Lost in the Sea of Information

By Irene Conlan -

In this technological age, information is at our fingertips – quite literally it’s  just a keystroke away. The question is, how good is the information you receive? Can you count on its validity and reliability? Let’s just talk about information regarding the subject of self improvement and its main topics like self esteem, stress management, anger management, happiness, health, body image, etc. If you read three different articles, for example about improving self esteem you will get three different approaches. If you read articles about nutrition you will get as many opinions as the number of articles you read – everything from eating more apples to taking zinc supplements. (A to Z. Get it?) If you read on happiness you can get every opinion imaginable. And so it goes.

The topics you read in self improvement literature and on blogs such as this one are nebulous at best  and involve a lot of personal opinion, results of trial and error, and untested wisdom. So how do you know what information to trust?

We all have a guidance system within us, but many people are not aware of it. We used to call it conscience – that inner voice that lets us know the difference between right or wrong or gives us signals that danger is ahead.  If you think about it you already know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s that “knowing” or “feeling” that lets you know you need to pay attention or that the decision you’re about to make needs careful scrutiny and consideration. It’s the voice that sometimes screams, “No! This is not right for you.”

Pay attention to it. Trust it. It’s real and it is just for you.

Information and how-to steps regarding self improvement can not be “one size fits all.”  Each of us is a unique, special being – and what works for me may not work for you. You can pick what works for you and leave the rest alone.  If you read or listen to the information carefully and reflect on it thoughtfully you will know whether it is right for you or not.

If I told you, for example, that if you ate five high calorie candy bars each day and washed them down with a soda you would lose weight, you would say, “She’s a nut case.  I’m not going to do that.” Or if I told you that meditating for five hours daily would give you wisdom, you’d shrug it off as bad advice for you because your time is limited.  If I told you the ONLY way to improve your self esteem is to look in the mirror while you recite positive affirmations, something would tell you there was more to it than that and perhaps you should reject the idea.

There is no ONLY way. There are many ways to accomplish the self improvement goals you set for yourself and there are many places to find help.You job is to sift through them and find what works best for you.

One of the places I have found that has the best information that has been tested is in the realm of Positive Psychology. If you haven’t checked out their website you might want to do so and if you haven’t done any of their tests to discover your strengths I highly recommend doing that as well.  Trust your inner guidance on this as well.

You are the expert on you.

Trust that.

Irene Conlan has a master's degree in nursing, with a major in nursing administration and a minor in psychiatric nursing. She taught nursing at Arizona State University, served as Director of Nursing Administration at St. Luke's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix and served as Assistant Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services for the Division of Health Care Facilities and Emergency Medical Services. She is also a certified hypnotherapist with a practice in Scottsdale, AZ. She is an avid blogger and manages http://www.theselfimprovementblog.com http://www.theselfesteemblog.com http://www.thepositivepsychologyblog Irene lives in Scottsdale AZ and has two sons and three grandsons.

Irene has blogged 827 posts here.