If you were lucky enough to read the magazine Omni back in the late 70s or 80s you probably saw the ads in the back of the magazines for things like biofeedback monitors.
The basic idea was that if you were able to monitor things like your pulse, blood pressure, and breathing that you could consciously exert control on these and improve your health. So they sold all sorts of monitors for measuring these things.
Although biofeedback monitors had some real world benefits and did provide some help to some users, some of the other things advertised were somewhat dubious in nature. Ads for healing crystals, magnetic bracelets, courses on releasing your inner energies abounded in the back pages of the magazine. I never really paid them any mind and set them next to things like the x-ray specs of comic books.
But self-help or self-improvement is a huge field. if you go to any modern bookstore you will find isles full of books on topics such as improving your health, finances, relationships, and just making your life better on your own. As with the biofeedback monitor the idea is that if you are able to define the problem and becoming aware of what is causing it, then you can take steps to improve your situation by conscious effort.
In the last few years I’ve devoted my efforts towards self-improvement in several different directions and so far the results have been more than I’ve expected. In fact it’s ridiculously remarkable. It’s good to see the dividends from these efforts finally begin to roll in.
But at the same time I am aware that there are limits to what I can achieve. For example, I am never going to be a world-class marathon runner. I do have plans to run a marathon within the next 2 years (I’m actually hopeful for 2015, but 2016 is more likely) but I know that I will not have a world record time. Why do it then? Because preparing for a marathon gives me an excuse to run and improve my health.
Some might caution me about setting my goals too low. That I should make my expectations open-ended and go out and get as much as I can of any part of life. I suppose that there is something to be said for that.
Right now though I am taking on the goals that I know I can achieve. I want to build upon these small victories and then take bigger gambles. After being at a low ebb for several years my confidence is building and once again I am starting to feel like my old self.
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