What are your initial thoughts at the sight of a naked person? For many, the reaction is a negative one, filled with panic. Though considering the fact that nudity is the state at which we find ourselves when we bathe, when we have sex, when we’re asleep, it seems a silly notion that everyone has such negative feelings over something that seems to be so naturally positive in the scope of human existence. Recently I noticed that a blog called MInTheGap has started a blog “carnival of modesty.” Their first post on the matter, Hey, Check Me Out! attempts to portray an idea of moderation in the clothing that we wear to lead a more conducive lifestyle to those around us, mostly from a Christian perspective. Perhaps it is only the Christian perspective talking here, but I’m going to put aside any Christian perspective and attempt to look at this whole thing from an entirely natural perspective.

The first thing you probably want to do when you think about this whole thing of modesty is think back to, when it comes to the clothing definition of the word, think back to how clothes have evolved over time. Now, assuming that the Earth did not begin 6,000 years ago, human beings have been around for quite a while, and on an evolutionary time line, the contemporary conception of clothing has not. People did not dress in history for the sake of dressing, they dressed for the aid of survival. Fashion, and the entire idea of fashion, began to become something that happened naturally. If you were going to wear clothes – why not wear clothes that looked the best they possibly could? By nature, people have an artistic eye for anything they see around them. It is the reason we have a sense of order and a sense of chaos – there is an artist in every single human being.

Naturism, or the activity of being nude in a social context, has long been around for centuries, but the recent term naturism, coined off of the earlier version of simply nudism, has not been a clear cut idea until the past several decades. For instance, in Japan it was never thought beyond the norm for people to bathe together while nude in public baths, or on another note – nude beaches have been growing rare over the past several years. I think that the general notion that mankind is either in decline or on the rise holds true for nudity – people are getting more comfortable with sexuality over time but less comfortable over non-sexual nudity. Saying that, in itself, seems to conflict and contradict almost immediately.

Modesty, when it comes to clothes, is simply not being provocative, but when it comes to nudity – sexually provocative takes on a whole new meaning. It has been demonstrated, just in a single catalogue of nude photography, that whether or not something is sexually suggestive is open to perspective, all in the eye of the beholder.

Christians, as well as many other followers of particular beliefs, seem to have a common concern that if a woman is dressing too openly, showing either too much skin, wearing garments that emphasize parts of the body too much, or even just wearing something that’s skin tight is going to lure men too much to fantasize. Newsflash: men are going to fantasize no matter what you put the women in. Men are still fantasizing over the women who are covered from head to toe in robes, and the only thing showing is their eyes. Men are always going to fantasize. But it is not just the men.

Current society puts an emphasis on female beauty and male power. The dynamic can be switched, however, and has been switched before. Much of the time, roles of the genders commonly stick to their evolutionary compliments, but from time to time, the perceptions among society at large can change. Over recent years, it is said that men are caring more about their appearance than they used to, in correspondence with the huge anorexia craze. Human beings are sexual – get used to it. Human beings’ sexuality is nothing new, and repression of human sexuality often does more harm than good.

The answer to modesty, the answer to sexual provocation, is education. We do not have to repress, we need only to educate. Period.

I’ve decided that one thing to really start moving this blog in a solid direction in the scope of the blogosphere community is to start showing off just how much other people out there are really sitting down and thinking through the principles of personal development, success, and improvement psychology. Many people know that my site is certainly not the only place to learn, and beyond that of the well known “gurus” people everywhere are trying to improve the lives of others as well as their own by blogging about a better life. While I cannot guarantee this will be a feature every single week(in fact, I can say it most likely will not be), I can say that every post I link to here is something I have read personally and felt that it deserved to be an idea that gets spread more deeply throughout the net.

User JerkeyBeef at The Beef Jerky Blog posted Are You a Millionaire Yet? This posts outlines a number of different qualities that many of the world’s wealthiest people financially typically share. The writer also makes an excellent point – it’s better to start saving and investing in your future earlier rather than later, where even starting between the ages of 9 to 13 can be better than your early 20’s. How many children are thinking about their retirement? Well, I don’t know about you, but I think at one point I certainly was, at least by the age of 14. Of course, we should not necessarily be saving only for retirement, but putting money away and not touching it and not a bad habit to have, especially when that money is being put away using intelligent methods, like in a CD or in well developing stocks. What is interesting to note is that the number one quality listed here is: Dream BIG dreams.

Edith Yeung writes about the 7 Phrases Successful People Would Never Say. Overall, the bottom line is to never lose doubt in yourself. Do not negate your own ability what so ever in any way, shape, or form. In essence, the message is about attitude, and as I always love to say: it is ideal to carry an attitude of gratitude. Optimism is a trait typical of survivors, but it is also a trait typical of some of the wealthiest people on earth.

While it can be a bit dark and graphic, Steve Pavlina never fails to send the message home about Making Peace With Death. His outlook on death is vitally important, because I think it showcases just how attached we generally are to life when it really does not make sense for us to be. On what terms are you meeting your own self actualization? Will anything you do matter, and if it does not matter, then is that okay with you? Are you afraid to die a violent death or would you want to die in your sleep? Did you know that most people do not die in their sleep or die of natural cause? Steve asks you even more questions:

Ask yourself this question, “Am I ready to die right now?” If your answer is no, then what is it about your life that makes you feel unready? What is death trying to teach you about how you’re currently living? Are you holding back too much, giving into your fears, letting golden opportunities pass you by? Are you failing to honor your most sacred values? Is your path missing its heart? What do you wish you’d had the courage to change?

Not surprisingly, Pavlina makes a solid point of living life as it is now to the fullest in talking about the ultimate end of life. Try the best you can, and leave the rest to what it will naturally be. Are you feeling envious? What is the point of even being jealous of anything? The whole feeling I get from this is, is that life must be lived in the NOW – leave no room for regrets and try everything you possibly can. If you do, why feel down about death? If I died now, I’d die knowing that I gave everything my all, and hopefully beyond my attempts to make money people would realize that I really wanted to make a difference in their lives, and hope that what they can gain from what I’ve written will allow them to be the better for it.

The Powerful Problem With Positive Thinking is that it is an overused notion that cannot solve all problems. Attitude is important, but attitude is not everything. Positive thinking does not take out the garbage, it does not pay the bills, it does not keep you alive, it simply keeps you, well…positive. Aaron Potts never fails to disappoint with his writings, and this article is no exception. Positive thinking is powerful, and it can be an incredible tool, but you must always keep your eyes open to all possibilities and examine every angle and perspective possible of any given issue. As Aaron so accurately describes it:

Perhaps the biggest problem with positive thinking is that running around with a big ol’ smile on your face like life is nothing but a big vacation is simply not realistic, and having that attitude can blind you to circumstances that are not so positive.

I’m not saying that you should go through life with an expectation that something bad is about to happen, but you should go through life aware of the details of any given set of circumstances.

I think with all of the Law of Attraction craze that has been sweeping the world lately, many people are forgetting about the practical tools that have continued to unveil themselves again and agan throughout the turn of the past century, or even the past few decades. As many of you know, I’m a major advocate of PhotoReading, lucid dreaming, ImageStreaming (see my interview with Win Wenger), and other pragmatic tools for personal growth. There is so much more than just thinking your way to success, inspired action and action in general must be taken with a heavy priority. It seems as though the Law of Attraction has been clouded in vague terms and concepts during the course of its communication that is really just designed to get people to dig deeper, and perhaps this is a good thing, yet as a result it causes individuals to misunderstand quite a bit quite often while trying to understand it. Looking back now, I feel that my first experiences with the law of attraction were likely not entirely with a clear comprehension of the concept.