Analyzing Your Strengths and Weaknesses

We hear about the importance of assessing our strengths and weaknesses in many a success article, and this is an important subject to be sure. A key step in developing personal awareness is to know ourselves – to work with our natural strengths and eliminate or compensate for your weaknesses.*



This is a strength and weakness article with a twist.

Why not, instead of letting others determine and label your strengths and weaknesses, forge your own character by taking stock of what is important to you? What kind of person you want to be, and what traits will help you build yourself into that person, decision by decision?

The truth is, of course, that we all have an endearing combination of character traits and personality features which make us unique and interesting. We are all doing our best to enjoy and make the most of our lives, and we learn and grow at the pace which feels comfortable at any given time.

Even so, it is possible to take conscious control of our growth and learning, as anyone in the personal development field will attest to. This makes life juicy and exciting, and whether for you it means travel and adventure, artistic expression, volunteer work or inner, mind-based exploration, the result is always the same – conscious, choice-based living gives us feelings of accomplishment, fulfillment and the pleasure of growth.

With this in mind, here are some examples of a new type of strength and weakness assessment – my own personal list. Knowing what makes you, specifically, feel strong and weak is another way of looking at the strength and weakness analysis. After all, when you feel strong, centered and true to yourself, you perform your best, you give your best self to the world and you attract the best things to you.

I feel weak if I do the following things. Sometimes the feeling of weakness does not come over me until I have reflected on a situation, and sometimes it is immediate, depending on the circumstances. It is through recognition of these feelings and regrets that I learn what will make me feel wonderful, powerful and true to myself the next time I am faced with a similar choice:

• Break a promise I should have kept to myself or to someone else I know
• Choose conflict over harmony when I have the choice
• Hold on to the treadmill handles
• Take the easy road to avoid a challenge
• Neglect to call or write someone when I ‘should’
• Am lazy...I also feel that not being able to be lazy might be a weakness...I’m working on it!

I feel strong and centred when I do the following things, as examples. Some of these may conflict with the previous list, and that is partially the point! We all experience conflicts in our feelings and intentions, and only by looking honestly at them can we make better choices in the future, leading us to enjoy more happiness and peace of mind.

• Get rid of my list of ‘shoulds’ and decide what I want from inside.
• Step back and look at things from the ‘observer’ point of view and release conflict, the need to be right, and judgement.
• Decide (remember?) I don’t care what people think of me, and just enjoy being me – expressing my joy and fascination without worrying what it looks like to others
• Exercise in some way – whether walking outside, running on the treadmill or doing yoga, exercising my body never fails to make me feel great. I feel ‘back in the groove,’ connected, and whole, like I am doing what’s best for me.
• Take time to enjoy the ‘little’ things, such as listening to great jazz, enjoying fresh flowers, stopping during a walk or drive to enjoy a beautiful view or wildlife.

If we filled our lives with moments of presence – of enjoying what is surrounding us NOW – we would live in perpetual happiness and appreciation. Isn’t that what we all want?...

*Note with profit that while most school systems teach children to try and balance their skills, the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs will tell you that what’s really important is to develop and harness your strengths and forget about your weaknesses. You can hire help to compensate for any weaknesses, but no one can utilize your innate and unique strengths like you can – use them and build them to your advantage!

Recommended:

The Power of NOW by Eckhart Tolle

Personal Development - Worth Every Moment!

If you have just discovered the concept of personal development, you're in for a wild ride.

While the phrase personal development can mean many things and encompass many areas of life, I'll define it as:

The conscious and intentional exploration and development of our individual skills, thoughts, beliefs, tendencies and personality traits in order to improve and enhance our lives, and create and sustain our personally defined versions of happiness, success and abundance.

How's that? I'm sure I could expand on that, but essentially, my version of personal development includes ANYTHING that is part of my conscious sphere and which I notice and want to improve or change.

One beautiful thing about personal development is that when you work on an individual aspect of your life - finances, say, or physical fitness - it affects all the other areas. Changes in perception or habits snowball, and have positive effects on our lives as a whole.

Some examples of this synchronistic effect include:

• Discipline: You have decided that due to a newly made commitment to physical fitness, you will arise each day at 6am and go to the gym. Not only do you have to develop your capacity for wielding your willpower and discipline, this new habit will have far-reaching effects on your lifestyle: you will find yourself more disciplined in other areas, such as spontaneously wanting to file your paperwork or clean out your junk drawers; you will enjoy renewed vigor and confidence, both from the workouts and from your pride in what you're doing; in turn, you will have more energy and time in each day and get more accomplished.


• Awareness: Let us say you are exploring the part you play in your closest relationships. You have decided to take responsibility and change any disharmony by improving your relational skills and by being more appreciative of what you have. After you have swallowed the bitter pill of having been the creator of what you may have been blaming others for, you suddenly realize you are now free to create differently. Not only will this affect your personal level of happiness, but it will affect all of your relationships. You'll be happier, more proactive and more responsive to the needs and moods of those you love. You will find yourself more aware of what is going on around you, which in turn will lead you to notice opportunities you may have missed before, both personally and professionally. You will be open to more things, and in turn you will find new information coming to you which will benefit you.


• Expansion: Imagine you have set a financial goal that is fairly lofty, and you need to develop new skills to achieve it. In the process of pursuing this goal, you will not only be improving your financial situation, but yourself in general. As business mentor Jim Rohn has said his own mentor taught him, "Set a goal to become a millionaire not for the money, but for the person you will have to become to achieve it." Along the way, you will discover many things about yourself - mental blocks and limiting beliefs, holes in your plan and your skillset, unproductive habits and discouraging relationships - and in pursuing your financial goal, you will need to work on these things. In turn, you will yourself feeling more empowered, positive and confident, characteristics which have no choice but to manifest elsewhere in your life.

With just these small examples, you can see that personal development involves a complex, powerful and very exciting journey which is entirely unique to each individual. There is so much you could do that it can seem overwhelming, but know that no exploration can be bad. It;'s all good, and it's all part of being an awakening human being.

Whether you start with an audacious goal or some tiny steps doesn't matter - just start. Personal development can be fun, challenging, frightening, confronting, maddening, exciting, and without a doubt extremely rewarding - it's worth every moment!

What is Love?...

Today is about sharing and spreading warmth that should not be saved for just a couple of 'holidays' in every calendar year. Enjoy and pass it around!!

1) This 'FREE HUGS' video is fantastic, and has been around the blog but is always wonderful to watch.



2) You've probably seen this before, but it's so heartwarming I thought I'd include it here...this way you'll carry that feeling from Valentine's Day on into your week and hopefully your whole life.

When Children Ages 4-8 were asked What Love Is:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and
paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all
the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca - age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving
cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your
French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a
sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of
kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy
and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop
opening presents and listen.'

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a
friend who you hate,'

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
everyday.'

Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still
friends even after they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I
looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and
smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

Cindy - age 8

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

Elaine-age 5

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he
is handsomer than Robert Redford.'

Chris - age 7

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him
alone all day...'

Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old
clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little
stars come out of you.' (what an image)

Karen - age 7

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it But if
you mean it, you should say it a lot.. People forget.'

Jessica - age 8

And the final one:

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was
an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old
gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little
boy said,

'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

P.S. Speaking of love, are you getting married? Check out all the tips and resources at the ALL NEW Wedding-Planning-Makes-Perfect.com!