You don't have to look down at yourself to be humble.  It doesn't require you to act like a slave and look up at others as your masters.  You don't need to criticize or portray yourself as a miserable pitiful creature in order to be seen as a humble person. 

Humility is simply the absence of a sense of ego.  It is about detaching your self-worth from your surrounding circumstances, possessions, accomplishments, and other things.  Its essential elements include qualities like kindness, patience, and gratitude.  It is a person's ability to look at and treat others as his equal despite his accomplishments and status in society.  It makes a person prudent enough not to be overwhelmed by his own sense of self-importance.

People love humble individuals, but only a few possess humility in character.
 
Here are some pointers that can help you to practice humility:

1. Recognize your qualities and be grateful for them.

Each individual is endowed with qualities and assets that make him unique and different from the others.  Your assets such as your looks, intelligence, charm and other qualities are special gifts.  You have them because they are given to you, you did not work to have them.  This is something that you should be grateful for and not boast about. 

You should also be thankful for the challenges and shortcomings that come your way.  They had given you important lessons and made you learn and continue to grow as a person.

2. Be teachable.

Life is a learning experience from beginning to end.  A humble person should be willing to learn from others no matter what his rank or status in society is.  By being teachable, you are acknowledging your imperfections and you admit that someone is better than you on that particular subject.

3. Always do your best at anything without expecting a reward.

When you commit to do something for someone, always give it your best shot but do not expect to be rewarded for it.  The person who asks you to do it chooses you because he has faith in your ability.  Even the job that you have is an indication of your employer's trust in you.  Trust is an honor that you should be thankful for.

4. Practice kindness anonymously.

Practicing kindness without shouting to the world what you have done is a sign of true humility.  It is an act of showing that your desire to help is bigger than your sense of self-importance.

Humbleness is such a difficult virtue to practice because pride and vanity are all around us. 

But despite this, it is still good to try to practice being humble because it is one attribute that makes people find a true gem in you.

Most of us need motivation at whatever we do.  It makes work easier and lighter and it helps us to see work not as a task but as a way to show our desire and ability to perform.

Motivation is the energy that fuels your enthusiasm to master your job and excel at it.  It is a life-changing force that helps to build self-confidence, optimism and desire to deliver.

Here are some of the factors that can help to motivate people:

1. Employment Security

People who feel that their companies are not stable enough to provide them with job security are not motivated to work their best.  An assurance that their employment is secure and that their contributions are needed for the company's success can motivate them to work at their best.

2. Trust

Trust is a great motivator and it helps people to be confident in themselves.  People who feel that they are trusted become more responsible, and they tend to become more resourceful, creative and dependable.  

3. Success Stories.

Success stories inspire people.  It is a force that can drive people to excellence and motivate them to become better at what they do.  These stories carry hope and they bring to people a message that they can do things if they put their heart to it.

4. Moral Support

People who are down are in desperate need of moral support to keep them going.  They are in need of encouraging words to propel them to act instead of resorting to despair and self-pity.  People find motivation when they realize that there are still individuals who believe in their abilities and potentials.  These can help to get them back on track.

5. Inspiration

Inspiration plays a big role in motivating people to make an important decision to accomplish a goal.  That inspiration could be a person who succeeded in accomplishing his objective after making a similar decision.

Depressed people also need inspiration to help them avoid negative thoughts.  It can help to make them regain confidence and to see the brighter side of life.

These are some of the common factors that can help to motivate people.  Apply them to your loved ones and see how good they can be at what they do.

Criticism is something that we need to respond to with an open mind.  It can help to enable us to get something good from it. 

Dealing with criticism is a skill.  We have to learn to take it with decency and objectivity.  It enables us to face it with grace.  It helps to make us stronger and able to see things from a better perspective.  Here are some suggestions on how you can deal with criticisms in your life:

1. Strive to learn from it.

Most criticisms, no matter how they sound, have some truth in them, and you need to base your response from these truths and not on the way the criticism sounds.  Take criticism as an opportunity for improvement.  They may seem negative but they can help to make you see the things that you need to develop.

2. Look at it with objectivity.

Many people can easily spot faults in things that you do, but not all of them can express it in a tone that won't hurt you.  No matter how it is expressed, it is still criticism, and your best response to it would be to consider its suggestion and not its tone.  If you look at it with objectivity, you will have a chance to become a better person and turn your critics into admirers.

There's wisdom in criticism, you only need to see it with an open mind.

3. Appreciate it.

There is value in criticism because it is one of the keys that can open windows of improvement for us.  Sincere criticism can sometimes make us feel uneasy or uncomfortable, but it is many times better and more valuable than false flattery.

4. Don't take it personally.

A majority of people get offended when they are criticized.  They can not accept criticism even if it is intended to do him good.  If people criticize you for a mistake on something you do, it doesn't mean that you are not good as a person.  You should be able to detach yourself from whatever you do and don't take their criticisms personally.  

5. Learn to identify false criticism.

Some people use criticism to offend and to put others down.  This is one thing that you need to identify because it can bring demoralizing effects.  You will know that criticism is not sincere if it can't be justified.  You should ignore it instead of responding to it.  It can help to let your detractors know that you know their real intentions.

7. Do not react to criticisms immediately.

You need to take some time to evaluate criticisms.  It can help to make you move with prudence.  Responding to them with feelings of anger or resentment might make you do something foolish, and it can cause you more damage. 

Be patient with criticism and give yourself some time to evaluate it.  Meet it with a smile instead; it can help you to relax and ease the tension in the atmosphere.   

It is a shadow that walks with your desire to accomplish and succeed.  It is a whisperer of negative words, an inducer of negative thoughts and a killer of dreams and aspirations.  It urges you to give up and make you believe that things aren't just right, and when you believe it, you're done, for it has triumphed.

Discouragement is one of your greatest enemies for success.  But it is powerless if you don't allow it to linger in your thoughts.  Here are some of the ways that you can do to overcome discouragement:

1. Avoid negative people.

Discouragement is often introduced by people who failed in their own endeavors of life.  Their misery makes them want to bring other people down to their own miserable level.  The old adage that "Misery loves company" is very true in real life.  You can always come across negative people who want to bring you down if you let them.

You have to avoid negative people; they are the closest allies of failure.

2. Think positive.

Positive thinking is one of the best ways to prevent discouragement from getting in.  It is a very powerful thing that you can use to fuel your heart and mind with the desire to perform what you intend to accomplish.

Fortify your plans with positive thoughts and statements.  Do it by compiling positive quotes from successful people.  These will keep the flame of desire burning in your heart.

3. Find an encourager.

An encourager is someone who believes in your capability to accomplish what you intend to do.  He is the person who can keep you moving knowing that someone trusts that you can do it.  An encourager can help to energize you with encouraging words when you need them.

4. Count your blessings.

Discouragement can easily come when you tend to forget your accomplishments.  Don't be deceived by negative statements or your own negative thoughts especially when things are taking a downward turn.  You should remember that no matter how influential of effective a person is, he doesn't get what he wants all the time. 

When you are confronted with difficult situations, you need to look back to your previous successes; they can help to rekindle your desire to fight.  Always remember that discouragement is just a temporary visitor who plays with your emotions.  Don't ever allow it to get the better of you.

It's easy for us to burst into anger when someone gives us a curious look that we cannot understand.  Our temper quickly soars when our children cannot easily understand what we teach them during study sessions.

It's a shame that some of us can't exercise even a bit of patience for the sake of people we love. 

But it's not yet too late.  The fact that we realize how impatient we are makes us open to change.  We can develop patience and we can learn it by consciously practicing it in our daily lives. 

But before practicing it, it would be good to know some of the benefits of patience.  They can help to let you know why it is considered a virtue.

1. It helps individuals to turn their talents into achievements.

Everyone needs patience to turn their talents into great skills.  Even if you have the talent, you cannot excel in what you do if you do not dedicate time and effort to master it. 

You will need patience to overcome the roadblocks on your way to excellence.  Patience can help you to achieve your dreams.

The road to success is long and slippery.  In order to reach your goal, you have to write it and break it down into smaller steps.  Set accomplishment targets for each step and commit to achieve them one by one. By taking one small step at a time, you are already exercising patience.

2. It helps to foster good relationships with your peers and loved ones.

No man stands alone.  One way or another he is related to someone, and that relationship will stand only if there is mutual respect and understanding between the parties. 

Without respect and understanding, this relationship will easily crash because people tend to capitalize on other people's differences.  Patience teaches us to accept other people's flaws and imperfections.  It is the backbone of good relationships.

3. It helps to build empathy.

Patience helps us to understand the feelings of other people.  We will not be able to bridge the gap with others if we are impatient with them.  Patience teaches tolerance, tolerance creates empathy, and empathy wins gratitude. 

All of these boil down to a good relationship with one another. Patience has bridged the gap between us and other people.

4. It helps to promote better health.

In a chaotic world as ours, anger and stress is not uncommon. These things can make people sick.  They are two of the most common causes of sicknesses today. 

People die of heart attack and stroke everyday, and many of these are triggered by anger or stress or both.  Recent research even suggests that that angry people are 150 percent more likely to get cancer than composed folks.

Patience is the line that prevents you from crossing over from calmness to anger – a place where hypertension, ulcer, heart diseases and other ailments await.

By all means you should strive to exercise patience.  It is one of the essential elements of a healthy and happy life.

Remember, people can change, and most of them are only willing to go with you when they can benefit from it.  But when times are tough and life goes uphill, there's a big chance that you will walk with no one but yourself.  You should love yourself for who you are no matter what it takes.

Self-love can be learned in many ways.  We learn our first lessons of self-love from our family.  The way we are loved as children often determine the way we love ourselves as grown ups.  People who were criticized, abused or neglected when they were children have a hard time loving themselves. 

More often than not, parents and family are the ones that create little monsters out of their own children.  This is one of the reasons why there are plenty of misshapen personalities in the world today.

Despite these, hope is not lost because we can change – to realize our self-worth, to claim our rightful place in this world and to love ourselves for who we are.  We can actually learn to love ourselves and there are four ways to do it.  These are:

1. Speaking Out

Honor your needs and feelings by letting other people know your needs, hopes and aspirations as an individual.  Win other people's respect by telling them what makes you happy and what makes you angry or disappointed.  Your needs are not different from other people's needs.  Show love for yourself by honoring and expressing them in the presence of other people.

2. Acting Out

Show love for yourself by acting in accordance with your beliefs, values, and principles.  Action begets change.  You should not wallow in the belief that you are what makes other people happy.  Your mission in life is not to please others but to love and to do good to yourself in the first place.

Change can happen f you can pinpoint the things that you need to alter or transform in your life.  Write them down and formulate the things that you will do to change them, and implement them accordingly, little by little until you can master the act and it becomes spontaneous. 

After you make the change, you need to evaluate how you feel about it.  If you feel that something just doesn't feel right, you need to make adjustments in your goals.

3. Clearing Out

Life is a journey and you don't need much of a burden to do it.  Past hurts and unpleasant experiences are burdens that can slow you down.  Some of them can become clutter that can occupy your space, energy and thoughts. 

Clear yourself from these for they are the origins of negative energy, mental fatigue and emotional burdens.  To do this, you need to make a list of the areas that you need to clear out, beginning from the most important to the least important ones.

4. Setting Out

Setting out refers to the journey that you need to make to follow your dreams, to do the things you love, and to pursue your passions.  It's not about doing things to please other people.  It's about setting your goals and choosing the path that can give your life a greater meaning. 

Loving yourself is doing what you love and loving what you do.  It is the greatest gift you can give to yourself.

Everyone wants to succeed.  In fact, most people even want to dominate.  But strong opposition and unfavorable situations prevent many of us from achieving what we want.  It is perseverance that keeps a few going despite the obstacles.  It is a virtue that helps them make their way to success.

Everyone likes to increase their perseverance, but only a few actually know how to do it.  This article is intended to let you know the 9 factors that can help to raise your perseverance.

1. Take responsibility for yourself.

When you are on the road to success, envy is the normal reaction that you will encounter from people who know you.  Some of them are your friends and members of your family who are afraid of "losing" the former you, and they become critical of your plans. 

If you are overly concerned about what these people might say, you might lose your desire to go on and allow your dreams to just fade away.

Boost your perseverance by finding friends who are supportive of your aspirations.  This can help you to keep moving to realize your goals. 

2. Use positive reinforcement on purpose.

When you watch movies, buy CDs, books and other media for your entertainment, select the ones which can inspire you and uplift your spirit.  As much as possible, avoid those that carry depressing themes; they can only bring you down.

3. Live healthy.

Health is necessary for energy and stamina.  These are two of the basic elements of perseverance.  You should keep yourself healthy to maintain your focus, resilience, optimism and self-confidence, mental clarity, and intensity.   

4. Seek the truth.

Seeking the truth and not what others think is true can help you to make good decisions.  It helps to make you true to yourself.  You lose your will to persevere when your decisions are based on what other people think is true or correct.

6. Learn from the mistakes of others.

Perseverance is not just about going on despite the obstacles.  It also involves avoiding mistakes which were already committed by others.  Making the same mistakes committed by others only reinforces self-disgust and low self-esteem.

Boost your perseverance by getting advice from someone who has done what you're trying to accomplish.

7. Identify and eliminate counterproductive habits that can take you away from focus. These include:

- Complaining
 
- Blowing small issues out of proportion

- Dwelling in the past

- Worrying about things that may never happen

- Worrying about things that you cannot control

- Viewing yourself as a victim

Instead of blaming, complaining or focusing on what you cannot do, shift your attention on what you can do.

8. Forgive yourself and others.

Forgiveness is the only way to let go of negative emotions that you carry around.  These are unnecessary burdens that tend to pull your perseverance down.  They include grudges, disapproval, hatred, and disappointment. 

9. Don't quit.

Refusing to quit is one of the greatest attributes of perseverance. Had Thomas Edison quit after a thousand failures in his attempt to produce electricity, we might be living in a dark, miserable world today.

Despite its good intentions, many people still don't believe in the power of positive thinking.  Some even consider it as sheer nonsense.  But the number of people who believe in positive thinking is growing, although not everyone of them knows how to use it effectively to get results.  It is the reason why it has become the subject of many self-help and self-improvement books.

Here are some of the ways to think positively.  These can help to give you an optimistic outlook in your life.

1. Whatever your endeavors are, it is important to have a sense of direction.  It can help you to get somewhere, and when you know where you're going, prepare for the journey and never give up.

2. Life is not all about what happens to you.  It's what you do with what happens to you that matters.  Life is a matter of choices and you should be prepared for the consequences.  But you should pick what you think is best for yourself.  The best is what makes you happy and fulfilled.  It's your life.  Live it the way you want.

3. If you can help others to cope with their problems, there's no reason why you can't cope with your own.

4. Impossible is a word used by people who are afraid to try.  Always give things a second and third look before you give your case a rest.

5. Trust and believe in yourself.  The more you are determined to do what you desire to accomplish, the nearer your goal becomes.  Self-trust is one secret formula that can drive you to action and bring you to success.

6. Stand for what you believe in despite opposition and obstacles, and do something about them.  Determination will tell you that these barriers are not strong enough to stop you from realizing your dreams.

7. By giving away joy, you will discover that it increases and returns to you.  Keep it for yourself and it will fade away.

8. Every problem has a solution and how you deal with that problem is more important than the problem itself.  Always stay on top of it.  A solution is always there somewhere – if you have the will to find it.

A person with a balanced self exudes sanity, objectivity, neutrality, open-mindedness, fairness and respect for everyone without regard to his or her status in life or society. 

But the hardships of life, our ambitions, our painful experiences and our human frailties makes it difficult for us to achieve a balanced self.  Greed, for one can already alienate us from it.

We need to aspire for a balanced self no matter how hard it could be.  It is the only thing that can make us whole as individuals.

Here are some principles that can help you to achieve a balanced self:

1. Live life in moderation and avoid extremes.  Anything taken in excess is poison.

2. Meet life's tests and challenges with composure and calmness.  Remain humble even in the midst of triumph and success.  Be persistent and don't be easily discouraged by opposition.  Success is sometimes measured by your will and desire to overcome them.

3. Have a balanced state of mind and aim for real and attainable ideals.  Live and enjoy the present moment, it's the only way to savor the times of your life.

4. Be mature and look at situations from a grown-up's perspective.  Don't be ashamed to live a simple life.

5. Act on your dreams.  It's the only way to realize them.  Let your inner self inspire you to reach your goals. Don't be taunted by what other people say.  It's not your duty to please them.

6. Guard yourself against sudden outbursts of emotion and do not jump into conclusions.  Forego your action until you can calmly and fairly balance all the factors involved.

6. Be resilient and have an open mind to change.  Remember that change is the only thing that has the ability to bring progress.  Be flexible like a tree that bends with the wind without breaking.

7. Believe in the healing power of prayer and relaxation.  It can help to renew your energy and creative power to accomplish the task that you have in the present.

8. Work and play, love and worship. You have to live with all these; they are part of a balanced life.

9. Spend time with yourself.  Solitude and silence is the key to unite your body, mind and spirit.  Thank yourself for all your achievements.  Forgive yourself for your mistakes.  Count your blessings.  This will inspire and energize you to accomplish your unfinished goals and objectives.

10. Smile or laugh for every good reason.  Strive to live a happy life.

We all need that something because it can help us to achieve our hearts' desires.  That something is called inspiration.

Inspiration is within us, but it needs to be awakened by factors that surround us.  That factor could be a person, an event, a principle, a scene, a story or something that can motivate us to think and act with passion and a great desire to accomplish despite hindrances and difficulties.

Inspiration is the fuel that keeps the flame of desire burning in your heart.

Here are five things that can help you to find inspiration:

1. Motivational Quotes and Affirmations

Motivational quotes are universal truths that can serve as your guiding principle and fire starter.  When you fee that you are on the edge of your struggles, these will bring back the fire, energy and will in you.

Affirmations are declarations of a positive mindset.  These can help to give you the confidence that you need to succeed.

2. Inspirational Imagery

You can be inspired by seeing scenes and images like the majesty of the mountains, the calmness of the ocean, the beauty of a flower, or even a kind act that you happen to witness.  At other times, you may be inspired by a photograph, a painting or a poster that relates to your personality and outlook in life.

Inspirational scenes and images can help to remind you that despite the chaos, the world is still beautiful.  They can greatly help to ease your tensions especially during stressful times.

3. Role Models

Role models are a great source of inspiration because it is a story of one who's "been there and done that."  Getting inspired by a role model is like following a path that someone has walked on before.  By following that path, you already have an idea where you're going.

But don't just "walk through" that path because it's not as simple as that.  Surely, there are obstacles, thistles and thorns that you need to overcome before you can reach your destination.  You should know how your role model handled them.  This can help to make your journey a bit easier.

4. Inspirational Videos.

Inspirational videos are videos that portray stories, video articles or slideshows that motivate and encourage you to pursue your goals and dreams.  They are made to remind you of your unlimited potential, value, and power to make your dreams come true – if you just believe in yourself.

You can find lots of inspirational and motivational videos for free on YouTube.

These are just a few of the things that can help you to find inspiration.  You can actually find it anywhere because the world is filled with wonderful things, and every minute, amazing things happen.  You just have to open your heart to see them.