James Smith’s Info Serv

Author: Tracey Mulry

Self esteem is how you feel about who you are and your self-worth. There are many aspects to take into consideration. Consider the below questions and answer honestly…

• How do you really feel about who you are?

• Do you totally trust yourself?

• Are you honest with how you see myself?

• Do you care what other people think about you?

• Does your ego create something you are not in order to impress others?

• Do material possessions create a sense of false sense of wellbeing?

• In debt to keep up with the Jones?

These are just a few examples because when self esteem is high, the opinions of others do not come into the equation. If you truly like yourself, dare I say love yourself, no outside equation or experience can rattle you. You understand that life will always throw things that aren’t desirable your way but you also understand that it is not a direct hit on you. Life is life. When you trust in this and trust in yourself, you find a deep sense of peace within.
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Author: Tracey Mulry

The opinions of other people have the ability to inflict great pain and suffering on how you feel about yourself. The truth is – it is irrelevant.

There is only person whose opinion matters. That person can make or break how you feel or think about yourself. Guilt can lead to decisions and regret. Actions once done cannot be uncreated. To live life in the rear vision mirror is one of the challenges faced when creating and designing a new life that includes happiness.

There are many steps in the process of moving forward that include living in the here and now. Changing how those memories are viewed is just the start. It is important to remember that it is impossible to be happy ALL of the time!

It is the solid foundation of inner peace that you want to create. Once you establish this solid foundation, tough situations may throw off your balance, but it is much easier to regain equilibrium and return to place of internal happiness.
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Author: Kenton Bruice M.D.

There are many things that can bring a mature person down, and one of the most important ones is the Empty Nest Syndrome. You may find yourself crying for no reason; days seem endless and empty; you may feel useless, and forget about friends and the things you love to do… in a few words, life has stopped. This is how this syndrome may manifest itself in your life right after your children leave home, and they don’t need you on a daily basis anymore.

The Empty Nest Syndrome is especially strong in the case of parents who have a very strong bond with their children and have sacrificed their personal lives for a long time to take care of them. The parents’ lives normally revolve around the children and their activities, making it a shock when they leave home to start their own lives.

Do not despair! There are ways to avoid falling into the dark void this syndrome presents, and live your own life fully and happily, sharing it with your grown up children instead of subordinating yourself to them.
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Author: Doug Wilson

Most of the time we hear questions like, “Who am I?”, “What am I doing here?”, “What is the purpose of all this…?” and so on. When thinking about these more common questions it’s helpful to also think about the latter - Where am I? This will lead us in the direction of another good question - What am I?

We ask these questions and we are led to certain concepts. They aren’t answers yet. Think of concepts as the scientist (real scientists) thinks of a hypothesis. Science starts with a hypothesis and seeks to disprove it. If after a certain amount of tests over a certain period of time the hypothesis is not disproved it may be moved up a level to a theory. At some point it may become a law. This law is never supposed to be a sort of “Scientific Gospel”. We should use it - only until it fails to predict or “pan out”. Until it doesn’t interface with the whole system.

So we search - we run across concepts which, almost exclusively, someone else has run across before. Someone has been where we are (if not everyone) and through whatever study or practice has found something out. These get written down and passed along and then, right when we need them, we find them. But we would do well not to look on them as answers. We’ll get more out of our search if we view them all as concepts. Now we can practice the concept. We can put it to the test.

I ran across something the other day while reading and I want to include it here:
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Author: Dan Symeon

Ah, our past. If it were not for our memory, the past wouldn’t exist….right? The older we grow, the more memories we have of the good, bad and the ugly. I’ve had the pleasure of more good than ugly, but then again, I intentionally forget what I wish not to remember. How convenient you might be thinking… Yes, it’s a practice I use to let-go of any anchor memories that might be slowing down my ship.

Our minds do an amazing job at seeking out what we focus our attention on. The tricky part about this process is that words of negation are excluded from the “search engine” that is our minds. That is to say, if you think silently and consistently don’t worry about stress, don’t worry about stress, don’t …The mind processes “worry about stress”. The “don’t” is a negating word that the mind doesn’t use. So, in this example our mind will seek out reasons to worry about stress.

Thinking of a past memory (remembering) and projecting a future event (visualizing) are exactly the same to the mind. As far as the mind is concerned, if you’re dreaming of something you wish to happen, it processes these images the same as though they already happened. The more you bring them to the forefront of your awareness, the more priority they receive.

So how can all this help deal with past issues?
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