Posted on 25 Mar, 2010 -
Self esteem, arthritis and priorities in your life
11 sentences to boost your self esteem
Arthritis: a few tips and thoughts from my coffee table…
Setting priorities to ensure you get done in life what you want to do - not just what you have to do
I have stumbled again this week on one of my favourite quotations of all time by the composer and satirical writer, Samuel Butler:
“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”
It is one of those (many) quotes that I feel I should have stuck in front of me on my wall and that always inspires me to get my work done more quickly and go out and have fun.
In fact, I am trying to put in practice at the moment a new system for prioritising all the too many things I want to, have to and ought to do in a week.
First of all, I start off the week by deciding which couple of work jobs I really HAVE to do this week. This must be an easily achievable goal timewise but include some unpleasant jobs that I will be really relieved to have got out of the way.
Secondly, I next decide, normally daily, which thing I most WANT to do today and MAKE SURE THAT’S GIVEN PRIORITY. (It’s horrifying to think that if you don’t make these things a priority, you often never get round to them...)
Lastly, at least twice a week, I make sure I fit in something to help or bring happiness to others. Those little jobs like ringing my Nan or a friend that seem to get left at the bottom of the To Do list each week - like the crisp packets and banana skins that linger round the footwells of my car…
A couple of substitutes I’ve used for the last one include:
Spend time on that thing you’ve been meaning to get round to but haven’t - whether it’s painting, dating, joining a choir or starting up a second income stream. Force yourself to devote just half an hour or an hour making baby steps of action in the right direction.
Make one scary phone call or make one brave move that will help solve a problem, take a weight off your mind or improve your situation once it’s done.
If you don’t set goals to get done the things that matter, you can end up working hard all week without making any movement forward.
11 sentences to help improve your self esteem
The second stick on your wall and read every day message that I have for you this week comes from a wonderful email I received from reader Keith today with these 11 great reminders (that he suggests sticking to your bathroom mirror and reading every morning!):
1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.
2.. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. You are special and unique.
8. Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.
9.. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.
11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.
Another powerful exercise for improving your self esteem
Another exercise that I believe can be very useful for working on your self esteem is to write a quick description of yourself under the following topics:
Your Height.
Your Body.
Your Looks.
Your Intelligence.
Your Talent.
Your Ambition.
Your Likelihood of Success.
Your Spirituality.
Your Outlook.
Your Aptitude for Happiness.
Your Confidence.
Your Abilities.
The sum total of all you’ve just described is probably a good approximation of your self image as it stands. It’s also a very useful starting point for exploring how you came by your self image, who was involved in forming it for you and whether it’s a fair assessment.
I know clever people who think they’re stupid… attractive people who think they’re ugly… and even short people who think they’re tall!
Try asking yourself the following questions about each of the things you’ve written:
How did I come by this idea of myself being like this? Has it been influenced by things that people in my past have said? By events that have taken place? By my own assessment of myself in the past?
Is this REALLY a fair assessment? Would other people agree with me?
Is it useful to have this opinion?
Is this an opinion I formed a long time ago that I could update now I’m older? (It is important to remember that many of the opinions we hold about ourselves may have been formed when we were much younger and that there is a very good chance we might have changed a lot since then!)
If I changed this image or idea I have of myself would it make my life better or worse?
Do be prepared, however, for some resistance in changing these opinions of yourself. Not only have we become accustomed to seeing ourselves in this way, but in many cases we have come to use our weaknesses or attributes as a kind of excuse for our life. Not being able to blame our fate or bad luck any longer can put a lot more responsibility on ourselves for being in charge of our own lives…
A few final words from my coffee table about arthritis
The last thing I want to tell you about this week is a couple of conversations I’ve had over a cup of coffee this week on the subject of arthritis - a subject I know will (at least one day) be pertinent for most of us.
First of all, I asked a friend who’s a herbalist what she would recommend and the top things she mentioned were Devil’s Claw if there’s inflammation and chondroitin and glucosamine. She did say, though, that pain relief is not a strong area for herbal medicine.
Another friend, however, did report about some great work that’s been done in this area of pain from arthritis by practitioners of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). While nobody is saying that pain is imagined in any way, it is now recognised that the way we think and feel about it and the attitudes we develop towards it can have a significant effect on our experience of it.
A particularly interesting study reported in the Journal of Clinical Sleep found that patients who received CBT for insomnia also experienced a significant reduction in arthritis pain compared to a control group.
A few more tips:
Cherries. From reader John came: “an uncommonly effective help for Arthritis (and gout) is 6 cherries a day, bottled cherries work well and are cheap year round, fresh cherries or cherry juice works well too. It works extremely well, better than other remedies out there (glucosamine & chondroitin, DMSO)...”
Green tea extract. Certain compounds found in green tea, including the polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC), are said to help reduce pain and inflammation - as well as help stopping the destruction of cartilage and abnormal bone growth. In terms of pain relief, it is said to work in much the same way as the NSAIDs known as COX-2 inhibitors.
Take 1,500mg of powdered green tea leaf daily, standardised to 50% polyphenols.
Boron, SAMe and MSM (methyl sulphonyl-methane). These are three other supplements for arthritis that I have read some great things about. Like all these things, it is not a question of ‘take this and your arthritis will go’ so in a way I’m reluctant to describe what they’re saying here unless it paints too positive a picture that will get your hopes up and lead to disappointment. But it is certainly worth taking a look at a couple of the websites that will report further on their use and suitability and see whether you think they’re worth trying. Just put ‘arthritis’ and the name into Google.
