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Self-Help, Self-Improvement, Self-Realization, Spirituality, Personal Development, Personal Growth...
Self-Help Articles
What You Need To Know
Before You Can Really Begin
Helping Yourself
Making The Best Use Of Self-Help-Life-Blog.Com
Have you noticed that it is much easier to make the most of an activity if you have a clear and thorough understanding of it before you begin?
Take for example playing softball or driving a car; before you commit yourself to any kind of activity it is always better to have an understanding of it before you begin. This will help you make the best use of it and will also help to cultivate a positive attitude.
It is for this reason that before you begin the process of helping yourself, you should first acquire a clear and thorough understanding of what the term self-help means. What exactly do these words signify? At first glance the answer may seem simple and quite obvious. You already know what the word help means. You use it every day. But do you know what the word self means? What exactly does this word refer to?
When you say, "I want to help myself," what are you referring to? What is the self that you wish to help? In most cases you are referring to your body, mind, and circumstances. On any given day, you are regularly involved in improving the vitality, appearance, or overall condition of one or more of these. These are what you identify with during all of your waking hours. You maintain a very close and enduring relationship with them.
But is this all there is to the word self? Has there ever been a moment in your life that you referred to your self but were not speaking of your body, mind, or circumstances? If you examine your life carefully you will find that there have been many such moments.
Consider the following statements that you may have sometimes spoken:
- "I know in my heart that this is true."
- "I wish you the best from the bottom of my heart."
- "It does my heart good to see you this way."
- "She is very dear to my heart."
- "I love him with all of my heart."
- "My heart wasn"t in my work."
- "I should have followed the urgings of my heart."
- "It touched my heart."
- "My heart is filled with joy."
- "He gave from his heart."
- "I have my heart"s consent."
In each of these statements you are referring to a part of your self that is neither your body, mind, or circumstances. You are referring to this part as your heart. This, of course, does not pertain to the physical organ that pumps blood throughout your body. What you are speaking of is an essential and fundamental part of your self that is not physical in nature. It is hidden from your eyes. You cannot perceive it with any of your senses, yet you know that it exists. It is something that you are aware of because you feel it.
Your heart is the source of your deepest feelings. When you say "I love you" or "I am deeply touched," you are always referring to the feelings of your heart. Although your mind is also capable of feelings, they are never as deep or as pure as those arising from your heart. In most cases, your mind is the source of feelings that are quite emotional, temporary and superficial, such as pleasure, pain, happiness that is short-lived, anger, excitement, sadness, fear, envy, discontentment and so forth. But your heart is the source of faith, devotion, sincerity, commitment and long-standing happiness and love. Nothing that truly arises from your heart is ever superficial.
Another significant difference between your mind and your heart is that your mind contains countless thoughts and is the source of mental reasoning and logic whereas your heart contains no thoughts at all and is the source of intuition and wisdom. This is indicated in the following quotations:
Our faculties are dull and can only comprehend wisdom and serene beauty in crude forms, but the heart of man through intuition, leads us to greater understanding of ourselves and the universe.
Albert Einstein
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in our hearts.
Saint Maximus Confessor
We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole [the heart]; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Over the last several thousand years, many great teachers, saints and scriptures have emphasized the profound importance of the heart. They have spoken of the heart as being the "hub" or "core" of every human being. It is seen as containing the essence of what we are all about. As a matter of fact, everything about our mind, body and circumstances is intimately connected to our heart in the same way that spokes are connected to the hub of a wheel.
It has also been generally understood that the heart, the soul, and the spirit are one and the same. They are all essentially spiritual or mystical in nature. That is to say, they are not of the flesh, are invisible to the eye and are not subject to any kind of decay or death. So when we refer to our heart, we are also referring to our soul and spirit, our innermost self.
It should then come as no surprise that all of the greatest teachers, saints and scriptures have always declared that the heart of a man or woman is not only the dwelling place of wisdom, love, sincerity, and faith but it is also the dwelling place of God Himself. The Lord of the universe lives within our heart. This is the universal teaching of all the greatest teachers who have ever lived. The following quotations give evidence to this truth:
Not only is God in the place where you are, but He is, in a most particular manner, in your heart and in the very center of your spirit.
Saint Francis of Sales
See that you seek God where He is to be sought, in the temple and dwelling-place of the Divine glory, which is your heart and your soul.
Johannes Deck
And when he [Jesus] was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, 'Lo here! or Lo there!' For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."
The Bible (New Testament)
Why do you go to the forest to find God" He lives in all and yet remains distinct. He dwells in you as well, as fragrance resides in a flower or the reflection in a mirror. See Him, therefore, in your own heart.
Guru Tegh Bahadur
He has hidden Himself inside the atom, this Ancient One who resides in the inmost recess of every human heart.
Swami Vivekananda
We are not forced to take wings to find Him, but have only to seek solitude and to look within ourselves.
Saint Teresa of Avila
It is easy to see that the heart is an extremely significant part of your self. As a matter of fact, if you carefully consider what your heart contains----wisdom, intuition, insight, love, sincerity, faith, devotion, lasting happiness, and God Himself----you will easily conclude that your heart is the most important part of your self. Although you cannot live in this world without your body, mind and circumstances, without your heart these parts of your self would become lifeless like the branches of a tree that have been separated from the trunk.
Your heart is the primary life-sustaining force for every other part of your self. Your body, mind and circumstances are intimately connected to it. It supplies the "juice" that maintains your day-to-day existence. This juice is sometimes referred to as your spirit or soul. Without this essential part of your self, nothing about your life would exist.
It is therefore important that before you commit yourself to any activity having to do with self-help, you should first recognize that the self you are referring to is not only your body, mind, and circumstances, but it is also your heart. If you are to help yourself fully and effectively you must always include your heart. It is your heart that is the number one most important aspect of any self-help activity. It is this part of your self that supplies the inspiration, wisdom and determination that ensures a successful completion to your efforts.
Truly speaking, the only reason you need to involve your heart in your self-help activities is not so that you can help or improve it, it is so that your heart can help and improve you. Your heart is perfect just as it is. It has never needed any help or improvement. You may not be aware of this because you are seldom aware of it as it truly is. Instead of being aware of the silence of your heart, you are aware of the thoughts of your mind. These thoughts tend to obscure your heart. They tend to build a wall around it. This is why you sometimes say such statements as "My heart is deeply troubled," "I live with a heavy heart," or "My heart has been broken."
The fact of the matter is, your heart is never really troubled or in need of any help or assistance. It is only your mind that is troubled and in need of assistance. You tend to confuse your heart with your mind. If you would only consider the teachings of the great saints and scriptures that have existed over the centuries, you would come to the conclusion that your heart is perfectly pure and peaceful because it is made of pure spirit and because it is the dwelling place of God.
Your heart is the only part of your self that is always perfect just as it is. This is why it is essential that you include it in any self-help regimen that you involve yourself in. It will ensure that you receive the greatest possible benefit from all of your activities.
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