A great step in the exploration towards reclaiming your life is to understand your own personal values. Ask yourself this question: “Who am I?” The focus is on your own uniqueness rather than on the norms of society or who you “should” be. These values express the essence of who you are.

You can get a glimpse of your values by the choices that you make. For example, if you are someone who eats a balanced diet, gets plenty of rest and exercise, you probably are a person who values health. If you make careful choices about your home and garden, you may be someone who values beauty or serenity. If you choose to spend time in meditation or spiritual study, spirituality may be a value.When these values are present they give you a sense of rightness, a sense of wholeness.

Remember that the focus is on who you are. When I explored this, I kept coming up with values that sounded really evolved–but they were not really the ones that created a sense of inner calm for me, though they looked great on paper! I had to go even deeper and listen to what was and is of real importance to me. Use this opportunity to be honest with yourself.

Take some time to notice the choices that you make in your life. What are you drawn to? Who are your close friends? What do you value in these relationships? What do you enjoy doing when you are alone? What do you surround yourself with? Make a list of the values that truly express who you are. For example, I have a list of ten values posted in my office so that I can be reminded of what is important to me.

Once you have created a list, notice where your life illustrates these values. Does your work reveal who you are? If so, how? If not, are there actions you can take that will allow for this self-expression? Do your relationships disclose who you really are? Do you give yourself permission to fully express your values? If so, how? Are there places where you can enhance these values?

When looking at personal values and allowing them to be fully realized in your life, it helps to get support from a person you trust such as a coach, or a neutral friend. Find a person who can assist you in aligning your actions with your values.

Having clarity of your values gives you an excellent place to orient your life towards who you are and who you want to become. It gives you a place to build your personal foundation. Making decisions and setting goals through the vision of your values allows for greater definition and smoother transitions. If you are a person who enjoys creating New Year’s (or any time) resolutions, I encourage you to orient these goals around your values.

I invite you to give yourself permission to honor and express who you truly are!

About the Author:

Lynne has spent years gathering tools to assist others to tap into their inner wisdom. Her work is about ways to accept, love, and honor Self, and to take the great leap of faith into being authentically you! Learn more at her website and her blog

About the Author:

MarieLouise is working as a personal trainer, life coach and author. She is also very skilled as a net worker with several years experience from different MLM companies. http://marielouisefalk.blogspot.com

The first tip is proper breathing. The importance of breathing is crucial to developing self confidence. I am referring to methodical breathing that gives one a sense of physical balance. We all breathe all the time even though we are rarely aware of it. That is why we do not know how to increase the power and capacity of our lungs.

One simple exercise on breathing consists of standing straight with your head turned slightly back. Fill your lungs with air by taking a deep breath and count up to ten before exhaling powerfully. As you exhale, maintain a continuous low hum and be free of any trembling. The purpose of this exercise is to instantaneously provide you with a stimulus before an important encounter. This exercise should be performed twice a day at a minimum of five minutes per session. This deep breathing will develop your lungs over time. You will notice yourself having much less occurrences of being out of breathe and also much more control when you are affected by emotion that accelerates your senses.

The second tip is maintaining effective physical motion. Many people fear that others will ridicule them because of the awkwardness of their physical movements. Other people are embarrassed because of clumsiness in which they cover themselves with ridicule. They then think and focus on this in their minds which causes further constraint in their gestures and mannerisms.

It is very simple to cure this condition. You must make up your mind to conquer this weakness by acquiring ease in all of your movements. Awkwardness occurs only in public. We are never embarrassed alone in the privacy of our home. Like all things, repetition of any act will diminish the emotion that gives rise to it. That is why consistent physical exercises are needed to reprogram one’s outlook on this problem.

You can practice this tip after your breathing exercises. The object is to acquire an easy, relaxed carriage from repetition. One exercise to achieve this is as follows. Expand your chest as far as possible while throwing back your head and extending your arms. Use smooth movements not jerky ones. Try to extend yourself further every time you perform this exercise. As you do this, hollow out the back so it becomes a perfect arch. Next one should walk through a room and focus on keeping their steps of even length and body erect.

The focus of this tip is to remove all jerky and abrupt movements which portray timidity. You will eventually feel relaxed in public and move in a very slow and controlled fashion. This tip alone can increase one’s self worth dramatically.

The third tip is to practice speaking. A forceful speech will always convince an audience. Eloquence is one of the true gifts of self confidence. One major reason for this is that one’s mind is always fixed upon the object he or she wishes to attain by arguments. This eliminates all unnecessary wandering of thoughts.

Clearness of conception will be reflected and poise will manifest itself in someone who no longer feels himself to be the object of laughter or mockery. In addition to mental focus, there is a distinct physical exercise that can give you powerful speech.

Open your mouth as wide as possible and then shut it rapidly. Open it once more to its fullest extent and then shut it to a point where the jaw fatigues. This exercise is used to combat “heavy jaw”. This is a feeling in your jaw that restricts pronunciation of words and causes people to hesitate or feel uncertain about their speech patterns. In addition to this exercise, practice reciting long sentences containing difficult consonants. This will give you the self confidence to speak more fluidly in public.

Begin practicing these tips right away. Remember to focus on your breathing, your posture and your speaking. These tips are simple to apply and integrate in to your daily life.

About the Author:

Joe Czarnecki is a self made entrepreneur who specializes in sales and business development in the automobile and e-commerce industries. Currently, he is a Finance Manager for a Fortune 300 company and owner of a growing niche based e-commerce Company. Joe attributes his success to over 10 years of constant education, experience and faith. To become a member of Joe’s newsletter on all areas of self confidence, visit him at http://www.conquerconfidence.com.

I recently read an article about a family who allowed their teenage daughter to get a boob job because she didn’t like the size of her breasts. The girl was only 16 years old! I am not making a judgment about what this family did–this is more of a discussion about how young people are when these body issues start to sneak in.

I can remember being 13 and already thinking that my body was ugly. 13 years old!!!! I spent many years battling with this voice…never feeling beautiful in my body.

It wasn’t until I was widowed at 30 years old, raising 2 young children, and having braces on my teeth…that I didn’t care any more. During this period in my life, my body was of no concern! It was sort of “just there!”

I had too full a plate to be critical of myself. Plus, I was in such shock and grief that I didn’t have the spare energy to be critical of my body. I was too busy wondering if there was anything I could have done to prevent my husband’s death!

I lost a lot of weight during that time. Though, it wasn’t because I cared about that. Food just tasted like card board. Plus, it took way to much energy to eat and clean all the food out of my braces.

Death, grief and shock (plus having braces) is a great way to loose weight!!!!! I am being facetious here. Though, this was very true for me!

It has been some years since that horrible time…I am in a completely different life! Resiliency is a wonderful thing! Though, the critical voice inside me that says: “Your body is flabby and ugly!” is resilient also.

*So, how do we raise our children to feel good and confident in their bodies?

*How can we as adults appreciate our bodies…no matter where we are physically?

*Is there a way to feel good in a culture that wants the women to look like thin waifs with big boobs? In a culture were men, need to be buff with “6 pack” abs. Whatever the hell that means!

The tricky thing about all of this body issue stuff is that people can not feel healthy in their bodies unless they love their bodies. A body can not thrive in a toxic waste dump of negative thoughts! A body can only thrive when it is fed good stuff…like appreciative thoughts, loving thoughts…gratitude!

So, I would like you to start something! I would like you to speak from a voice of appreciation for your body! Even if the voice of appreciation is a bit of a stretch for you….I want you to try it!

I will start:

I appreciate you, my body, for healing so many things (cuts, scraps, colds and flu’s, etc.) without me doing anything!

I appreciate you, my body, as you support me in increasing my strength. I get out and exercise on the days that I feel well enough…and you respond so well to that!

I appreciate you, my body, for remembering how to create muscle. I am already seeing a difference in my muscles…and I am able to lift and carry bags of weeds without my bladder hurting!

I appreciate you, my body, for loving me so unconditionally…you try to send me love even while I am beating the crap out of you!

I appreciate how patient you are with me…even when I am nasty to you, when I think about how “not enough” you are…you patiently take care of me.

I appreciate you, my body, for continuing to heal, even when I tell you that you are not doing enough!

I appreciate that I can sit here and write to you and not be in pain in this moment!

I appreciate that I am becoming more and more pain free…more and more mobile…more and more flexible and more and more strong!

I appreciate you, my body, for housing my soul…my spirit. Because, without this amazing container, I could not experience this physical world…and on the whole this is a very fantastic place!

Thanks body…you rule!!!!!

Your body would love to hear some kind words!

About the Author:

Lynne has spent years gathering tools to assist others to tap into their inner wisdom. Her work is about ways to accept, love, and honor Self, and to take the great leap of faith into being authentically you! Learn more at her website and her blog

They are driven by external forces and lead lives through others. They wake up in the morning, and hit the floor running: take a shower, get the kids up, say a brief “hello” to their partners, eat some breakfast (maybe), get the kids to school, get to work, spend the next 8 hours doing stuff that they may love or not, pick the kids up, take them to various activities, get home, sigh, prepare dinner, do some laundry, and then-then they crash if they haven’t already! They watch TV, or stare at one page in the novel they have been trying to read for the last two weeks, and it is then time to sleep-yeah! Then they wake up and do it again! Does any of this sound familiar?

The problem with a life so packed with “doing” is there is absolutely no time for “being.” I love the statement “We are human Beings, not human doings.” The only way to develop a strong relationship with your Self is to spend time with yourself. So, that said, let us explore some solutions.

Let’s say that your life looks similar to the life described above. There are many creative ways to etch out time for yourself. One option is to start out small.

For example, after dropping the kids off rather than putting on the radio and thinking about the next thing that you need to do, get quiet instead. Ask yourself “How am I feeling right now?”

If you are feeling anxious about the day, notice and acknowledge this. This brings your attention inward. This brings you into the present.

Take some deep conscious breaths; notice your inner world and then bring your focus to your outer world. Notice the colors around you. Notice the textures of your clothing. Notice the sounds that you hear.

Now, bring your attention back to your inner world again, and ask yourself “How am I feeling in this present moment?” The nifty thing about doing this is it takes only a few minutes. And, this few minutes is a wonderful way to reconnect with the Self.

Now, would you be willing to do this a few times a day? Would you be willing to spend 5 minutes reconnecting with yourself 6 times today? That is 30 minutes! Doing this is a great way to create some space with yourself!

As you begin the process of giving yourself permission to “Be” you will notice subtle and sometimes not so subtle changes. You may begin to notice when you are pumped up on adrenaline. You may notice what brings you moments of joy. You may notice those people in your life that energize you verses those people that are draining. You may begin to feel some clarity around what works in your life and what may need some transformation.

If you feel the need for some support, ask a neutral friend, talk to your partner, or hire a coach. Developing a relationship with your inner being is a powerful step towards reclaiming your life.

About the Author:

Lynne has spent years gathering tools to assist others to tap into their inner wisdom. Her work is about ways to accept, love, and honor Self, and to take the great leap of faith into being authentically you! Learn more at her website and her blog

Let’s be honest: other people’s doubts about you feel rotten. I’ve had coaching clients who blamed all of their lack of progress with a business idea on unsupportive and even hostile family members. “My parents think I’m crazy to leave a good job just to follow a dream that may never come true. And maybe they’re right.”

Does Law of Attraction offer a solution to this quandary? You bet it does.
Each of us is the main character in our own life. The events, circumstances and people we encounter outside of us are reflections of the thoughts and feelings we hold inside of us.

This idea may strike you as odd — I mean, your skeptical mother is always that way, isn’t she? Well, not exactly. Your mother shows up one way to you and quite another way to her old friends from high school, her boss, and her favorite grandchild.

Even your dog can be frisky and friendly with you who love him but standoffish with your sister who is afraid of him.

Flashing neon sign: the way others show up to you has only to do with…you.
Other people’s doubts mirror our own doubts back to us.

When we don’t like what’s showing up, it’s time to stop blaming others and examine how we may be responsible. Law of Attraction reminds us to examine our thoughts and feelings.

How are you secretly doubting yourself? What are your fears about stepping out of your comfort zone?

By looking within, we can usually make the connection between what’s showing up in “other people” and how that’s a mirror to what’s inside us.

Aha. It was me all along.

At the soul level, your skeptical friends aren’t trying to stop you. Their soul purpose is to wake you up to the truth of where you vibrate.

The awareness that it’s about you, not them, opens up a new set of choices about what you prefer to think, feel and attract.

Our new choices cause Law of Attraction to match us up with entirely new experiences.

As you deliberately change your vibration — a skill that anyone can learn — you’re no longer a match to doubt. You radiate confidence and certainty from within. And, surprise, others no longer doubt you.

About the Author:

Andrea Conway, M.Ed., C.C., is a Law of Attraction success coach and marketing consultant helping business owners achieve more while working less. This article is reprinted with permission from her free newsletter. Subscribe at www.successfulselfemployment.com and receive a FREE e-report, “Fire Up Your Business Success.”