Great Scheme

See Yourself

See yourself for who you are: Your journey to becoming a better person starts with understanding who you are at your core. This is about becoming more in tune with your deeper self, so you recognize what riles you up, what makes you happy or sad. How do you deal with your emotions? How do you react when life goes astray?

Take stock of your strengths but also of your weaknesses. What are your negative qualities? What areas do you excel in? What areas do you need to work on in your personal growth and development? When we truly understand ourselves, we can make a conscious effort to improve ourselves and communicate better with others.

Forgive and let go of anger:When we forgive we let go of anger and hostility that eats away at our happiness and clouds our mind. Forgiving someone who has hurt you empowers you to let go of the pain from the past. It doesn’t mean you forget what happened; rather, it means you learn to release resentment and anger, which would otherwise be a burden on your mind and heart.

Releasing negative thoughts allows you to heal emotionally, gives you peace and helps you overcome depression, anxiety and rage that create conflicts within our relationships. Festering anger impacts your mental and physical health, with symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, a weakened immune system and heart disease.

Accept responsibility: Stop blaming others when things don’t go right. A key element in growing as an individual and becoming a better person is learning to accept personal responsibility for your actions, including your behaviors, emotions and failures — everything you have control over.

We often put the blame on others, sometimes so subtly we hardly realize we’re doing it. We make excuses for ourselves and why something isn’t our fault.

You take control of your life when you accept that you alone are responsible for your actions. To take this a step further, ask yourself whether you’re taking responsibility for creating the life you want, for becoming the person you want to be. Or are you just letting life happen and then blaming the world for your failures?

Admit when you are wrong and apologize: When we apologize we show empathy for the wronged person. We acknowledge our mistakes. When we truly try to make amends, we show humility and compassion for those we have hurt. This has the ability to disarm those we mistreated and to heal their emotional wounds, but it can also help us heal. It’s impossible to move beyond a mistake until we admit it to ourselves and to others.

Apologizing allows us to reconnect and move forward. When someone apologizes to us, it’s a chance to see them as imperfect yet vulnerable, and reminds us that we are all human and we all make mistakes.

Be a good listener: Listening to others, and really hearing them out with an open mind, is one of the best things you can do for another person and for yourself. It shows the speaker that you value their opinion. It allows you to develop closer connections to others and hear perspectives you might otherwise dismiss.

We should try to engage in active listening with all the people who surround us, not just those we want to impress. Being an effective listener can change your life for the better by fostering deeper relationships and exposing us to thoughts, ideas and worldviews beyond our own experiences.