By Maxwell Hill

There are many articles and pieces of information about personal growth and the self image, most of which help the reader to push forward in life and make important changes if they can. Many times however changes are only temporary and we very quickly resort to our old ways. One thing I have learned about personal growth is it is sometimes difficult to take on board all the information that is available, partly because of the sheer quantity of it and partly because it’s big business and there always seems to be a new way of doing something. It’s hard to keep abreast of the latest product or idea.

I am writing this article to introduce you to some beneficial ideas that I have learned about personal growth and in particular the self image over the last ten years or so. I have put these ideas into practice and have had huge successes, although initially I found it hard going. I hope you benefit too.

All your actions, feelings and emotions are consistent with your self image. By the way your self image was forced upon you when you were a child. The environment and people you grew up with formed the image of yourself while you were very small and impressionable. Of course you did have some say in the matter as you grew older but your basic self image was formed when you were very young. This means of course you are not responsible for any feelings and beliefs you now have since you didn’t intentionally create them! However the good news is, now that you are an adult, you can redesign the image of yourself and therefore your life, exactly the way you want it!

So then, the self image can be changed. Positive thinking doesn’t help because it is external. If you change your self image everything else has to change too. Your whole life has to be consistent with your new image. In each person there is a ‘life instinct.’ We all want more life, more health, more happiness and success. In Maxwell Maltz book ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’ he describes this life instinct as a ‘creative mechanism’ which if used correctly becomes a ‘success mechanism.’ This mechanism must have goals to work on. These goals are of course mental images created by your imagination. Your number one goal should be your self image. He says ” Our self image prescribes the limits for the accomplishment of any particular goal. It prescribes the area of the possible.” So then you must visualise and act out new action patterns. You must act as if you are wealthy, successful and the person you want to be.

Most people unfortunately still are unable to put the previous paragraph into practice – I was one of them – and achieve what they want out of life therefore the following information is for them.

Your self image is created in two ways. Both are crucial to your success. The first is a BELIEF IN YOUR ABILITIES. This part of your image can be changed easily by rational thought. If you are not able to do something then go out and learn how to do it. This new confidence will help you achieve your goals. You can do or learn absolutely anything to be the sort of person you want to be. Since this part of your self image needs you to actually get up and learn a new skill or become more knowledgeable perhaps, to help you become the person you want to be, I don’t want to spend too long speaking about it. It’s up to you! If you really want to achieve or become better at something or be a certain type of person there is plenty of information on how to do it. The Internet is a fantastic resource to start with. Just do it!

The second way your self image is created is a belief borne out by how you feel EMOTIONALLY about yourself. Your self image has to be consistent with how you feel about yourself emotionally. This emotional charge can be very powerful depending on how you were treated as a child.

For example….when you were a child, if you asked your mother to help you with a game or some painting you were doing and she said ‘No, I’m too busy,’ the emotional content of that statement would of had a huge influence on your self image. Let me explain. If she said it with a smile and a soft voice then that would have had a positive effect on your self image. However, if she said it harshly with a scowl on her face that would of had a negative effect on your self image. It is the emotional content of what she said rather than the answer itself that makes the difference.

As a child you would have experienced many such episodes, some good, some bad. Hopefully the good would have outweighed the bad. If you have a negative self image which has been formed in this way you will not be able to improve it by rational argument. By the way people who have a negative image of themselves, formed in this way, put everybody else first all the time, believing that they are unimportant. They believe that they don’t deserve very much from life. We all know somebody like that.

As we grow up these emotionally charged incidence have less of an effect on us. Psychologists tell us up to 5 years old is the period we are most susceptible to this type of self image formation, however we are still susceptible up to the age of about 12 years old.

Maxwell Hill is author of Ultimate Wealth Made Easy. This is a new site with very real and practical solutions to Wealth Building. – Copyright: You may freely republish this article provided the author, text, active links and this notice remain intact.Article Source:
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