Healthy Living DIY

Think your affirmations might have a clearer "ring" to them if you felt a little better about yourself to begin with? They just might. Self-love is something that most people say they want, yet there are times when it can seem elusive. Connect with these tips to bring yourself back into balance with the truth of your inner beauty.

Self-love trap #1: Getting stuck in the idea that you're "supposed" to be perfect and know everything. Nobody knows everything. I don't, you don't, your role models don't. Think about it. If you knew everything yourself, you wouldn't have much motivation to bring out the greatness in others, would you? You know ... by allowing them to contribute to you. So even at a social level, it's completely impractical. Watch for these signs that you feel bad about not knowing things:

* You hesitate to ask a question for fear that it will make you sound stupid.
* You hesitate to begin a new project because you suspect you will encounter a step or two that you haven't worked out how to do yet.
* When you do think you know something, you've just gotta jump in and tell everyone -- so they can see that you're not as stupid as you think they thought you were.

As a result of clinging to this false belief in your intended perfection, you hold your life back. You stick to the familiar, procrastinating endlessly on new projects so as to not run into situations you don't know how to handle. You rob others ... friends, family, and co-workers ... out of the opportunity to share their own best gifts. Check out these affirmations for embracing natural learning.

* I feel good when others share their gifts of knowledge and understanding with me.
* I love seeing how new projects unfold -- working through each little challenge easily.
* I forgive myself for making mistakes in life, just as I forgive others.

Is it really possible to attract exactly what you want? Well, let's see. I propose a little experiment. Over the next week (beginning on whatever day you read this article for the first time), set a clear intention and attract something you want.

Make that exactly what you want!

In other words, don't settle for almost - kinda - sorta what you want. Attract something cool into your experience that is exactly - precisely - specifically what you want.

Then leave a comment below and let us know how much fun you had!

I'll start. Here's the story of how I attracted something that was just exactly what I was looking for a few days ago...

Abundance ... what does that simple word mean to you? Perhaps more than money, the principle of abundance signifies that you are enough, have enough, and enjoy the healthy expectation that you will continue to have enough. Enough what? Health, time, companionship, freedom, good food, beauty, joy, and any other element that's important to your positive experience of life.

If you know people who truly embody the experience of abundance, you know that they're a pleasure to be around. It begins with a state of mind. Let's explore some common ways that scarcity can creep in to your thoughts. Then we'll create affirmations to bring you back to wholeness. Before you know it, you'll be living the dream yourself.

These 7 signs indicate that it's time for a shift to abundant thinking:

Food Energy affects every one of us every single day. Several years ago, I embarked upon a health-promoting journey that include answering the question "What should I eat to be healthy?" Of course good health involves more than simply what one eats, but food is important!

I was in consultation with an acupuncturist at the time, and he had a lot of ideas about what a person should eat. I decided to ask his opinion.

"Do you suggest," I asked, "That a person should eat organic foods whenever possible?"

"Not necessarily," the acupuncturist replied. "It all depends on which food has the best chi. You may find some conventionally-grown foods that have better chi than organic, in which case I'd go with the good chi."

Something continues to bother me about the recently released cockpit transcripts from the ill-fated Colgan Air commuter plane that crashed in Buffalo last February. The pilots of that plane got caught in a trap that most of us deal with, too.

As the pilots chatted, it was obvious that they had observed certain clues that this was a "high alert" situation and not just an ordinary landing. They noticed the ice buildup on the wings. And yet, they apparently didn't grasp the significance of their observations.

The powers that be have determined that other factors besides ice contributed to the plane's crashing. Regardless, I strongly suspect that if the pilots had grasped that they were in a high risk situation, their focus on the landing would have changed. They would have been in "high alert" mode. Chances are, they would have begun rehearsing their options in mind in order to be prepared to react quickly. When that "make or break" opportunity arose, they would have responded appropriately.

Instead, they chatted. They completely missed the significance of what was going on around them. From time to time, most of us do the same thing. Let's consider how that same "red flag warning system" affects you and me every day with respect to our health.