Trust Yourself ? The Hero?s Way!

Buying a VCR may not seem like a noteworthy purchase in a high-tech world yet it proved to be a worthy blessing offering much learning. Boxes filled with VHS recordings were unearthed from dark recesses where they had hidden for over a decade.

Replaying some old home videos for the first time in fourteen years eerily pulled us back to witness a much younger self - long ago left behind. One of our time-travels took us back to 1991 to perhaps the first workshop I publicly presented called "Being Your Best, Inside and Out."

There I stood, so very polished, professional, all-knowing; assuredly directing people how to think and present themselves correctly in order to have successful lives. Barely a chink showed in that professional armor.

Self-Help Sledge Hammer

I shuddered to hear myself assuredly espouse the latest personal development philosophies without fully evaluating how those words might affect others. I had not considered how people might feel after being told "You must do this/do that, strive for more, set the right goals, live with passion, avoid mediocrity, change your thinking, be a peak performer etc? to be successful."

How carelessly back then I said, "If you think you have a comfortable life, are comfortable with your job, home, family this is the death rattle. To be comfortable is a death. We must always be reaching for more?"

Now, through living a much kinder approach to life I know this endless striving for more is often a compensation for feeling inadequate - not good enough. Now I know that calling anything short of peak performance ? mediocrity - hurts us. This "self-help hammer" devalues our human journey.

The same night we were reviewing my past "self-help" seminars we were called to pick up our fifteen year old boy from a Friday night party. The parents wanted us to know they had found bottles of vodka and some kids had been drinking.

We managed to handle that volatile situation with enough love and understanding to hear the entire truth from our teen. (Quite a different story from the cover-up being told at the party!)

The Heroic Journey

Doing our best to be good human beings; loving our children, spouses, making a decent home and livelihood is a heroic journey! Any philosophy that intimates we are failures or are living lives of mediocrity if we work in a job that is not our passion is the antithesis of self-help. Perhaps the job is not our greatest love but often we do it out of love for our homes and families and in this, there is great honor and humility.

Of course, this excludes forcing ourselves to work somewhere that is toxic or making us sick. Nor am I advocating ignoring our dreams or the changes we long for. Rather, I am suggesting we put more trust in ourselves and our God for our answers than in latest "How to Achieve" philosophies or shallow societal values.

Grow Self-Trust

Our self trust grows the more we notice how we are feeling after hearing, reading or watching something. Do we feel a little bigger and better about ourselves? Or do we feel less-than if we do not comply with the message?

We need to look inside for our truth rather than blindly striving to follow the latest guru of the day. As our teenage son remarked about my canned "self-help" video given so long ago, "I didn't know you were one of those phony people who go around telling people what to do!"

To be fair to myself those workshops back then were an excellent experience for me, offered with good intention and some pearls. However, at that time I had not come to realize how damaging this continual striving and pushing to do more, be more, change more, is to our precious selves. Back then, I worked over-time to hide my feelings of inadequacy and mostly commandeered my world from my head.

Now, I do my best to live and speak from my heart? to live a much kinder life philosophy. So my heroic friends be kind to yourselves, trust your own inner wisdom, and know you ARE worthy just by being!

Teresa Proudlove has been inspiring, supporting, and guiding over 3000 people upon their career and life work path for over fourteen years - with compassion and heart. Teresa's workshops and writing, offer a deeper understanding and respect for ourselves, for others, and for our lifework path. This entrepreneurial woman also owned and successfully operated two women's retail boutiques for ten years. For over twelve years, Teresa was a well-read newspaper columnist. Visit Teresa at http://www.yourlifework.com; listen to your inner guidance and navigate through life and work with more meaning, acceptance and peace.

---

Today is Yesterdays Tomorrow

The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it... Read More

Have You Voted Today

Huh? You're probably wondering when this article was written, and... Read More

Why My Wife Is My Hero

My name is Chas Brothers. Many of you know me... Read More

Change

Those of you, who can fathom yourselves welcoming and enjoying... Read More

Afraid of The Light?

Plato once said, "It is easy to forgive a small... Read More

Shame and Guilt: A World of Difference

Learning to distinguish between two powerful emotions - superficially very... Read More

Trust Yourself ? The Hero?s Way!

Buying a VCR may not seem like a noteworthy purchase... Read More

Succeed by Whistling While You Work

Mark Twain (1835-1910) believed that having fun is important if... Read More

The Power of One

It was one of those once-in-a-life-time moments. The entire World... Read More

A Brick Wall

Direct Answers - Column for the week of August 18,... Read More

Top 10 Things That Make Life Worthwhile

Below are some of the things that, over the years,... Read More

Consulting Your Soul

Recently I approached a traffic light where a man stood... Read More

Nurture Your Heart

Pregnant with her first child, Jill could barely contain her... Read More

Where Do You Go For Your Intellectual Feast?

(excerpted from Leading an Inspired Life)Pity the man who has... Read More

How to Overcome Loneliness

Nowadays the majority of people live in very large cities.... Read More

The Right Approach

Direct Answers - Column for the week of June 9,... Read More

Teachers Pet

Direct Answers - Column for the week of October 20,... Read More

Are You Afraid of Change?

Change, no matter how you cut it, can certainly be... Read More

Extreme Self Care

EXTREME is not a term usually connected to self-care. Self-care... Read More

Things Happen Without Reason

Sometimes things happen in life for apparently no reason at... Read More

Faith Like a Child

Jonathan:¡§This is my brother, Jonathan¡¨. They walked into the room... Read More

Keeping Your Attitude Up When Circumstances Are Down

Everyone knows that a positive attitude is key to the... Read More

Wisdom of the Worlds Proverbs

You don't have to excavate diamond mines or oil fields... Read More

When Human Beings Take It To The Limit

In life we all have dreams and goals, aspirations to... Read More

Navigating The Squeeze

Today more than ever before, we are witnessing a crises... Read More

Escape into Reality and Find Love

The early months of this year brought major challenges, as... Read More

Everyone Has Been Hurt...Part 3

Continued....When I turned 18 years old, I met a new... Read More

What is the Meaning of Life?

A young man in search of enlightenment had traveled to... Read More

Escape From the Dungeon: Jennifers Survival Story

Have you ever been encountered with a trauma in life... Read More

Virtual Chocolate

A second on your lips forever on your hips never... Read More

Attitude Adjustment

"If you are pained by external things, it is not... Read More

Pattern of Ripples

The Emmaus Journal Pattern of RipplesPicture within your mind an... Read More

Your World Your Way - Trusting Yourself In Business

"It doesn't interest me who you are, or how you... Read More