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What a wonderful feeling it is when we can feel good about who we are'when we can be open and honest with ourselves and with others without the fears of rejection or abandonment'when we can just be ourselves with an appreciation of our own uniqueness and the uniqueness of others. Have we been selling ourselves short? Or are we enjoying the precious experiences that life has to offer? We need to be aware of the possibilities around us and be open to changes for the better. When we change our attitudes and behaviors, our situations change.

Here are some suggestions for enjoying our full potential:

- Change the same old routines. Create an occasional change in the schedule. Drive to work a different way. Eat out during the week. Leave the television off. Do something that will break up the monotony.

- Look at yourself through the eyes of other people. Imagine how your friends, spouse, co-workers and etc see you.

- Learn to look at yourself in an objective way.

- Allow at least twenty minutes of daily quiet time to relax.

- Increase your curiosity about the things around you. Read, travel or get involved in new activities.

- Make a list of fifteen of your strongest qualities or the things in which you excel.

- Make another list of the things in need of improvement. An example would be, 'I need improvement in my leisure skills.'

- Spend time with children and older adults. Children can remind us of our own natural qualities such as trust, persistence and unconditional love. Older adults can share with us their experiences and this will increase our own self-awareness.

- View things in an open-minded way. It is okay to be skeptical in terms of checking out the source, but it needs to be without prejudice.

- Learn to consider how others feel and where they are coming from before criticizing or jumping to conclusions. Other people are attracted to us when we are understanding and respectful to them.

As an overall goal, we need to remove all of the negative things around us which we can and adjust to the things which cannot be removed. We can learn to deal with stress in a positive way. We can also learn to feel good about ourselves and to appreciate the fact that there never was or will be anyone else exactly like us.