into the elephants adulthood and although it is now immensely strong and could easily rip the stake from the ground it will not. The elephant now believes that once its handler has attached the rope to it’s leg it is incapable of escaping.

This is known as “learned helplessness”.

Example 2.

Some time ago an experiment was conducted to help prove the theory of learned helplessness. A large fish-tank was constructed and filled with water. The tank was then divided down the middle using a clear sheet of glass thereby creating two sections. Into one section was placed a number of small fish. In the other section was placed a Pike, a big fish that just loves eating little fishes. As could be expected the Pike tried to attack the small fish but was prevented from doing so by the glass partition. The Pike tried to attack the small fish for some time but eventually gave up trying. The glass partition was then removed and the Pike had free access to the small fish yet instead of attacking them it stayed in its side of the tank. It would swim to where the glass partition used to be then turn and swim back to its end of the tank. The small fish knowing the Pike to be a predator stayed away from it in their end of the tank. There was nothing to prevent the Pike from attacking the small fish yet once again, through learned helplessness, it did not do so. No self help motivation here!

Know that you have read these stories you can ask yourself whether learned helplessness is playing a part in your life. Do you have the equivalent of a rope around your leg like the elephant? or are you being held back by a glass partition like the Pike?

Many of us suffer from learned helplessness. As children we may have been repeatedly told, often by significant others such as teachers, parents or relatives, that we were “no good” at something or would never be able to do “this” or “that”. We heard this so often that we came to believe it and we no longer even try to do these things. Things we may dearly wish to achieve.

Yet, all we have to do to overcome learned helplessness is to realize that as adults we should be in charge of our own destinies, we should be in control, we should be utilizing a little self help motivation.

If you feel that you have a set of beliefs that are holding you back, take the time to look at them very carefully.

Remember the Elephant and the Pike. What you believe you can’t do doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

You will only ever know by trying and by using self help motivation.

I wish you Health, Wealth and Happiness.

Self Help Motivation Through Visualization

You can create self help motivation by using the power of your mind.

Do you ever have one of those days when the world seems to be against you and nothing you do seems to go right?

Find it hard to concentrate and get things done?

Do you always put of until tomorrow what you should do today.

We all suffer from days like this to some extent or another and for many its not such a big problem. Yet for some this feeling of inadequacy can be life debilitating. So, what can be done to overcome these “gray days”? What can we do to give ourselves a boost. To paraphrase the old song, how do we:

“Pick Ourselves Up. Dust Ourselves Off and Start All Over Again”?

First you have to realize that the world you live in is not “out there”. Your problems do not exist “out there” and the answers do not lie “out there”.

Your world exists inside your head. My world exists inside my head therefor the world we live in is personal to us and exists inside our heads.

If you doubt this, think about it this way. If you couldn’t see, hear, feel, taste or smell, the world would not exist for you for it is through our senses that we interpret the world around us. This is real good news because it means that all we have to do to change our world is to change our “minds”. You can use your imagination and your five senses to enable self help motivation any time you want to.

Here’s How

If you’re feeling down, despondent or just can’t seem to move ahead in any particular way, first make the decision that you are going to do something about it. Remember, it’s your mind so it’s up to you to change it.

Find somewhere where you can sit for twenty minutes that is quiet and where you won’t be disturbed or distracted.

Sit straight but relaxed. Eyes to to the front. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out through your mouth. Let your breath out with a sigh. Repeat this four or five times or until you’re feeling completely relaxed.

Now think back to a situation where you felt relaxed, content, happy. If you cant think of one, make one up. Perhaps you were on vacation relaxing on the beach, the sun on your face, a warm gentle breeze blowing across your body, the sound of children laughing. What ever the memory might be, it will have certain aspects that relate to your five senses.

What can you see in your minds eye? What can you hear? What can you taste, smell and touch?

Make this image, this picture as large as you can. Let it completely surround you.

Are there colors? If so turn up the brightness, just imagine you have a TV remote control and press a button. Make that memory appear in glorious technicolor. If you don’t see colors, create them in your mind.

Use your remote control to turn up the sound. Feel the sun and the breeze on your face. Really feel it. Smell and taste the sea salt in the air.

Now you are feeling so relaxed. Feeling so good. But you can feel even better. Just tell yourself that you can.

While doing this, you will probably drift of into a daydream. That’s good.

As you come out of the daydream, take a couple of deep breaths as before.

When you are ready, stand up and stretch your body. Take a long luxurious stretch.

After using this visualization method to enable self help motivation, I absolutely guarantee you that you will no longer be feeling down or despondent. You will feel ready to tackle anything.

Do this exercise on a daily basis and you will be amazed at the results. Just how good can you really feel?

I wish you Health, Wealth and Happiness.

Self Help Motivation – Are You A People Person?

You can employ self help motivation by modeling others.

We’ve all met them, no matter the situation they can charm the birds out of the trees. They are friendly, charismatic, charming and just plain nice.

This is the “people person”. He or she seems comfortable in any company and any social situation. They earn peoples respect and support in any and every endeavor and the reason this happens is because a people person genuinely gives and then gives some more.

Are you a people person? Want to know how to become one.

Here is a list of traits of a typical people person. Copy them and use them for your self help motivation.

1# They are genuine.

No fakery here. They are genuinely interested in other people.

2# They actively listen.

They are aware that they have two ears and one mouth so they listen twice as much as they talk. They listen in order to understand, not just to formulate an answer.

3# They have a sense of humor.

They laugh with people, not at them. They use the power of laughter in order to lift our spirits.

4# They are strong within their own beliefs and values.

Anchored in a “values” mindset they are able to appreciate anothers point of view.

5# They “give”.

They are constant provider’s of the gifts of love, laughter, empathy and compassion.

6# They are eternal students.

They are constantly open to learning new things and using new found knowledge to improve not only their own lives but the lives of others.

7# They understand the “golden rule”.

They do as they would be done by.

Of course, the forgoing doesn’t represent an exhaustive list of the personality traits of a people person, but I hope it gets you thinking along the right lines.

Go ahead and use these traits for your self help motivation, if you do, you will find that you are rewarded with all the good things in life.

Here are some other sites that offer some excellent information on self help motivation.

• Success Secrets Keys For Success – EruptingMind Self Improvement Tips. Free Health Money Self Improvement Advice Ideas Tips Success Secrets Skills. What Do You Want To Do Success .
• Effective People Skills Developing People Skills – EruptingMind Self Improvement Tips. Free Health Money Self Improvement Advice Ideas Tips Developing Effective People Skills. What Do You Want To Do .
• Health Fitness Tips – EruptingMind Self Improvement Tips. Free Health Money Self Improvement Advice Ideas Tips Free Health Tips Advice. What Do You Want To Do .

I wish you Health, Wealth and Happiness.

Three Steps To Self Help Motivation