Self-Improvement

Slowly Coming Out of Hiatus

July 9, 2022 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

*This article contains affiliate links.

Well hello everyone! As you can see I haven’t posted anything at all recently, and that’s because of my unannounced hiatus. There was just so many things that happened in the past couple of years that my weekly writing habit and schedule broke, and I also lost most of my motivation and inspiration to write.

The good news is, I am planning to change that soon. It won’t be an instantaneous change, but there will be a positive change.

Notice: I won’t accept guest posts or answer emails for now. There are still a lot of things I need to settle before then.

What’s next?

I have just started reading a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, and so far it contains a whole lot of useful information on how to learn new good habits as well as how to get rid of bad ones. Of course, reading alone won’t change things for the better. We need to ACT and CHANGE if we want things in our life to improve, and that’s what I intend to do.

While I won’t attempt to make several drastic changes and overwhelm myself, I will attempt to make a lot of small incremental improvements that add up over time. I’ll slowly but surely get back into writing to give useful life-changing lessons for you soon. Stay tuned!

Successful people are simply those with successful habits.
Brian Tracy

On a side note, I’m also working on a new hiking article on my other blog, OneAdventurer.com. That article about Mt. Gulugod-baboy is pretty much done except for some final proofreading. The next thing that may take a lot of time would be the picture edits. If you’re interested in learning about local hiking areas in the Philippines as well as some tips and tricks for beginners, go check out my other blog: OneAdventurer.com!

Three Reasons Why You Should Think about Your Future Self

January 7, 2022 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

(This article contains affiliate links.)

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

There was something about the title Personality isn’t Permanent (by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, PhD) that really got my attention. I didn’t buy it at first, but something about it stayed in my mind. Thankfully, a few months later the digital Kindle version had a huge discount so I bought it right away.

My intuition was right. That book DID contain some extremely valuable lessons on personal growth and self-improvement and I’m very glad to have learned about them.

The main point of the book, if you haven’t guessed from the title, is that our personalities change over time. If you think about it, it’s pretty obvious. How many working adults are the same as who they were back in high school? How many 40-year olds are exactly the same as their 20-year old selves? Most likely very few. Extremely shy introverts can become outgoing leaders, and reckless party animals can become more intellectual and contemplative. Obviously, people mature and grow over time, right?

Think about this though.

How many of us develop some negative personality traits because of some trauma from our childhood? How many of us who have been bullied as kids grow up to become extremely shy and reserved, or become bullies at work? How many of us failed some tests, got scolded by our parents, and had the thought “I’m not very smart” etched into out minds? How many of us couldn’t keep up with other kids at sports and had “I’m not strong or athletic” marked into our self-image? How many abusive adults were the result of their parents abusing them as children?

Are those bad experiences and traumas holding us back from trying new things, such as good habits and hobbies that can improve our lives, because we think the effects of those traumatic events are a part of our personalities and are therefore “permanent”?

That is the most important lesson within that psychology book. We grow and change over time, and we can CONTROL that change. We can choose what part of ourselves we want to change for the better. Nothing in our personalities are permanent—not even our toxic habits and traumas.

We can be more confident, more generous, and more emotionally mature if we really want to. We can be the kind of person who is disciplined and courageous enough to succeed at what we value, such as our careers, relationships, physical and mental health, and more.

To do that, however, we have to imagine what kind of person we want to become. We have to seriously start thinking and planning our future selves.

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A Problem Solving Strategy for When You’re Feeling Stuck in Life

April 28, 2021 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

*This article contains affiliate links.

Some time ago I rented a therapy book by Stacey Freedenthal so I could help a close friend through some very serious life problems. Midway through, I was definitely surprised to find a very useful self-help lesson about problem solving that I’ve talked about before.

Life is inevitably full of problems that we cannot ignore, but sometimes they can get too much for us to handle. When times get really tough, our minds can get stuck on some drastic solutions (like crime or suicide), and when our minds get stuck we not only forget the horrible consequences, we also won’t be able to think about all the other BETTER solutions out there.

If you ever feel stuck in life and all hope seems lost, then here’s a problem solving strategy that you use when facing tough times.

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Why we create short guides

March 8, 2021 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

It’s very important to expand your horizons if you want to open your mind to the possibilities that you can achieve in life, and that’s why I believe reading books and articles about wealth, success, and prosperity is important. Still, we must never forget to stay grounded. Timeless wisdom may be incredibly valuable, but there are times when the things that will help people the most are lessons on how to do the mundane and ordinary.

So why do create short guides? Read more below!

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Thought Habits Matter: Will You be a “Victim” or a “Victor”?

November 16, 2020 by Ray L. 2 Comments

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

One major fact of life that people take for granted is that our thoughts determine our future. Remember, we act on our thoughts and impulses, and our actions can lead to either good or bad consequences. For example, if you seriously start thinking of stealing an expensive cellphone or gadget, you’d go to jail and ruin your future. If, on the other hand, you think of things like starting a business or improving your career, then you might actually become more successful when you act on those things you think about.

Note: Before we continue, I have to make this clear. In this article, being a “victim” isn’t about actual victims of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. This article is about the negative mindset of always making excuses, giving up, and quitting when faced with life’s challenges. Being a “victor” on the other hand is about that positive mindset where you persevere through hardships and keep looking for solutions until you succeed.

There’s a difference between having a “victim” mentality and having a “victor” mentality. Do you know the kind of mindset that you have?

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