The magnitude of self-defeat in our society is astonishing. It’s a rampant problem that is seriously eroding human evolution and keeping our civilization decades behind where we should be technologically, spiritually, and intellectually.

The fact is, most people are completely unaware of their own self sabotage. An individual may realize he or she is an underachiever, but not understand the real cause of the issue.

People love playing the victim, pointing a finger at their parents, the government, the media, the economy, and so forth. But in truth we define our own destiny by how we feel and what we think.

It’s well-known that over 80% of all worldwide lottery winners return to a state of poverty within 24 months. Looking at this sad statistic, one is inclined to ridicule…

“Those idiots. Give me 1o million dollars and I’ll save and invest my way to 20 million!”

But while nearly everyone will say “YES” when asked if they’d like to be rich, the reality is quite another story. If you take an honest look around you’ll find people who are sick, tired, broke, lonely, and miserable for one core reason:

Because this is exactly how they wish to be!

I know this is hard to accept but it’s the truth. An extreme lack of honesty and self-awareness makes this level of self defeat seem impossible.

But people who are able to be honest with themselves soon discover they are indeed creating and perpetuating the very situations they claim to loathe. Here’s an example from my own life:

I used to be poor. And I mean dirt poor, never had a dollar in my pocket, always the broke guy in the group.

At one point I resigned myself to always be impoverished. I remember looking at friends who had cable, a computer, and an Xbox and sincerely wondering how on earth they managed to pull it off.

I said aloud to one of my buddies: “There’s just no way in hell I see myself ever being able to afford cable TV, a PC, and an Xbox system.”

We were discussing the finer points of online gaming and I was 100% convinced of the truth behind my admission. This is so bizarre when I think of it; I can’t even relate to the broken victim I was back then.

But here’s the really interesting bit…

When I decided I did want to have money, and that I was willing to work hard as an entrepreneur to get it, I came face to face with the intensity of my own self defeatism. I remember just thinking about my goals to attain large amounts of money, and how physically uncomfortable I got.

Just imagining a large sum of money made me sick to my stomach. My heart rate would go up and I felt extremely agitated for several minutes.

I didn’t notice all this at first, just as many people are unaware of their own self defeat symptoms. But when I began looking for evidence I was shocked by how obvious my ailment was.

I didn’t feel comfortable - at all - thinking about the drastic change plenty of money would have on my life. Struggle and lack were normal for me, and I knew how these felt. Shifting into a state of abundance was very different, even painful for me!

I really had to work to get past this. Part of what I did was to repeat strong money affirmations all day long. I would say things like:

“Money is good to me. Money loves me. It’s safe for me to have plenty of money. I’m thankful for all the money that comes to me from many sources. I always have more than enough money. I deserve to have plenty of money.”

I would repeat these statements day after day, and more importantly I put all my energy into believing them. I often tell people if I can have a profitable business anyone can because I was a complete train wreck in the areas of money consciousness and abundance mindset.

This article may be hard for some to understand. But it’s here for those people who have serious self-limitations they aren’t yet aware of.

If you just can’t seem to get right in one area of your life, despite your claims that you want the money, love, health, or whatever more than anything else in the world, you should read this piece again. If you feel awkward, irritated, even sick when you think about really having whatever it is you say you want, you may need to do some serious self analysis and clearing of your beliefs.

In addition to a good program of affirmations, I recommend meditation, the study of emotional freedom technique, complete immersion in self development books and audios, and even personal coaching. To shift from this kind of self defeat you need to stay alert in each moment and really give 100% of yourself to the process of change.

This takes some serious sustained thought. But once you get past the obstacle of your own self limitations you will be unstoppable.

I’m not a proponent of Christianity or other organized religions. But the concept behind the “Golden Rule” is quite sound.

I truly believe that when we heap goodness and blessings on others we are directly tending to our own wellbeing. When we give others exactly the kind of love and treatment we want for ourselves we set into motion a vibration that impacts not only the life of our recipient, but also our lives.

There truly is no scarcity. Letting someone else take the last piece of pie, giving a homeless man your last dollar, or  letting a partner take credit for her part of the project without stepping in and tooting your own horn are all destined to benefit both giver and receiver.

When have you truly given from a center of love and not received back many times what you gave?

The media preaches scarcity and we often find it easy to buy this. We become scared of having too little or of the well running dry, so we start to horde our blessings.

This is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing.

And giving is about more than money and materials. We can do great good in the world by giving a smile, a hug, or loving thoughts.

Furthermore, as entrepreneurs we give by putting our hearts into our products and services. Yes we receive a fee in exchange for these gifts but because we labor in love the buyer is fully blessed by our efforts.

Giving makes the world go around. And giving is the ultimate source of abundance and satisfaction.

We carry a lot of negative energy and/or blockage in our physical forms. There is the tendency to forget about the body on the path to spiritual enlightenment, and therefore negativity can be stored for long periods of time for the simple fact that we are not fully aware of its presence.

It’s important to remember that our bodies are every bit as sacred as our minds. Consciousness manifests not only as what we call the spirit, but also in the beautiful forms and processes of our physical nature.

Often a person can completely change the circumstances in their life by simply releasing stored negative energy from the body!

How is this possible? Physical negativity impacts our constant process of creation and manifestation, just as negative thoughts do.

So when we let go of a physical blockage it’s just like releasing a self-defeating thought pattern.

When you cultivate your awareness you’ll begin to identify the physical experiences that parallel your emotional and intellectual activity. This is an important step on the life journey, and it can open doors we never knew existed.

We’re all a little different in this regard. And the way your body communicates with you is not exactly the same as how my body talks to me.

You may find that when you worry about money the backs of your shoulders burn subtly. Or perhaps concern over a romantic upheaval creates a churning in your belly.

This article is not about finding every specific signal and matching it to a state of mind. I just want to get the wheels moving, so to speak, so you can pursue your own study of how your body processes information and interactive feedback.

The point is: the more aware you become of your body’s signs and signal, the more easily you’ll be able to release negativity and thus return to a state of alignment with your highest goals.

Releasing physical negativity is not difficult. In fact as soon as you acknowledge negative energy in a specific region of your body you can intentionally let go of it.

For example, let’s say you learn that your hands feel tight, tense, and a bit “sick” when you are holding negative energy patterns. Once you understand this, you can simply think about your hands, wiggle your fingers, and ask this negative energy to go away.

You’ll probably even be able to feel the negative blockage disperse. And thereafter you may notice a remarkable shift in both your mood and your dominant thought patterns.

Embracing this practice is like becoming a whole new person in many ways. You’ll be blown away by the amount of negativity you have been allowing to exist in your physical form before you focused your attention on this area of your life.

But What About Negative Energy I’m Not Currently Aware Of?

It’s also important to note that you may not find all physical negativity right away. In fact many of us live with negative or limiting physical energy that we can’t sense.

You’ll be pleased to know there are many ways to let go of this as well. Basic practices like a positive diet, healthy exercise, a good sex life, and really enjoying your sleep time will all help to reduce and eliminate subtle physical negativity.

And you can take this to the next level with studies like Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, and other esoteric work. One really fabulous method that anyone can learn quickly is emotional freedom technique.

EFT (short for emotional freedom technique) is about tapping along the body’s energy meridians to release negativity on a regular basis. Actually this art is about a lot more, but for the context of this article I definitely wanted to mention the release benefits.

I hope this post has given you something new to think about. Naturally I’ve only touched on the basics.

Entire books can and have been written on this topic. So you should consider body awareness a lifelong pursuit that will add great quality to your life and an additional sphere of empowerment to your journey.