Personal Growth Planet Blog

What does your inner fire feel like to you? It’s different for us all.

There are definite sensations in the body, mind and spirit.

My inner fire feels like wide awake, energized, excited about whatever I am doing, pumped up, full of ideas, fully alive and open to possibility. It might not last too long, but those fiery moments are intense and uplifting.

The whole notion of “inner fire” might initially seem trite or cliche, but it’s absolutely essential. Think about a life of dullness, boredom, apathy, no feeling and nonexistent drive.

Over the weekend I attended a fabulous concert by the band Fitz and the Tantrums. It was a sold out show and the venue was general admission, standing room only. This means lots of people (many drunk or otherwise inebriated) crammed together enjoying the music.

We purposely arrived early to the show so that we could get a choice spot to stand. Mid-way through the concert, a woman forcefully barged in between me and another woman, shoving us both to the side.

I recently read about one woman’s challenge to not look at herself in a mirror for a full year. Kjerstin Gruys, a sociologist, wants women to re-think body image and to question portrayals of women’s beauty in the media.

What made this challenge even more daunting is that Gruys planned and prepared for her own wedding during this year of no mirrors. Gruys and her fiance were married recently, by the way.

While I applaud the statement that Gruys is making with her year of no mirrors, I have to wonder…

Is the mirror really the problem after all?

Let’s face it. Judgments of any kind have the potential to quickly turn ugly.

Most of us were raised to believe that certain behaviors, actions, ways of living and even people are good while others are bad. The stuff of morals and ethics is based on a clear differentiation between good and bad.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this.

Each one of us makes judgments all of the time. These are the day-to-day decisions about what we prefer and what we don’t prefer. It’s natural, normal and part of the business of being an expansive human being that leads us to know what is and is not okay for each person.

To be called “selfish,” is rarely a compliment.

In the dictionary, the word is defined as: self-serving, self-interested, stingy, egotistical and more. None of these descriptions have any morsel of positive connotation either.

I grew up an only child and I totally cringe when I hear another person drag out that tired stereotype of the spoiled and selfish only child.

But, what if being selfish wasn’t such a detestable and shame-worthy thing after all?

What if being selfish was actually just the way that we all are– when we really admit it? And what if owning our own selfish-nesses helped make this world a better place?

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”- Albert Einstein

No matter how many wise and witty quotes I read about the value– even the necessity– of making mistakes in life, it’s still uncomfortable and sometimes painful for me when they happen.

There have got to be very few people in this world who actually enjoy making mistakes.

Even the most laid-back, easy-going souls among us probably cringe when they say the “wrong” thing, drop a plate full of food on someone’s white carpeting, forget an important deadline or some other blunder among the millions of possible blunders a person could make.

By Amy Phillips-Gary

We've all heard about (or lived with) the stereotypical teenager.

As young people navigate that threshold between being a child and an adult, there are those angst-filled, confidence-testing and sometimes downright harrowing years that fall roughly between the ages of 13 and 18-- give or take a few years.

I live with a wonderful teen. He is loving, caring and sensitive-- at times. He can also seem, to me, to be difficult, stubborn, disrespectful and even arrogant-- at times.

The thing about teenagers is there are occasions that they seem to know each and every button to push to make you crazy.