Overcoming Shyness



Are you shy?
Are you uncomfortable surrounded by people?
Would you want to overcome your shyness?

First things first: There is nothing wrong with being shy as much as there is nothing wrong with being outgoing, either. Shyness is just a plain emotion, not a permanent personality trait. Anyone who is shy has the complete power to change it.

The following are some simple suggestions that can help you overcome your feeling of shyness. It is a feeling. And feelings can be replaced.

Building self-confidence

Self confidence is knowing you are special. Everyone is special, including your favorite celebrity. Being special is having some trait to offer to the world. Your favorite celebrity might be a good singer. Your friend is kind and thoughtful.

How about you? There is always something in you that make you special. Look inside you and find out. Think about it, instead of fixating how you look or sound or dress up. Your being special is the one you should polish and work on.

And whatever your problems with yourself are should not make shy. Everyone has problems too. And they are not shy.

Smiling and getting comfortable

In everything you do, look and act friendly. A smile can work wonders into yourself and that friendly attitude will translate itself into your body language. Your friends will become closer to you and will help you in your work to overcome your shyness.

Smiling is simply a friendly acknowledgment of other people, whether they are friends or complete strangers. It definitely will brighten the day of the person you smiled at. And surprisingly, it will brighten yours, too. Try it.

Visualization

Athletes have a visualization technique. It is simple but very effective. While training months and days before their big events, the first thing they do every morning is sit and relax for about 15 minutes. And they do only one thing: picturing themselves winning their race.

You can do the same. Close your eyes and imagine a situation where you are normally shy. Now, you simply replace that with images where you are confidently dealing with the situation. You can even see the techniques on how you did them in your imagined scenario. Now, do this every day. You will surprise yourself later.

Good posture

Sometimes, it could be our body posture that makes us shy without our knowing it. Good posture and speaking clearly perks up something in us. Standing straight and looking the other person in the eyes sparks a confident note inside us.

We feel secure in what we are talking about and without any prodding, we tend to speak out very clearly because we know that the other person is listening well to us.

No one is watching you

Being self-conscious is the pre-occupation of shy people.

Do you think people are looking at you when you cross the street? Are they pre-occupied with your hair or with the color of your lipstick?

Why not check out if people are looking at others? No one is really watching anyone that intently. That includes you.

Overcoming your shyness takes work, and only you can work it out. Getting a professional help might be good, but in the end, it is you who will do the smiling, the figuring, and the confident walking.

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Confidence Can Fight Shyness



Confidence Can Fight Shyness

Confidence is one thing that enables a person to develop ways on how to keep his or her self motivated at all times despite challenging times and without direct help from other people. Experts say that being confident is a very important factor in a person’s life because this will help him or her see things in a positive way. This will also enable him or her to overcome challenges by developing an attitude that could withstand trials, failures, and even shyness.

If one is able to build self-confidence, he or she will soon develop a good outlook in life and will enable that person to think that everything will start falling into their proper places. In fact, he or she might even be surprised of the things that were able to accomplished in that span of time.

If you are one of those who have just realized the importance of confidence in dealing with shyness and you would want to start but just don?t know how, here are some of the things that can help you:

1. Start with self-reassessment. Many people think that they know themselves already that is why they decline to do self-assessment regularly. Experts say that these people don?t realize that the more that they decline doing self-reassessment, the more that they get stuck to their own routine which leaves them lesser room for improvement. If you want to start with constant self-motivation, it is best that you know yourself very well. If you know yourself well, you will know your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Once you were able to identify all of these, it will be easier for you to set goals for yourself that are within your reach and your capabilities. Knowing one’s self will also enable you to take note of your weaknesses and find ways on how to overcome, manage, and deal with them. The same works for your strengths because you might even find a way on how to improve them. If you are able to do this, you can build self confidence and will enable you to overcome shyness in the long run.

2. Start with small and simple goals. Don?t put too much pressure on yourself. If you are just starting with building self-esteem too overcome shyness, it will be best if you start small and simple so you won’t feel defeat when you weren’t able to meet the standards you have set for yourself. If you start with small and simple things, you are giving yourself the chance to accomplish bigger things ahead.

3. Keep track of your progress. Monitoring how well or bad you are doing in overcoming shyness will help you maneuver things and will help you find ways that would best work for you. For a person who is just starting with his or her overcoming shyness, it is best to keep track of how you are doing so you will know where are the areas that you should improve on. You can do this by keeping a diary about how your day went and writing the things that still make you feel shy towards others and also the things that you are not confident with.

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The Many Benefits of Fish Oil



It’s no secret that the Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils have numerous health benefits, but do you know exactly what those benefits are? Some of us may recall being fed cod liver oil as a child, because even many years ago people were aware of the benefits of fish oil. In the old days, cod liver oil was used to prevent rickets, which was a common health concern, especially in children.

Cod is not the only fish that provides a rich source of this valuable oil. Tuna, salmon, herring, sardines and mackerel also contain oils that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Countries like Japan that have a diet consisting mainly of fish, have lower rates of heart disease, cancer and other ailments such as arthritis and infections. This is probably due to the high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids that are being consumed.

In addition to preventing rickets, adding a fish oil supplement to your diet can benefit you in other ways. It controls cholesterol levels, prevents heart disease and helps the body fight or even prevent some types of cancer. The fatty acids contained in fish oil are also essential for proper brain function. Most people find that taking a fish oil supplement improves cognitive function, enabling them to think more clearly. The effects of fish oil on the brain also include the prevention of depression as well as ADD/ADHD and protection from some of the damage caused by Alzheimer’s.

Important Steps on How to Overcome Shyness



Important Steps on How to Overcome Shyness

It is never too late to find ways on how to overcome shyness. If you are in this position and you think that you badly need help, you must act on it while the urge is strong and you are truly convinced that this is the right way to go. This way, you will be more focused about what you are willing to do to achieve your goal. You must understand that this can be easy but this can also be very hard. It actually depends on how shy you are. If you are painfully shy, you must allot longer period of time to be able to accomplish your goal. You must not be hard on yourself and expect so many changes to happen overnight. This is a process and the first thing that you need to do at this point is research.

Where do you start looking for tips about the matter? You must first understand the roots of this attitude. You can read about the matter on printed books and try to gather as much scientific data about the matter that will open your mind to what led you to have this kind of disposition. You can also look at the internet for this kind of data. If you want facts and figures that are easy to understand, you must search for other people’s experiences regarding this attitude. You will find such entries on personally blogs or even public forums where you can meet people who are still struggling with the attitude and those who have succeeded from overcoming such.

You can always seek the help of professionals to make matters easier on your part. But if you don’t have the money or you think that you can do this on your own, you may want to try the following tasks.

1. Sit down and think about the circumstances. Get ready with a pad and a pen to gather your thoughts. This way, you will be sure that you won’t forget anything and you will be able to address these factors when you are ready to do so. You can do this by drawing a simple graph. The middle part will be you with the attitude problem. You will try to connect your images to the reasons why you think you have developed such attitude. You can extend your thoughts by looking for certain connections what caused the main reasons of your problem to occur. After you have spent time on this task, you will have a better view as to what really caused the problem and so you can focus your thoughts as to how you can counter these.

2. You must also practice ways to enhance your social skills. This doesn’t mean that you would suddenly hit the party scenes and suddenly becomes the center of attraction. You do not have to take such drastic step because you can do this slowly and in accordance to your capabilities. You can start by simply greeting the people you see that you used to ignore because you are to shy to be the first one to even say hi.

Through these simple steps on how to overcome shyness, you are on your way towards growth and success on the goal that you have set for yourself.

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Is Shyness Inborn?



Is Shyness Inborn?

Is shyness hereditary? Is shyness in our genes?

The simple answer is: shyness is not inborn. We do not inherit it from our ancestors or from our parents.

Scientists argue that people are not born shy. This is because shyness has three major features: namely, excessive self-consciousness, excessive negative self-evaluation, and excessive negative self-preoccupation.

These three characteristic features of shyness all have the major component of a sense of selfhood. And based on scientific research, a sense of self in a young person (a baby, if you will) does not develop until approximately 18 months of age.

Since an individual is not born with a sense of self ? but developed only later ? that individual cannot be born shy.

Sense of self

In trying to learn more of the human psyche, some of the world? greatest thinkers in the past (including Charles Darwin) first undertook the search for an individual?s sense of self.

It was Darwin who first proposed that the self?s beginnings is when a child is able to recognize himself or herself in the mirror. Later researches showed the initial signs of the sense of self manifest around six months of age, becoming refined in about over a year.

At around the age of six months, children placed in front of a mirror tend to reach out and touch their image as if it is another child.

The logical question follows: how do we know if the child really recognizes itself or is just reaching out to the mirror image perceived to be someone else?

The scientists then applied a touch of red rouge on the noses of children and placed them in front of mirrors. Eventually, at age 15 to18 months, the children would touch their own noses and not the image in the mirror.

The conclusion would seem to point that children 15 to 18 months of age have already some sense of what their faces should look like and are curious about any variations of it (the red rouge on the nose seen in the mirror).

Inhibited temperament

While there is no evidence of people being born shy, there is evidence that 15 to 20%PRCTG% of babies are born what scientists call as an ?inhibited temperament.?

Generally, temperament is a biological characteristic that people are born with that serves to influence their behavior in their first few months. However, inhibited temperament demonstrates excessive physiological and behavioral reactions to surrounding stimulants.

A baby with an inhibited temperament kicks its legs vigorously, has a higher heart rate, and cries longer and louder when exposed to unpleasant noises like a popping balloon, for instance. Babies not born with inhibited temperament do not exhibit such reactions.

Another example is that two-year-old inhibited children tend to hide behind their parent?s legs upon seeing a stranger. At seven years of age, inhibited children engage in more isolated play rather than playing with other children.

This is when such behaviors are labeled by parents and everyone else as ?shyness?.
However, these behavioral expressions of inhibited temperament do not mean that such children will grow up to be shy adults.

The idea that people are born shy is just a belief on shyness, and is not a supported fact. There are many documented cases where shy individuals are able to surmount their shyness and become regular guys.

Shyness is definitely not inborn.

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Motivation As Key To Overcome Shyness



Motivation As Key To Overcome Shyness

Shyness is one of the major reasons why there are so many people who are unhappy in this world. Because of being shy, many people are not able to get the job that they want or meet others who they are interested with. Although shyness is a natural part of an individual’s personality, something should be done about it if it affects the entire well being of the person.

Seeing yourself

Although motivation from other people can be a good start in building a positive attitude in life and overcome shyness, this might not be applicable to all people especially to those who prefer to do things on their own.

If you are one of these people who would rather do things on his or her own, then now is the time to realize how big self-motivation can create in your life. Experts say that if one starts with the process of self-motivation to fight shyness now, it will be easier for them to accomplish greater things for themselves and for the people that they love in the future.

Experts agree that for one to overcome shyness and be successful in life, motivation is very essential. This is because knowing how to motivate yourself would help you deal with challenges that would come along the way. It will also serve as an inspiration that would keep your spirit high no matter how trying the times are.

Although there are countless advantages of motivation, it’s saddening to think that many people still don’t know how to adhere with it. For those who would want to start with motivation to deal with shyness, here are some tips that can help you get started with this.

1. Discover your cause or purpose in life. Indeed, the most powerful thing that can help a person get started with overcoming shyness is discovering your cause or your purpose in life. Once you were able to do this, you can find the reason in your heart why do you want to be motivated. The reason maybe for the betterment of your own self or for your family and others but no matter what it is, what?s important is you have something to hold on to in setting goals that you would want to achieve in the future.

2. Have a dream and hold on to it. Overcoming shyness is a not an easy task to start with. It would require lots of efforts and self-assessment to be able to maximize its full potentials. For people who would want to reap the benefits of overcoming shyness, use motivation now by having a dream that they could hold on to. The scale or the size of that dream doesn?t matter, it can be a big thing or a small thing, what’s important is the person is willing to do everything to achieve that dream. For some people, having big dreams work on them because they are looking forward to big rewards in the future that is why they are giving their best this early.

While some people opt to have small dreams because they want to make sure that they will be able to accomplish that dream and won’t have to deal with defeat or failure in the future.

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How to Overcome Social Shyness



How to Overcome Social Shyness

If you are inflicted with social shyness, it is high time that you do something about it before it becomes too late. You must realize that you have been missing out on so many things already. You could have done so many things and experienced bigger happenings if you have only done something to let yourself break free from such attitude. If you are not going to do something about it, you might end up thinking about the things that you wish you could have done if only you had the guts to do them. If you are the kind of person who hates the crowd and would do everything to miss out on events and parties where you will meet a lot of people, do you ever wonder how would it be like if you weren’t that shy?

There are many negative effects that may be caused by this attitude. First and foremost, you are limiting your world to the circle of friends that you have already grown accustomed with. You are too afraid to expand the circle by making the effort to approach people and initiate conversations. If you will allow this to happen for a long time, you will also be limiting the possibilities of learning something new from the experiences that you have failed to try.

If you are facing this kind of dilemma, it is high time that you do something about it. If you feel like you cannot do this on your own, you better seek help of professionals who can guide you through the process until you have solved the mystery on how you were able to develop such attitude. They can also help you plan out the procedures that you can try to be able slowly step up from the attitude until you have gathered more self-esteem and confidence.

You can also do this on your own as long as you are determined about what you want to achieve and you are focused that you will stay true to the plans that you have set your mind to do. Here are some things that you can start doing on your own to help you with regards to this kind of venture.

1. Gather self-help books that you must diligently read whenever you have free time. You will be able to find many tips that you can use for your own good. You can also find related tips online. Browse through various websites that offer help for this kind of problem or you may also want to check personal blogs of people who can attest that they have become triumphant over such situation and list out the ways on how they were able to do such.

2. Start going out to places or gatherings where you will be exposed to more people. You don’t have to speak to all of them in one night. You have to take things slow in countering your social shyness. Start with someone you feel like you will have something in common so that it will be easier for you to think about the topic that you can use to start a conversation with them.

After you have said you introduction, just go with the flow and enjoy the process. Do not be too rigid because you might end up looking like you are trying so hard.

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How To Prevent Shyness In Children



How To Prevent Shyness In Children

Like all other character traits, shyness begins at a young age in children. Left on their own, the children might bring this trait over to adulthood. In many cases, however, shyness can be prevented with the timely intervention of parents and family.

Here are some tips that parents can do to wrest shyness away from their children.

Modeling confidence

Shy parents often have shy children. Parents, consciously or otherwise, stand as models for their children. They should show their children how they interact and express themselves with confidence with other people.

Social skills

Children need to be taught social skills at a very young age. Parents should teach their children how to behave in social situations (saying thank you and please, introducing oneself, etc.) and how to make friends and keep them. It is good to praise them when they show correct social behaviors.

Effective communications

Communicating with others is a very important skill to impart to children. It develops their self-esteem and builds their confidence. Parents should teach them how to express themselves to be understood by others.

Again, parents can set themselves as models on how to communicate confidently. Like always, children learn by example.

Social exposures

Exposing children to varied social situations can polish their personalities. Parents can start having them interact with children their age (schools and play groups) as well as letting them meet up with adults.

Decision-making

Parents can manipulate some situations to make their children feel capable. One way is encouraging them to make decisions (like what they want to wear given a choice of clothes).

Another is giving them chores that are challenging but well within their abilities. (Young girls can be encouraged to help prepare tables or food for cooking, etc.) In all instances, parents should always be there for guidance and help.

Appropriate discipline

The right weight of discipline gives foundation to children?s lives. It allows them to learn acceptable behaviors and those that are not. It helps teach them what to expect from their parents and everyone, and this gives them the feeling of security.

Excessive discipline, however, can swing the wrong way. Severe punishment in the name of discipline tells children they have no control of their lives, and this might result in shyness.

Love and affection

Unconditional love and affection for your children gives them security and confidence. Show them, tell them in words, and give it all in action that you love them no matter what. This assurance of affection is one big factor that boosts self-esteem in children.

Trust

One big cause of shyness in children is mistrust of others. Parents should work hard to create a trusting relationship with their children. This trusting relationship has to be nurtured with consistency, honesty and openness so the children would know what to expect.

Inconsistent behavior, broken promises, lies, withheld information ? these things destroy trust, and consequently, a child?s self-esteem. They will become secretive themselves and shyness sets in.

Basically, all these tips can be a big help in nurturing your children away from being shy and leading them into becoming confident personalities who can express themselves. Self-confidence has degrees like shyness has degrees, too. You would know how to prevent shyness in your children when you see it.

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Dealing With Shyness Through Self-Motivation



Dealing With Shyness Through Self-Motivation

Shyness is one of the hardest issues that a person must deal with. This is because fighting shyness would require an overall assessment of one’s self?among others?to become successful

Experts say that one of the easiest ways to start dealing with shyness is through self-motivation. Indeed, motivation keeps people moving. This is one thing that helps them achieve goals that they have set for themselves. However, not all people are able to motivate themselves easily. There are those that who rely or depend on other people or experiences just to keep them going. Although getting motivation from other people or experiences might work, it is best if one learns how to motivate himself or herself on their own.

Getting started

Motivating one’s self is a process where one needs lots of reflection and self-assessment. These are very important in dealing with shyness because it will help the person to know what are his or her strengths as well as his or her weaknesses. If one knows of his or her strengths, that person will be able to continue what he or she is doing and even enhance it.

On the other hand, knowing one’s weaknesses is as equally as important because through this, the person will know what the areas he or she should improve on. If one knows his or her weaknesses, he or she might be able to deal with shyness easily and can even turn these into opportunities that will make him or her successful in the future.

If you are one of those who would want to get started on self-motivation to deal with shyness, the first thing that you need to set your mind into it. By having a mindset that you would want to get started on self-motivation and stick with it until you are successful, you will be inspired to overcome the feelings and hesitations you have. Setting your mind into something will help you look forward to the results of what you are aiming for. For you to have a proper mindset, it is best to clear your mind from negative thoughts so you can think clearly. Once you have done this, you will have an idea where to start with self-motivation.

The next best thing to do is to start with small and simple tasks in dealing with shyness. Overcoming shyness might be easy for some but for others, this is a very difficult feat to achieve. For people who feel that starting with self-motivation to deal with shyness, this can be overwhelming. So, the best way is to start with small and simple goals to achieve. If one starts small and simple, he or she will be able to accomplish these goals the easier and faster way. If simple goals are set and achieved this early, you will be able to earn self-confidence that you will need in facing greater and bigger challenges ahead of you.

Experts agree that self-motivation is a very important factor for people who are aiming to overcome shyness for good. This is also important because it gives the person a sense of freedom in choosing paths that he or she has to take. Through self-motivation, people are given the chance to maneuver or control their own lives which in the future will help them be the best persons that they want to be.

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How To Help A Friend In Overcoming Shyness



How To Help A Friend In Overcoming Shyness

Shyness is one of those issues that are hard to deal with alone. This is why it is important for shy people to have friends help them in overcoming this issue.

If you know a friend who is at risk or who already have fears in dealing with others, you can help him or her to overcome that. What you can do is to act as a confidante during conversations as often as possible. Since he or she trusts you, you can try to explain to your friend that although the fears of untoward incidents may happen when dealing with others, these don?t take place all the time.

Acting as the confidante

If your friend is in crowd, it would be best if you accompany him or her so your friend can have somebody to turn to once the nervousness gripping his or her senses. If you are in the same social event with a friend who is trying to overcome shyness, here are some of the things that you can do:

- Familiarize yourself about shyness. If you have time, you can do this research by surfing various sites in the Internet. If it is possible for you to research with him or her, it would be better because here, information about shyness and studies or statistics as well as various relaxation techniques is taught to help people understand the shyness itself.

- Make sure that you know the people who are attending a specific social gathering. Knowing details about the people who are attending the party might seem an extra effort for you but you have to do this because your friend will rely on you during the gathering. You can check from party organizer event details and you will know what to tell your friend. The information and your presence will help your friend be more comfortable and relaxed knowing that she or he doesn?t have to worry about anything anymore.

- Keep your friend distracted. Since your friend is shy, it is only natural for him or her to feel nervousness and even physical symptoms such as dizziness, muscle tensions, deep breathing and even vomiting if placed in a crowd that triggers shyness. If you see one or two of these symptoms, you should start distracting her or him by talking to her about things that are light. If you do this, you can veer him or her away from negative thoughts.

- Stop him or her from consuming stimulants. Some of these are taken by people who are extremely shy to calm them down. These stimulants may include sugar, coffee and other drinks that may contain alcohol. Tell your friend that it would be best not to take these since they contain ingredients that may increase the symptoms of anxiety as well as panic attacks.

- Make sure that you both arrive in the gathering early. One of most effective ways of helping a friend in overcoming shyness is getting at the party venue at least an hour before it starts. By doing this, you can buy more time to relax and just enjoy the event. It is best not to go there late because it will only cause a feeling of rush that may trigger anxiety that causes shyness.

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