Self-help for motivation plays the key role as a person knows more about himself than others. It is not mandatory that self-help relies on taking ideas from others while performing some tasks. There are adequate books to encourage and practice self-help for motivation.

Books such as `The Secret` of Rhonda Byrne have created a buzz in the media and are marketed well as it promises abundance of happiness. This book focuses on thinking positively, desiring for a goal like a magnet and using the law of attraction to get closer to your dreams. Rhonda Byre is a hit and is worth reading as it has skillful numbers of self-help gurus as well as motivational speakers who contribute their positive thinking. Though, these ideas may have appeared in thousands of other books, The Secret has presented it in such a way that the reader will understand the need of self-help for motivation clearly.

The book `Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling` of Wayne Dyer gives an insight of looking inside for self-help for motivation other than looking outside. This book encourages its readers to seek the non-physical self for motivation and to work goal oriented. Motivation is the result of the inspiration coming from inside, the self-help and this has an infinite power to shower peace and to remain contented with the current life. Wayne Dyer takes down to the path of spirituality, but yet promotes self-help for motivation and is enjoyable to read.

The book `A New Earth: Awakening to your life`s purpose` of Eckhart Tolle is highly popular and million of copies keep selling daily. This can be read by anyone as Tolle discusses about ego, body pain, self and awakening to meet the purpose of life. He points out that intense self awareness brings positive changes and this book offers some practical solutions to reach the hopes and dreams. A New Earth fills the reader with ideas and induces to work to self-help for motivation. This book unconsciously enhances the identity and with this association the object is reached easily.

The `Power of Now` is another book of Eckhart Tolle that reveals an honest spiritual awakening to attain peace and happiness. He focuses the concept of now in the book and suggests to stop thinking about the happenings of yesterday or what will happen tomorrow and to only consider now, that is real and this will be a great escalation to self-help for motivation. This book is easy to understand and encourages the reader to think of now.

The book `Awaken the Giant Within` of Anthony Robbins covers various topics and goal setting, besides personal finance as well as relationships. This book tells how to control mind, emotion, physical as well as financial destiny. This book is entertaining and informative and makes positive changes on the reader. He states that even a tough decision may take a great time, but a person feels tremendous relief on taking it and this helps self-help for motivation to accomplish any challenge.

Motivation is something that may drive a person towards success, and it is crucial to possess an inner motivation to view life in an optimistic way. As every person is different from another, self help to motivation also varies based on the priorities, as something that is motivating to you, may not catch the interest of the other. Motivation is not easy, as identifying it in you and the requirement you want in life sometimes is tough to figure out. However, putting the facts ahead and taking charge of the reins is the right attitude to boost motivation.

A very important thing to motivation is to ensure a healthy self worth dose and to figure out personal motivators by asking them to work for you. Believing in your own self and abilities, without creating any artificial limitations, and thereby enhancing your potentials is the right path to self help to motivation. For a motivated person the determination should be stronger, and hence being detoured owing to discouragement or minor challenges coming along the way is less likely.

Self help to motivation stems a good feeling and increases the self esteem. These are some of the critical components that is inside every person, and the significant point is to take time to peep inside as well as to unleash your potentials. For a happy as well as successful life, motivation is a must to accomplish success in life. This is accomplished by knowing the desires in life such as what and how you want things in life and this leads to motivation. Similarly, being enveloped with positive people who really care and love you is very essential to acquire success. If you have a negative environment, it is certain to affect the performance and will loosen the grip of motivation.

Setting goals make people more positive and motivated to work towards it and the moment one views success of accomplishing things in life as per the desire; they stay motivated to do more things. Self help to motivation has its main foundation in self believing, and having a low self-esteem affects the life negatively. Taking the lead and challenging it with full motivation is possible only when a person is prepared to accept self help. Similarly, to stay motivated read positive books as it assists in growing in leaps and bonds.

There are times when people feel things are out of control, hopeless and the motivation spirit seems to be disappearing. This is the time for keeping in mind how to react properly and forcefully, which shall lead to the right path to motivation. Identify the positive concepts and pinpoint the questions to yourself and start answering them, and thereby you will realize that this is an authentic way to self help to motivation, even in bad situations. On realizing the slight glimmering hope, start digging underneath and identify the source of worry and face it boldly with safety and self-respect.

Motivation is to face any hindrance and to be in action, even if it is small, is the surest way to hold your head strong and to move in the desired direction. Such motivation will never let you fall and this all depends on your attitude. Staying always motivated is tough, but with self help support retaining the motivation should be strong.

So all right you have this tendency to pick up a book whenever you have some free time in your hand. You cannot go anywhere without putting a book in your bag to be browsed when you are traveling. That is why you are definitely going to be extremely happy to know that many authors who were previously gone out of print have now made a comeback. They are now available in the shape of downloadable books. All you have to do is go online and look for places where you can get your favorite authors in downloadable book form. Free self help eBooks and downloadable books are getting to be extremely popular because you do not have to worry about your favorite author getting his book out in print just once a year. You know that he is going to tell you everything about the particular topic you enjoy reading. But thanks to downloadable books in e-book format you are going to find that particular author coming back again and again with all his previous book versions available on the Internet. You have to have an E. book reader to read your favorite others but once you have bought an e- book reader you are definitely going to enjoy amazing new genres and authors who are printing their work in downloadable book format. Free self help eBooks and downloadable books are easily available on the Internet today. This is because people have decided that if they want to advertise one particular product the easiest way to entice customers is to offer them free self help eBooks in downloadable book format. After that a customer might be induced into buying the products and services offered by the company. You have an advantage of free self help eBooks downloaded from the Internet. You might want to print them out and read them slowly or you might want to read them on the computer screen. After that you are going to find plenty of tips which are going to help you get thin fast go in for stress management get healthy fast or any other way of free self-help. A downloadable book is going to survive for a longer time especially because it has not been made from biodegradable products like paper. Downloadable books are going to survive forever. They are not going to be damaged just like ordinary books are. You can find plenty of places where downloadable books in downloadable book format can be obtained. Bear share, bit torrent, and Lime Wire are places where you can get downloadable books but you have to remember that many of these P2P places have viruses. Nevertheless there are other legitimate places where you can get virus free downloadable free self help eBooks.

So all right you have this tendency to pick up a book whenever you have some free time in your hand. You cannot go anywhere without putting a book in your bag to be browsed when you are traveling. That is why you are definitely going to be extremely happy to know that many authors who were previously gone out of print have now made a comeback. They are now available in the shape of downloadable books. All you have to do is go online and look for places where you can get your favorite authors in downloadable book form.

Free self help eBooks and downloadable books are getting to be extremely popular because you do not have to worry about your favorite author getting his book out in print just once a year. You know that he is going to tell you everything about the particular topic you enjoy reading. But thanks to downloadable books in e-book format you are going to find that particular author coming back again and again with all his previous book versions available on the Internet. You have to have an E. book reader to read your favorite others but once you have bought an e- book reader you are definitely going to enjoy amazing new genres and authors who are printing their work in downloadable book format.

Free self help eBooks and downloadable books are easily available on the Internet today. This is because people have decided that if they want to advertise one particular product the easiest way to entice customers is to offer them free self help eBooks in downloadable book format. After that a customer might be induced into buying the products and services offered by the company. You have an advantage of free self help eBooks downloaded from the Internet. You might want to print them out and read them slowly or you might want to read them on the computer screen. After that you are going to find plenty of tips which are going to help you get thin fast go in for stress management get healthy fast or any other way of free self-help.

A downloadable book is going to survive for a longer time especially because it has not been made from biodegradable products like paper. Downloadable books are going to survive forever. They are not going to be damaged just like ordinary books are. You can find plenty of places where downloadable books in downloadable book format can be obtained. Bear share, bit torrent, and Lime Wire are places where you can get downloadable books but you have to remember that many of these P2P places have viruses. Nevertheless there are other legitimate places where you can get virus free downloadable free self help eBooks.

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“I am successful,” “I am a wonderful person,” “I will find love again,” and many other similar phrases that students, the broken-hearted and unfulfilled employees may repeat to themselves over and over again, hoping to change their lives. Self-help books through the ages, from Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking all the way to the latest, The Secret, have encouraged people with low self-esteem to make positive self-statements or affirmations.

New research suggests it may do more harm than good to many people.

Canadian researcher, Dr. Joanne Wood at the University of Waterloo and her colleagues at the University of New Brunswick who have recently published their research in the Journal of Psychological Science, concluded “repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, such as individuals with high self-esteem, but backfire for the very people who need them the most.”

The researchers asked people with and low self-esteem to say “I am a lovable person.” They then measured the participants’ moods and their feelings about themselves. The low-esteem group felt worse afterwards compared with others who did not. However, people with high self-esteem felt better after repeating the positive affirmation–but only slightly. The psychologists then asked the participants to list negative and positive thoughts about themselves. They found, paradoxically, those with low self-esteem were in a better mood when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts.

The researchers suggest that, like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements, such as “I accept myself completely” can provoke contradictory thoughts in individuals in individuals with low self-esteem. When positive self-statements strong conflict with self-perception, the researchers argue, there is not mere resistance but a reinforcing of self-perception. People who view themselves as unlovable, for example, find that saying that are so unbelievable that it strengthens their own negative view rather than reversing it.

These findings were supported by previous research published in 1994 in the Journal of Social Psychology, showing that when people get feedback that they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better.

Dr. Wood goes even further. In her Psychology Today blog, she says that most self-help books advocating positive affirmations may be based on good intentions or personal experience, but they are rarely based on even one iota of scientific evidence. She cites psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness as an exception.

Does that mean positive affirmations are of absolutely no value. Not according to Dr. Wood and her co-researchers. They say they positive affirmations can help when they are part of a broader program of intervention. That intervention can take place in a number of forms such as cognitive psychotherapy or working with a coach who has expertise in the behavioral sciences.What kind of intervention is best to use to make positive affirmations most effective?

That’s where we encounter even more controversy.

Traditional cognitive psychotherapy may not be the best intervention according to Dr. Steven Hayes, a renowned psychotherapist, and author of Getting Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life. Hayes has been setting the world of psychotherapy on its ear by advocating a totally different approach.

In an article in Time magazine, John Cloud describes Hayes’ work. Hayes and researchers Marsha Linehan and Robert Kohlenberg at the University of Washington, and Zindel Segal at the University of Toronto, what we could call “Third Wave Psychologists” are focusing less on how to manipulate the content of our thoughts (a focus on cognitive psychotherapy) and more on how to change their context–to modify the way we see thoughts and feelings so they can’t control our behavior. Whereas cognitive therapists speak of “cognitive errors” and “distorted interpretation,” Hayes and his colleagues encourage mindfulness, the meditation-inspired practice of observing thoughts without getting entangled by them–imagine the thoughts being a leaf or canoe floating down the stream.

These Third Wave Psychologists would argue that trying to correct negative thoughts can paradoxically actually intensify them. As NLP trained coaches would say, telling someone to “not think about a blue tree,” actually focuses their mind on a blue tree. The Third Wave Psychologists methodology is called ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), which says that we should acknowledge that negative thoughts recur throughout our life and instead of challenging or fighting with them, we should concentrate on identifying and committing to our values in life. Hayes would argue that once we are willing to feel our negative emotions, we’ll find it easier to commit ourselves to what we want in life.

This approach may come as a surprise to many, because the traditional cognitive model permeates our culture and the media as reflected in the Dr. Phil show. The essence of the conflict between traditional cognitive psychologists and psychotherapists is to engage in a process of analyzing your way out your problems, or the Third Wave approach which says, accept that you have negative beliefs, thinking and problems and focus on what you want. Third Wave psychologists acknowledge that we have pain, but rather than trying to push it away, they say trying to push it away or deny it just gives it more energy and strength.

Third Wave Psychologists focus on acceptance and commitment comes with a variety of strategies to help people including such things as writing your epitaph (what’s going to be your legacy), clarifying your values and committing your behavior to them.

It’s interesting that that The Third Wave Psychologists approach comes along at a time when more and more people are looking for answer outside of the traditional medical model (which psychiatry and traditional psychotherapy represent). Just look at a 2002 study in Prevention and Treatment, which found that 80% people tested who took the six most popular antidepressants of the 1990’s got the same results when they took a sugar pill placebo.

The Third Wave Psychologists approaches are very consistent with much of the training and approach that many life coaches receive, inclusive of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and many spiritual approaches to behavioral changes reflected in ancient Buddhist teachings and the more modern version exemplified by Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now). The focus of those approaches reinforces the concepts of acceptance of negative emotions and thoughts, and rather than giving them energy and fighting with them, focus on mindfulness, and a commitment to an alignment of values and behavior.

So what can we learn from all this? Two things–first, just engaging in positive affirmations by themselves, can do harm to people with low self-esteem, and provide only little benefit for those with high-esteem, if those affirmations are not part of a comprehensive program of self-growth, preferably with a knowledgeable professional; and second, the traditional cognitive psychotherapeutic approach at trying to change people’s negative thinking through logical processes may actually be counterproductive, compared to an approach that has people accept their thoughts, not resist them and give more energy to them by thinking about them, but rather engage in positive behaviors and thinking.

On the next post, I’ll be interviewing Stephanie Frank, President of Success IQ University, a Master NLP Coach and Certified Hypnotherapist, who has worked with hundreds of individuals practicing the concepts and ideas in this blog, and achieved huge success with her clients. She’ll tell us how.

For More Free Information visit On Self Help Books

THE WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment is a process of awareness and capacity building leading to greater participation, to greater decision making power and control and transformative action. Empowerment of women signifies harnessing women power by conscientising their tremendous potential and encouraging them to work towards attaining a dignified and satisfying way of life through confidence and competence as person with self-respect, rights and responsibilities.  Empowerment as a concept was introduced at the International Women’s Conference at Nairobi in 1985. The conference defined empowerment as “A redistribution of social power and control of resources in favour of women. Empowerment is a multi-faceted process which encompasses many aspects i.e. enhancing awareness, increasing access to resources of economic, social and political etc.”1 In recent years women empowerment has become a subject of great concern for the nations all over the world especially in poor and developing countries. The impact of globalization is seen eventually on position of women in some form or other in most of the developing countries with the variation of degree. The United Nations has also strived hard in an incredible way to draw the due attention of the World Community on this issue in the past years.

(1. International Women’s Conference held at Nairobi in the year 1985)

SHG AS AN INEXORABLE WAY TO EMPOWER WOMEN-RATIONALE

One has to believe that the progress of any nation is inevitably linked with social and economical plight of women in that particular country. For concrete results, we have to assert and act with our full might and what is needed most. Empowerment by way of participation in SHG can bring enviable changes and enhancement in the living conditions of women in poor and developing nations.. Self Help Group (SHG) is a process by which a group of 10 – 20 women with common objectives are facilitated to come together voluntarily to participate in the development activities such as saving, credit and income generation thereby ensuring economic independence. The principles underlying the SHGs are financing the poorest of the poor, and achieving holistic empowerment. SHG phenomenon certainly brings group consciousness among women, sense of belonging, adequate self confidence. What she cannot achieve as an individual, can accomplish as a member of group with sufficient understanding about her own rights, privileges, roles and responsibilities as a dignified member of society in par with man. When she becomes a member of SHG, her sense of public participation, enlarged horizon of social activities, high self-esteem, self-respect and fulfillment in life expands and enhances the quality of status of women as participants, decision makers and beneficiaries in the democratic, economic social and cultural spheres of life. Thus undoubtedly SHG can be an effective instrument to empower women socially and economically by which the implication on the overall development of women is indisputably possible particularly for a country like India wherein still large segment of women population are underprivileged, illiterate, exploited and deprived of  basic rights of social and economic spectrum.

The experiences of SHGs in many countries have been proving great success as an effective strategy and approach in recent years. Group-oriented efforts in the form of Micro-credit groups in different countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia are examples of current self-help efforts. The grameen groups in Bangladesh ,Local self-help development efforts – harambee (Thomas, 1985) in Kenya , Tontines or Hui with 10 to15 members  involved in financial activities through cash or kind in Vietnam,self help efforts through credit unions, fishermen groups, village-based banks, irrigation groups etc (Gaonkar, 2004 ) in Indonesia , the self-help groups (SHGs) in countries like Thailand, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and India are successfully proving forms of micro-credit groups or  SHGs.

THE PROBLEMS OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA

The Constitution of India guarantees equality, liberty and dignity to the women of India. The Fundamental Rights, The Directive principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties etc virtually assure equal status to women and provide special protection. After independence, a gamut of laws have been passed and some have been altered so as to award equal share to women in property as well as to eradicate some of the injustices meted out to women. However there are many shortcomings and ambiguities in the enforcement of laws.  As a result of this, the evil of dowry continues in spite of the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. Sati Prevention Act was passed in 1987 but glorification of sati continues in the state of Rajasthan. Immoral Traffic Prevention Act was passed in 1956 but does not prohibit prostitution altogether. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1975 has led to amniocentesis and female foeticide . It is  believed  that 78,000  female foeticide  are done every year in India.. Indecent Representation of women’s Protection  Act was passed in 1986  but the media still continues  to project  women as sex objects . Suitable changes in the Indian Penal code, Code of Criminal Procedures and the Indian Evidence Act have been made especially for the offence of rape, but judicial process and perception continue to be heavily weighed against victims of rape. Some of the labour laws are never enforced and some enforced in a mutilated form. In spite of the Equal Remuneration Act 1976, there is discrimination in promotion, training and transfer on the basis of sex.  By and large undoubtedly more than six decades of efforts since Independence  by the government and spell of fights and struggle  under the immense  pressure of women  lib activists  in the country  have indeed brought certain  changes  in social, psychological  and economic and political spheres of life. Consequently it becomes an imperative need to look into problems and issues and their implications upon underprivileged women thereby to explore appropriate strategies and approaches uplifting women in all spheres of life in India.

THE GENESIS AND GROWTH OF SHGS IN INDIA

The Self Help Group (SHG) in India has come a long way, since its inception in 1992.  The spread of SHGs in India has been phenomenal. It has made dramatic progress from 500 groups in 1992 (Titus 2002) to some 16, 18,456 groups that have taken loans from banks. About 24.25 million poor households have gained access to formal banking system through SHG-bank linkage programme and 90% of these groups are only women  groups (NABARD2005)2. The NABARD(2006)3 homepage declares that more than 400 women join the SHG movement every hour and an NGO joins the Micro-Finance Programme every day. There are also agencies which provide bulk funds to the system through NGOs. Thus organizations engaged in micro finance activities in India may be categorized as Wholesalers, NGOs supporting, SHG Federations and NGOs directly retailing credit borrowers or groups of borrower. The spread of the SHGs is highly concentrated in the southern part of the country with very few in the north and the east. Over half a million SHGs have been linked to banks over the years but a handful of States, mostly in South India, account for almost 60% of this figure (Harper 2002b, NABARD 2005:41). Andhra Pradesh has over 42%, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have 12% and 11% respectively, and Karnataka has about 9% of the total SHGs (Chakrabarti, 2004). Since the advent of   SHG in India, it’s growth rate has been very low in the states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Utter Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Orissa and union territory of Andaman Nicobar Islands where the status of women is still very backward and pathetic.

The SHGs have taken the form of a movement for women’s social development in India. In fact as a strategy for women’s development, they have arisen out of the perceived problem of women’s lack of access to resources at both the household and the village level. Women’s development has gone  beyond the economic dimension and place emphasis on issues relating to equality, autonomy and self reliance at the individual level and on solidarity of the community (of women) at the group level (Hardiman & Midgley 1982, Dube 1988, Pieterse 2001). As a group-oriented model, SHGs in India is a mechanism for women’s development to bring in individual and collective empowerment through improvement in both ‘condition’ and ‘position’ of women. Women are organized as collectives towards the overall goal of achieving gender equality as well as sustainable,Comprehensive community development (Purushothaman1998:80). Unlike the self-help projects in Kenya, the SHGs in India are primarily micro-credit groups and the direct objective of micro-credit is to improve the ‘condition’ of women. Women in India are mobilized to protest against domestic violence, legal discrimination, rising prices, dowry,Prohibition of liquor, rape, child marriage, female infanticide, sexual abuse, domestic violence, male alcoholism and so on. In dealing with women’s strategic interests, women participate in collective activities through SHGs to address these strategic needs. In the process, it aims to empower women with several forms of power. Hence a study on Empowerment of rural women through SHG in Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, South India

A STUDY ON EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN THROUGH SHG IN VELLORE DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU, SOUTH INDIA

The objectives of the study: The main objectives are a) to understand and analyze  psychological, social and economical benefits accrued by women participating in SHGs and b) to explore the merits of SHGs as strategy and approach to empower women in India.

Nature of the study: The study is a descriptive in nature as it has attempted to describe the psychological, social and economic benefits enjoyed by the members by participating in self help groups. T

Data Base: The information collected directly by the researcher from 100 respondents’ form as primary data and other details collected from text books, reports, websites etc form as secondary data.

Sampling and Tools: This micro –level study was conducted among women of 20 Self-Help Groups which have completed 5 years.   A total of 100 women (members of SHGs)

were selected comprising four persons randomly from every group and  one animator from each group purposively. Interview schedule was utilized as a tool of data collection as most of the respondents were semi –literate.

Place of study: This study was conducted in three villages i.e. Ariyur Village, Ariyur Colony , Chitheri  and Avarampalayam Village  of  Vellore Panchayat Union , Vellore District , Tamil Nadu,South India.

THE MAIN FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

Psychological Empowerment : The participation of women in SHGs enables them to acquire inimitable psychological benefits to rise up psychologically powerful which is an  essence for women empowerment in any socio-cultural and economic environment and situations. The respondents of the present study have accrued various psychological benefits including self awareness, high self esteem, self confidence and courage , understanding about own rights, privileges, roles  and responsibilities, power of self determination , Positive attitude , Risk taking ability , Power to face challenges of daily life, gaining knowledge and new ideas and skills, great relief from mental stress and anxiety, leading a happy and satisfied  life and so on. Out of 100 respondents 75 percent had got self awareness gaining adequate understanding about strength and weakness of self to reasonable extent. About 82 percent had developed a high level of self –Esteem. 69 percent of the respondents had obtained enough Self – Confidence and Courage. SHGs had given enough exposure for about 89 percent of the respondents to understand about their own rights, previleges, roles and responsibilities. The power of self-determination had tremendously improved among 70 percent of respondents. The positive attitude about life and society had come to more than 65 percent of the respondents. The risk taking ability had developed among 55 percent of respondents. The SHGs had enhanced the power to face challenges of daily life for 63 percent of the respondents. Through participation in SHGs 67 percent had got General Knowledge, New ideas and communication skills. The four fifth of the respondents i.e. 80 percent had great relief from mental stress and anxiety due to group moral support and comfort. The majority of the respondents (73 percent) were able to lead happy and satisfied life  due to participation in SHGs

Social Empowerment: The women who participate in SHGs garner a lot of social benefits including awareness about society and existing social problems, good recognition and image in the family and community, role in family decision making on important matters, plan and promote better education for their children, Able to take care of health for children and aged. participation in public and political life, chance to serve the community including fighting for the basic amenities and welfare needs of village community such as safe drinking water, street light, public sanitation etc, chance to help weaker section like aged and differently abled,  able to resist social evils like dowry, violence against women, gender discrimination and other social injustice in the family as well community , sense of responsibility for collective action and solidarity etc. Out of 100 respondents 83 percent got awareness about their own community and society in general. About 79 percent enjoyed considerable recognition and good image in the family and community after joining SHGs. Nearly 65 percent had the privilege to participate in family decision making process on important matters. 57 percent of the respondents were able to contribute for the education of their children. More than 60 percent of the respondents were able to take care of health of the children and aged in the family. For half of the respondents SHGs provided opportunities to participate in public and political life.  75 percent of the women had the chance to serve their own community including fighting for the basic amenities and welfare needs of village community such as safe drinking water, street light, public sanitation etc. One fourth of the women ( 25 percent ) got chance to help aged and disabled in the community. More than two third ( 72 percent) able to resist social evils like dowry, violence against women, gender discrimination and other social injustice in the family as well community. About 60 percent of the respondents felt that they had sense of responsibility for solidarity and collective action.

Economic Empowerment : The members of SHGs are really privileged to enjoy many economic benefits including saving, liberation from debt trap, economic independence , economic skills for income generation, able to contribute for education of children , able to meet the healthcare needs, accumulate economic assets including house, land , jewels other valuable things, economically strong to meet unexpected financial challenges and so on. All the respondents were able to save reasonable amount for safety and security. For more than 60 percent of the respondents were able to liberate their families from the debt trap. About 71 percent of them attained  economic independence to greater extent and able to contribute towards prosperity of the family, More than half of the respondents (58 percent) had acquired some economic skills or other with help of SHGs  for income generation or additional income, 69 percent of the respondents were in a position to contribute for education of children and healthcare needs of the family with help of saving, 38 percent had accumulated economic assets including house, land, jewels other valuable things. Majority of the respondents (78 percent) felt economically strong enough to meet unexpected financial challenges being as members of SHGs with help of saving.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The outcome of the study clearly indicates that the majority of women who constituted as respondents for the present study, being members of SHGs have benefitted considerably in terms of psychological, social and economic development. Women participation in SHG have obviously created tremendous impact upon the life pattern and style of poor women especially in rural areas and empowered them at various level not only as individual also as member of family, member of community and society as whole. It can be concluded that the SHG strategy is undoubtedly a convivial experiment for women empowerment in India as it opens up flood gates of opportunities to enhance capacities and capabilities in their development and growth in total perspective. It is evident from the study undertaken by the researcher that women particularly in rural, tribal and slum areas can be empowered psychologically, socially and economically with the concerted application of SHG as an effective strategy and doable approach. It is also understood from the study that Indian women have adequate potential sparks which can be well fanned into flames with necessary guidance and training through SHGs thereby bringing them to live in par with men in all spheres of human life in our society. Therefore as a group-oriented model, SHGs in India can be evolved as mechanism or movement for women’s development to bring in individual and collective empowerment through improvement in both ‘condition’ and ‘position’ of women in India or else where the plight of women is miserable and pitiable.s

Suggestions and Recommendations

The following suggestions and recommendations have been made based on the findings of the study and also in the interest of welfare women of India in general

The Concerted efforts should be made to form SHGs for women as much as possible in rural and tribal villages and slums to uplift womenfolk particularly in very backward states and Union territories by government agencies, Educational Institutions, NGOs and other service organizations of civil societies.

Government both state and Central should work hand- in -hand to promote the concept  of SHG without political biasness and  selfish motives taking into account the welfare of the womenfolk in general by incorporating as an important strategy for women empowerment in the national policy and  allocating more grant in the budget and developing effective implementing machinery.

NGOs, Educational Institutions and Social Service organizations etc engaged in the works of promotion and development of SHGs should be encouraged at all levels with sufficient financial grants and appreciation and awards

Conducive atmosphere and harmonious network should be established among Government Agencies, Banks, Ngos , Other service organizations for effective functioning of SHGs to avoid overlapping  and duplications.

Banks and other financial institutions should work with open-mind and service motives to promote SHG among women particularly downtrodden communities like scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, marginalized groups in order bring them into main stream of development and growth of India

SHGs should be strictly encouraged to undertake economic activities /income generating activities for sustainable income to the group.

SHG can be encouraged to form cooperative societies to promote Village, Cottage and Other industries for which raw materials and resources available abundantly in and around rural and tribal areas

SHG may be encouraged to involve in manufacturing products such as electronic and electrical goods, readymade garments , handicrafts  to  fetch market in Third –World countries ,European countries, USA and Latin American countries

In order to promote SHGs for women empowerment Mass media such New papers, TV , radio etc can play a significant role by creating awareness in the public and also among women about the merits of SHGs by publishing success stories of SHGs ,case studies, achievment of NGOs and Governemtn efforts etc

References

Dr.Jaya Kothai Pillai, 1995, Women Empowerment ,Gyan Publishing House,

New Delhi

2. Dr. Anita Arya, ,1963  Indian Women-Volume I,II&III Gyan Publishing House

New Delhi

3.Tandon.R.K. 1998, Women in India , Indian publishers & distributors, Delhi,

1998

4.Agarwal,C.M, 2001, Indian Women , India Publishers & Distributors, Delhi

5. Saraswathi Mishra, Status of Indian women , Gyan Publishing  House ,

New Delhi, 2002

6.Karl,Marilee,1995,Women and Empowerment; Ned Books and UN  Non –

Governmental service

7.UNICEF, ,1994,Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls :                  policy Review , UNICEF Programme Committee

8.Women For Women,1995,Empowerment of Women, Nairobi(1985)

Dhaka  women For Women.

9. Joshi,2004,,Women Empowerment : Myth and Reality Akhansha

Publishing   House, New Delhi

Everybody wants to be successful in their domain of functioning in one way or the other. But one thing that makes it all the more tough is that people are not aware of how to become successful and in many cases they are not even aware what exactly is meant by success in life. We all have had different definition of success at different stages in our lives.

We all have in one way or the other worked really hard in achieving goals that we thought would bring us success and lots of financial as well as social clout. But in the long run they realize that once having achieved their agendas with a lot of confidence their joy is only short lived. In many cases the approach adopted by the people to achieve their goals and targets is altogether flawed and leads to distress in the long term.

What the people especially those who want to achieve something in life really need is some kind of leadership training and success coaching. In the present day world of the internet where practically the whole of the world is connected with each other it is not very difficult to find a mentor or some kind of success coaching to realize the true meaning of success and also the manner in which it can be relished and made the foundation of further achievements.

There is a very beautiful concept of law of creation that introduces the individual or an organization in the manner in which the dreams can be seen and realized. The leader ship training is something that needs to be understood in the correct perspective. There are many losers around who present themselves as the fountain head of all that needs to be known in this world regarding success. It is necessary that individual that is desirous of achieving success in every sphere of their life understand that right thinkers and successful people can now be approached on the net in order to seek proper guidance and motivation. Success coaching and leadership training needs special attention thus one must visit the proper destination and right people.

You have calked out the plan, the dates scheduled and the seminar center reserve. And now you need to hire the business leadership speaker. You want to make the event a success. Here are some tips that can facilitate you as follows:

• At the very outset, you need to recognize the purpose of the seminar. What type of information are participants in quest of? Be careful the word “motivation.” If motivation and energy aren’t tied with content and a plan, the participants will lose their enthusiasm shortly after arriving back at work. Always look at the results you want.
• Another very important thing is you need to talk to speakers from previous years. Professional business speakers are always more than happy to pass recommendations and advices on future speakers. Professional business leadership speaker will not talk negatively about another speaker. They will be cheerful to steer you the best person who can meet your needs.
• Talk with various event planners about business leadership speakers who have been providing exceptional services. You should to produce a “preferred” list that can be used in your niche industry.
• Look at the background for the business leadership speakers. Check the credentials of a business leadership speaker on your chosen topics. You should look for membership in professional organizations like the National Speakers Association and the American Society for Training and Development as well. Professional business leadership speakers who are serious about their own growth belong to one or both of these organizations. Also verify whether the business leadership speaker is a Certified Professional Speaker or CSP.
• Always ask for testimonials and feedbacks. This can be letters from satisfied clients or a reference list. You should call to some phone numbers given in the reference list.
• Also, preview the speaker in action. Great business leadership speakers are busy speakers and have many local and national bookings. While the presentation or subject may not be what you had in mind but still you can evaluate their platform skills and the response of a live audience.
• Beware of the speaker who is egotistical and/or arrogant. The best speakers I know are very humble and are focused on the audience not themselves.

The bottom line is great business leadership speakers do their own research by reading annual reports, checking on-line, and reading up in the industry. Some speakers use pre-program questionnaires to congregate information. Great business leadership speakers are keen to be a part of the entire event. You need to feel free to contact them to discuss details other than just their presentation.

The attitude of expressing simple gratitude to the Divine is an important step to make your own miracle happen, to manifest your desires faster. It is often overlooked or completely skipped by some people using the law of attraction in the creation process.

Why is an attitude of gratitude so important? When I use affirmations or visualization to manifest my desires, I always say thank you to the Divine. In fact I say it all the time as an inner chatter to everything that comes into my life even if sometimes it seems a little odd. It completely changes my energy. It moves me to the positive side. How could I be thankful and negative at the same time? It is just impossible.

This shift of energy triggers positive feelings throughout the universe. Likes attract likes. I am now in a good mood and I tend to see the sunny side of everything. The glass is always full to me; sometimes with water; sometimes with air!

Being grateful now for what I do, what I am or what I have is the only way to be really happy in the long run. Many researches have shown that 3 months after a major event, people tend to go back to the same level of happiness the used to have before. The events recorded or analysed were as good as winning the lottery and as bad as having a major accident or illness.

What I mean is that whenever I reach a goal, it fills me with joy for sometimes. But that pleasure never last for very long. The only way for long lasting happiness is to choose to be happy right now regardless of the circumstances by expressing an attitude of gratitude. The Universe responds to my positive feeling by sending me more things or situations that will fulfill my life. That is how I make miracles happen in my life. Express gratitude is my attitude for success.

About Author
Do you want to manifest your desires and attract wealth? Click on the link to visit my blog: http://how-to-make-a-miracle-happen.blogspot.com/ To learn about the power of vision boards and mind movies, click here: http://www.squidoo.com/How-To-Make-A-Miracle-Happen-With-The-Law-Of-Attraction

We have enormous brain capacity but most of us do not recognize this fact at all.If we train the brain well with the help of the memory exercises,it is highly possible that we can use maximum brain capacity.But unfortunately,this is no easy task.

Most people have the idea of improving the memory power but they are not ready to learn the necessary memory improvement techniques and apply them in day to day life to increase their brain power.The truth is that learning these techniques just takes time and nothing else.You will be surprised to see that simple techniques create huge effects in your life.If you have been embarrassed by your forgetfulness,it is time to start concentrating on the memory improvement techniques.

Memorization techniques are not the only factor:

You must also keep in mind that these techniques are not the only factor that come into play while improving the memory power.Some other factors also play a vital role and they,in fact,supplement the techniques for fast memorization.These factors include the diet and the exercises.

Exercise does not just mean the physical exercises but also the mental exercises.Doing the physical exercise is a very effective way of increasing the blood circulation to the brain while doing the mental exercises will sharpen the brain and increase the response time too.Apart from all these tips,it is a must for every body to keep themselves free from stress.The disadvantages of stress are enormous that it can make anyone ineffective and less productive.You can try some stress management techniques to reduce the stress and eliminate it completely from your life.Stress can make the brain less responsive and to be more specific,it actually releases the cortisol that in turn affects the brain cell communication.

When people first learn to use the Law of Attraction to manifest what they want they get all excited at the possibilities. Don’t get me wrong, material things are great! As are things like better relationships, new careers, and such.

Beyond the basics though, there are more fundamental things that, when manifested into reality, make huge foundational changes in our lives. If you want to get the most out of the Law of Attraction it makes sense to manifesting some of these fundamental things at some point.

What are they? Well it differs for everyone but here are a few that seem common to most people:

• Peace or a sense of peace of mind – Life can get so busy and chaotic that we never get a moment’s peace. But you can manifest a life full of peace and serenity. On the outside life might seem exactly the same, but when you’ve achieved that inner state of peace things will flow much more smoothly for you.
• No more worries – Worry saps energy from us and causes stress. The thing about worry is that 99% of what we worry about never happens anyway. So why spend so much time and energy doing it? By intending a worry free life you free your mind to think about other things which feels absolutely wonderful.
• Clarity – When making decisions it’s so easy to get lost in all the “what-if’s” that you become paralyzed and virtually unable to function. When you intend clarity you’ll find that decisions are much easier to make and you’ll gain a confidence that you never had before.
• Less chaos and busyness – We all have a ton of stuff to get done every day. But ever notice now some people seem so have it all under control, effortlessly juggling massive to-do lists and never even getting a hair out of place? When you intend that life is less busy and chaotic then things will start to magically line up for you and you till will appear to be a super human to the masses!

There are plenty more fundamental things you can manifesting using the Law of Attraction. The possibilities are endless in fact. So pick something, manifest it and watch your quality of life improve. You’ll be glad you did

About Author
Maria Meiners is known as the “Manifesting Muse,” and helps ordinary people learn to Manifest using Law of Attraction principles. Get started by downloading your FREE Manifesting Kit today! http://www.musemanifestingkit.com

We all go to a fitness club for one reason or another, whether it is simply to keep fit and in good physical conditions or to loose weight. But finding the right equipment to use and getting the right fitness programme is not always so straight forward, and this is where a personal trainer might be useful.

Even if they can sometimes be expensive to use, personal trainers know exactly which equipment in your gym is best for and can really help you decide which machines to use and which parts of your body they will work on. For that reason, using a personal trainer, even only once or twice will get you into the right tracks to achieve your goals in the best possible way. You can then decide on an appropriate training programme to follow. So if you mainly want to loose weight, book a few sessions with a trainer to establish a training programme and find more on which machines to use and also on how to use them properly. The same goes if you want to build up muscles on a particular area of your body or improve your endurance.

Using a personal trainer is also useful when you do not think you can keep your motivation and stick to a regular practice at your fitness club. In this case, using a personal trainer will help you stay motivated and push you to achieve your goals even when you are not too into it or a bit lazy. A personal trainer can provide a solid structure and help you develop the proper lifestyle to stay into a consistent training programme.

You can find personal trainers nearly everywhere, whether you go to a Manchester gym or in any other place in the UK. On top of that, you can if you want get a personal trainer at home if you do not have the possibility to go to a fitness club. It will probably cost you more than going to the gym and book your sessions with the personal trainer available there but it is a great way of doing some workout. Because the trainer will come to you, you cannot say that you were not able to go to the gym or anything like that as the gym will go to you. It is also a good way of making sure you stick to your programme as doing some workout at home is not always easy in term of motivation.

So many of us live a stressful life. Unfortunately, when we are unable to take the time that we all need to nurture ourselves we fall victim to self-pity, depression, or burn-out.

You shouldn’t let stress take its hold on your life. It starts by saying no to stress and anxiety and starting to enjoy your work and your life once more.
How can we fight back and get back control of our health, emotions and reduce our stress levels. You can easily try some of these surefire ways of reducing stress.

There are both emotional and physical signs being under the influence of a stressor, and both of these can be controlled.

The bigger question is how we should deal with situations and occasions that enter our lives. Certainly there is an amazing number of potentially stress causes and each of these would typically be responded to differently.
Taking comfort in the present, being proactive in the planning and staying focused viewing the situation in the right perspective is beneficial to all situations that cause stress.

Ignoring high levels of stress is a dangerous mistake, because it leads to many very serious health & mental problems including – heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, anxiety and suicide. Most of these conditions are caused by the bodies / brains inappropriate reaction to a perceived threat. The brain puts the body into an alert state ready to fight off the threat or run away – the fight or flight’ response.

Sleep is the number one defense against stress. It allows the mind and body to rejuvenate. When we awaken refreshed, we are more able to handle stressful situations. For the average person, adequate sleep is eight to ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Resistance Training or lifting weights has proven to be very effective in controlling stress. A high intensity workout, of no more than sixty minutes, is a successful strategy in stress management. A moderate aerobic workout, such as walking or bicycling for thirty to forty minutes, three times a week, is also effective. A balance of both types of exercise is optimal.

People who laugh daily are less likely to experience high levels of stress. Laughter is the physiological response to humor. Laughter consists of two parts, a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both of these activities simultaneously. When we laugh heartily, we release tension in many parts of the body, such as the arm, leg and trunk muscles.

Remember each and every day to count your blessings. And remember that it is up to you to take care of your responsibilities, but also know that it is essential that you feed your own soul with the things that truly make life worth living.
Stress will always be a part of our lives and the way to handle this stress is to take out time for ourselves and do things that we like and give ourselves a chance to say no when we need to. We should also learn to enjoy the things and the people that we already have in our lives.