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Life is a never-ending process of self-improvement. You may concentrate on improving your education or climbing the corporate ladder.
But in the race to succeed, the concept of “better” can be lost in the midst of ambition and greed.
As the year is coming to an end, you may want to embark on a journey to better your spirit and become a new version of yourself.
At Indy100, we rounded up a list of 10 easy ways to become the person you want to be in the new year.
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1. Learn to control feelings of anger and jealousy
These feelings are normal in life, but if you are continuously angry or jealous toward others, you will have a hard time finding pleasure.
The physical effects of anger trigger the fight or flight response in the body. It causes the adrenal glands to flood the body with adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormones. As a result, getting angry can increase the chances of heart attack or stroke.
Accepting the behaviours and desires of others, like practicing self-compassion, is a critical step in becoming the type of person you want to be.
Focus on the aspects of life over which you have control and less on the aspects over which you have no influence.
2. Be compassionate to yourself
You must first learn to love yourself before you can learn to love others.
This isn’t the kind of egotistical, self-absorbed love; it’s a love that accepts you for you and that digs deep to find and welcome the skills and values that genuinely define who you are.
Harvard Health Publishing said that self-compassion has many benefits, including lower levels of depression and anxiety.
Remind yourself that you are a caring, compassionate person who is, above all, deserving.
This, when combined with compassionate deeds, will assist you in being more understanding of yourself and others.
3. Stop the criticism of yourself
A 2016 report from Weight Watchers, discovered that women criticised themselves at least eight times a day.
Try carving time out to enjoy and acknowledge your abilities and best qualities, whether internal or external.If you are consistently antagonistic to yourself, it will trickle onto others as well.
One tip to try is writing down when you encounter negative thoughts about yourself.Write what happened, what came to mind and the aftermath of those thoughts.
4. Take a look at your daily routine and make alterations
We can get complacent with ourselves and our life at times. Monotonous routines can trap us in reactive or avoidant behavioural patterns. Without even realising it, you may have developed unhelpful habits.
Experimenting with new routines, such as participating in social activities or seeking out new friendships, can help you discover skills you didn’t realise you possessed.
5. Don’t hesitate to forgive people!
Practicing forgiveness reduces your body’s stress. Holding grudges and dwelling on past wrongs cause your blood pressure and heart rate to rise, whereas dwelling on grudges and past wrongs increases them.
Forgiveness.Shutterstock / StepanPopov
6. Practice gratitude for life
Cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” can boost your mental health, happiness, and outlook on life.
Psychology Today notes that writing in a gratitude journal helps improve sleep and self-esteem.
Savour and appreciate the moments when you’ve had a good cup of coffee or had an insightful conversation with a loved one.
7. Develop more empathy
To feel empathy, one must imagine what it would be like to live life through the eyes, to think as they do and feel as they do. Empathy is more than just understanding others’ behaviors and sensing their emotions.
Being empathic will help you understand other people’s feelings better, bond with them, and feel less isolated. You’ll also learn to treat others with respect.
One thing to try is exposing yourself to people who have different views on life and cultures. The more exposure you have to various people, the less likely you are to hold prejudice or pass judgement.
It’ll put you ahead of many other people, according to one study, many avoid being empathetic because it takes up too much effort.
8. Put attention into people, not inanimate objects
The feelings of being loved or an act of kindness are far more likely to inspire true gratitude than any material possession.
In fact, striving for more material things is often a sign that you are attempting to satisfy some more profound need.
Paying attention more often can help train the brain to stay focused on the things that matter.
9. Explore your talents
It’s often necessary to be persistent and try multiple things until you find one that you are comfortable with. Everyone has a skill or interest that they excel at and genuinely enjoy.
If you don’t believe you have a talent, you probably just haven’t found it yet.
Whether that’s enrolling in a virtual cooking class or picking up a new instrument, don’t hesitate to try!
Once you’ve found your talent, embrace it. Studies show that those with an innate talent for something are hard to compete with.
Woman playing the guitar.Shutterstock / Vivi Ramirez
10. Find things that you love and do them
Despite how much money you make, you won’t be happy if you spend your entire life doing something you hate.
Even if it seems like you can’t make a career out of your favorite hobbies, it’s important at least to devote part of your time to things that you care about.
Overall, as long as you open yourself up to the process of improving yourself, you will continue to learn and grow into the person you envision yourself to be.
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