First of all, tend to your spirit. Whether or not you are spiritual or religious your spirit is who you are deep down inside at the core. You are the only one who truly can feed your spirit, that core of who you are. Of course, others can do things that help to feed your spirit and that is important. But ultimately, you must love yourself and believe in yourself before you can truly and fully accept the love and belief of others. And imagine the freedom that comes when you are content enough with yourself that when criticism or unkindness comes your way you can say to yourself, “that is their opinion (or problem) and I like myself regardless”. You must put away those things that someone told you that you were not good at, whether it was once or throughout your life. Once you believe in yourself you will find that you have power within you that no one and nothing can squelch. But how does one believe in one’s self? This has to come from within, so what does a person who’s always suffered from a lack of self esteem or self worth do? First of all, you must know that, among other things, you are special. You are amazing. You are good. And you are these things because you are YOU. You are a child of God and when no one else loves or understands you, HE does. If you don’t believe in God, you must understand and truly believe that you have worth! You have worth and you deserve happiness because you are YOU! You are special, amazing, and good. If you doubt any of these things, then make the change required to fully believe in your goodness. Second, set small attainable goals that you can succeed at. As you acquire more belief in your capability, set larger attainable goals with a plan to attain them and follow your plan. As you experience small successes followed by larger successes and combine those with a belief that you have personal worth, your belief of your worth will be replaced by knowledge and, if you continually set new goals for yourself with a plan you follow to achieve those goals you will find that the beliefs that limit or hold you back will fall away and you will begin to see your own greatness. Become the person you want to be instead of hoping that something in your circumstances would change. Every day we must seek to better ourselves. It is not enough to desire to be a better person. We must act on that desire by identifying what we would like to change and come up with a plan (and follow it) to see the change. Start small and always continue in your quest for personal betterment. You will be astounded by the person you see yourself become. Utilize the power of your subconscious mind. Did you know that the non-conscious mind controls 96-98% of our actions? Our beliefs become our reality. If you don’t believe this, try changing some of your beliefs and see if your reality changes along with it. Try this one: Are you being told that the economy sucks? Sure we’re in a recession, just as all things fluctuate. But can you see it as an opportunity or are you manifesting that it must really be bad? First of all, see the great abundance around you; as you do you will see more and more. Be grateful that you have food to eat and a roof over your head. Be grateful to live in a country that economic downturns don’t mean starvation or living with a large family in a one room hut. Be grateful for a vehicle to drive and fuel to put in that vehicle. Consider that much of the world travels by foot or on an animal. The current economy is ideal for the entrepreneur. When your company is being downsized, see it as an opportunity. With the right tools and training, combined with motivation and determination, YOU could be the one offering countless others a career and financial security.