Developing Yourself by Examining Your Life

Many people may feel insecure in their lives; this can often have roots in their environment or in their past. For your own personal development, it is a smart idea to examine negative influences. You need to find out why you may be insecure and why you believe the negative things you think. Here are a few tips for examining your life so you can find negative influences and get rid of them.

1. Consider the negative people you knew as a child. Children only learn what they see and experience in their lives. If you knew negative people that you spent a lot of time with as a child, their thinking had an enormous effect on you. You may be dealing with the negativity that you experienced today. Their negative opinions could be causing you to feel insecure in some way; this is especially true if the negative people were your parents. Every child wants to please their parents, and if you feel you did not, you might deal with that for the rest of your life.

2. Consider the motivations of the negative people in your life. Remember that everyone has their own opinions. When they give an opinion, it is an opinion that comes from their point of view and their point of reference. They do not know that they are affecting you that deeply, nor can they see that their opinion may not be accurate. It is up to you to realize that their opinion is simply their opinion, nothing more and nothing less.

3. Get an idea of what you want to be. After you find the negative influences and understand the reasons they affect you, set them to the side. Develop an opinion of the person you want to be and what you want to accomplish. Remember that your opinion is the most important opinion in your life; you are the captain of your ship. Getting a mental picture of the ideal you, and what you want to do, helps you focus your efforts.

4. Accept criticism for what it is. As you seek your ideal and your goals, you will be criticized by some of the same people who have always been negative influences in your life. Now that you know that they are just giving their opinion, you need not take it so seriously. Allow criticism, as it may be constructive, but if you examine the criticism and find nothing but their viewpoint, let it pass.

5. Be positive. After dealing with negativity for so long, it is critical to infuse some positivity in your life. Start taking time to reflect on all the good things happening in your life, as well as the people you love. By focusing on positive things, the negativity in your life will fade.

Insecurity and other negative feelings may come from your childhood and your present environment. Knowing these influences can help you avoid being influenced. Use the tips in this article to examine your life and turn it around.