Print Self Image with airSlate SignNow

Print self image

for some time now i've been interested in a discovery about human behavior called self-image psychology you may already be familiar with the self-image idea this is the principle that each of us is controlled by his mental picture of himself if you thought much about it i'm sure you agree that a good self-image is vital to our happiness and to the achievement of our goals in that but if you aren't yet familiar with this new idea let me introduce it by quoting my old friend dr maxwell maltz who said the most important psychological discovery of this century is the discovery of the self-image our self-image is our own conception of the sort of person i am each of us builds a self-image out of his beliefs about himself it's unconsciously formed from past experiences our successes and failures are humiliations and trends it determines the way we interpret other people's reactions to us in short this mental picture we have of ourselves turns out to be a kind of life governing device now that's the most significant part of the whole self-image principle that our mental picture determines our interpretation of everything that goes on about us our reactions to life and other people our feelings thoughts actions even our abilities we are the person we believe ourselves to be if we're anywhere near normal and we're consistently that person in everything now it's interesting isn't it it's exciting too when we realize that our self-image can be changed if for one reason or another we've developed an image that's too limited to prevent our achieving maximum results in life that image can be enlarged improved there's one point to keep in mind here though we can't outgrow the limits we impose on ourselves our thoughts habits even our abilities must be those of the person we believe ourselves to be we can set new limits in place of old ones but we can't surpass the limits of our current self-image there's a story about a wisconsin farmer who was walking through his fields one day when he stumbled upon a little glass jug in his pumpkin patch out of curiosity he poked the young pumpkin through the neck of the jug being careful not to break the vine then he placed his little experiment back on the ground and walked away when harvest time came the farmer was working his way down the row of big white pumpkins when he again came upon the glass jug but this time it looked different picking it up he discovered that the young pumpkin he'd poked inside now completely filled its glass prison having no more room it had stopped growing the farmer broke the jug and held in his hand a runt pumpkin less than half the size of all the other pumpkins and exactly the shape of the jug well people aren't pumpkins but our self-image is something like that jug it determines the size and kind of person we become the similarity ends with the fact that we can remove our self-imposed limitations by enlarging our self-image we form a mental picture of ourselves through experience and we can change that picture the same way through experience if the actual experience we need is not available to us we can according to self-image psychology create that experience synthetically now scientists agree that the human nervous system is incapable of distinguishing between actual experience and the same experience imagined vividly and in complete detail worries a good example of this synthetic experience when a person worries about something he projects himself mentally emotionally even physically into a situation that hasn't even occurred the man who worries intensely about well say failure finds himself experiencing the same reactions that accompany actual failure feelings of anxiety inadequacy and humiliation and eventually headaches and an upset stomach as far as his mind and body are concerned he has failed and if he worries about it long enough if he concentrates on failure intensely enough he will upset himself to the extent that he will fail and he'll get sick now everything can be used in either of two ways positively or negatively constructively or destructively worry is the negative use of creative imagination it's a negative synthetic experience but most people apparently never realize that positive results just as real as the negative results of worry can be achieved through using our imagination constructively our minds are complex and marvelous but like electronic computers they can only act on the data we feed them the man who worries about failure is unwittingly defeating himself he's feeding his mind the wrong data if he spent the same amount of time visualizing success as he spends thinking about failure he could reverse the process of synthetic experience instead of anxiety he could develop confidence self-assurance poise and a feeling of well-being would replace apprehension by concentrating on the success he desires by synthetically experiencing that success he can expand his self-image into that of a person for whom success is normal expected why not practice holding the self-image of the person you most want to become this is the person you can become if you feel you'd like to enlarge your self-image then i'd like to invite you to join me in some image building during the next few weeks listen to this message at least once a day this way you firmly implant in your mind the concept of the self-image use your spare moments to concentrate on your goals and the greatest success you seek analyze your past successes and formulate ways your success can be increased in the future well on the way to work between appointments while waiting to see a client these are all excellent times for directing your attention to positive constructive thoughts put more into the positive use of your imagination than you ever put into its negative views worry you're merely reversing the same creative process now it's working for you instead of against you now since the mind works best when we feed it only one set of instructions do not worry if you can help but during the course of this exercise your creative imagination can enlarge your self-image appreciably in just three weeks and it will if you've just read it nobody pokes us in the grass prisons beyond which we can't grow but all too often almost unknowingly we set unnecessary limits for ourselves by holding a self-image that's restricted inadequate for the full realization of our potentialities each of us is at this moment the product of all his thoughts and experiences and environment up to this point through thought we can control to an almost unbelievable degree both our experience and our environment from here on whether or not we choose to direct our own course through life is entirely up to us the important thing is to know that it can be done this is earl nightingale and thank you