Look into your soul… Are you caring or a bit selfish? Are you someone who always thinks of yourself, your needs and feelings, but never really consider the feelings and wants of others before making a decision? If this is the case, there is no surprise that building positive relationships with others can be tough!
While it is human nature to want our own way, it is equally important that we are able to compromise and work together with other people. The key here is not getting this confused for selfishness, but rather working together as a team to help achieve certain goals in an efficient manner. It’s definitely something which you can get better at over time as you learn, each day, how to work a little better with others rather than just focusing entirely on achieving your own goals (which isn’t all bad on its own).
So, how can you tell if you are self-serving? Here are six effective ways that can help you determine whether you are selfish or not:
- You like to be in control and you find it hard to compromise.
- You find it hard to share something you have.
- Putting the needs of others as your priority over your own needs is extremely difficult.
- You hear useful criticism as personal attacks.
- You tend to feel bad and your mood suddenly changes when your peers have the attention of everyone.
- You experience difficulties in forgiving someone who offends you.
It’s important to be aware that being self-centered is not the same thing as being mean-spirited or cruel. Narcissism is not directed toward others but rather toward an individual’s viewpoint on his or her own importance or capacity.
Being self-serving is not something that you can inherit. It is a trait that can be learned by any person and these are behaviors we should try and break to improve our lives for the better. When you have to interact with other people, take this time to learn about how you can be less selfish because this will lead to a better mindset in the future of working together with people.
You can always improve yourself. Your skills are not stagnant. No one is perfect, and there is nothing wrong with admitting that you can make a change to improve your life. Beginning to see the value in things like unity and cooperation can be quite difficult for some people, but for someone who doesn’t want to live with regrets – it’s important that you take a step back to reflect on how you might try to improve your character traits because everyone deserves someone to live their life with!
Ways to Overcome Being a Self-Serving Person
People who take care of only their own selfish needs tend to become narrow-minded. This attitude prevents someone from enjoying how great it is when both people cooperate, share, give and have quality relationships. As a result of your attitude, it’s most likely difficult for you to work with others or even interact with people around you because self-serving stops one from recognizing the benefits of uniting with everyone. Today is the day that you figure out what your problem is and make changes for the better!
To overcome this negative attitude, you should follow these steps:
- Change your current way of thinking and embrace changes that will make you a better person. To stop yourself from being self serving, you should focus your attention on the needs and interests of others and not only yours. From now on, you should try to learn how it feels to be helpful and sensitive to people who are really in need of the help you can give. When you care only about yourself, it causes others to feel unsafe and uncared for.
- You must try to understand that while possessions are nice to have, relationships must be valued more. Learn that good relationships and people are more vital than to have material possessions.
- Start being charitable, especially to the needy and poor. You can extend your helping hand to these people through coordinating charities and organizations that support your community. Donating time or money is one of way to overcome selfishness. Why don’t you try to share some of your material possessions? You will surely enjoy that grateful feeling it can bring to you.
- You need to become sensitive to people who surround you. Assist those who might need your help and try to reach out to these people in a rightful and caring way. It will surely help you in keeping your focus off of yourself. This in the end will help you to become a more healthy and whole person mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Effective Cures for Being Self-Serving
The way to breaking down the barrier between yourself and others is by showing consideration to your own self-interest first. Human beings tend to be extremely self-involved in times of conflicts. By being mindful of your own needs, you will gradually be able to take a step back and conduct a more objective analysis regarding your course of action. Empathy is the necessary ingredient that can help us see things from another person’s point of view and experience what they are going through as well. If you simply feel for their plight, then there might just come a time when you are finally able to gain an appreciation for unity and its benefits – which is why we will also share some insights into how one can get started on that endeavor:
Cures for Selfishness
Therapy
Therapy helps you recognize the primary causes of selfishness so that you can put a treatment plan together. Traditional therapy will go over your past experiences to help you better understand the progression of your selfishness. Innovative therapy like balanced emotive attitude therapy is more focused on the ways that many in the present time are contributing toselfish behaviors that are affecting those around you.
This specific form of therapy will help those who are characterized by selfishness to the core realize the importance of self-acceptance – which leads to the ability to have a life that is not based on material wealth or achievement. You learn about yourself without giving yourself conditions that come from an external source and you realize what it’s like to be happy with who you are naturally as a person.
Self-Help Books
Successful self-help books are written by men and women who have personally experienced the problem at hand. Through detailing how they got through tough times, these authors can provide non-judgmental advice to someone struggling with excessive selfishness. They’re able to reach out to those involved with such a struggle due to the fact that they’ve learned how to cope themselves!
When a person reads a book with content that is similar to their lives they will be encouraged to understand and overcome the things that affect them directly. In order to overcome personal issues, one must start looking for advice from authors on the subject today and learn how to let go of self-defeating behaviors.
Spirituality
Spirituality is an escape from self-serving thoughts because many religions emphasize the importance of unselfishness. For instance, Buddhism is based on attaining the transcendent condition of Nirvana which means not being in it for what you can get out of it. The more one gets into spirituality and applies its definition to their life, they will be more susceptible to this ideal form of living.
In contrast to this, Christianity emphasizes that before one can serve God, they must surrender their will and spirit to Him. The first step in loving God is with your mind. If you are selfish and you commit yourself to a spiritual life but don’t change your behavior, it is unlikely that the spirit of Christianity will be sustained in an active way because the proper sacrifices have not been made. A person who is selfish might find that they can’t sustain their old behaviors which will lead to actions centered on assisting others.
Many people decide to procreate because they want the joy and happiness that children bring into their lives. However, some might do so for selfish reasons. Even though this may be the case, most mothers and fathers eventually realize that parenting is tough work and takes over all of their time. Babies and toddlers demand a lot of attention from their mother or father and limit the amount of free time parents have in order to concentrate solely on themselves or succeed in other areas of life.
Raising a child can be an extremely demanding and sometimes thankless task but if you are able to do this, it will likely help the other aspects of your life improve including any bad business habits that could have developed over time. Becoming a parent requires self-sacrifice and helping other people which in turn can relieve and alleviate selfishness, or else one will ultimately start to suffer and become more isolated.
People have gut feelings about certain things from time to time. Something might feel wrong and it’s important not to ignore these hunches. Depending on the severity of the situation, there are ways for you to fix what feels off. At times, there is pleasure in knowing you can change for the better for yourself AND for those around you.
