The word ?embarrassed? has roots to the earliest times in our life. We learn to be embarrassed because we are less fortunate, our shoes and clothes are out of date, or worn and torn. We learn to be embarrassed because the house we live in is on the other side of the tracks or in the wrong part of town.

Speaking of tracks ? we are embarrassed because of what we failed to learn as children. We learned our ABC's more slowly than the others. The school system evaluates us and locks us in a downward track. We have been told since we were young by our parents, friends and teachers we can't do something so often we believe it. The kids at school laugh at us. The more they laugh, the more embarrassed we become. We protect ourselves through limiting beliefs. These limiting beliefs continue to expand through school, work place, marriage and family.

Then we find ourselves really embarrassed. We will not step forward to be a leader. We find ourselves having trouble reading and writing at age 25, 50, 60. ?What will my friends and family say? if they learn their friend, mother and grandmother is not as ?smart? as they are. We are afraid of the fear of being laughed again as adult and being left out, because we do not fit the mold.

So, are you afraid to step forward and answer questions because you are inexperienced or uneducated? You should not be!! The information you know and the way you can present it may be just the key to unlock the entire presentation for someone else. You may be able to say it in a way that reaches others better than the more experienced or well educated can because you are where they are.

Have you ever noticed that most of the best managers in baseball or head coaches in football and basketball are not the stars of the game? Ted Williams, Larry Bird and a host of other All-Stars and Hall of Famer's have failed as team leaders, while Walter Alston, John Wooden and Joe Gibbs have had Hall of Fame careers as team leaders but had mediocre careers as players. The reason is that these men can relate to the day-to-day struggles of the men they lead better than the all-time greats for whom the game came so easily.

Your inner self is comparing yourself with the exterior visual self of others. You do not know what they know or do not know. You believe what you see, so therefore that is what you use as a comparison. Strangely enough, when you get to know the ?rich and famous? you find out they have all of the same insecurities you do ? they do not let them block their progress toward their ultimate goals; they use them as vaulting points to reach the top.

Have you experienced, or you may be currently feeling ?stuck? where you are in life. Are you ready to set yourself free? Learn what options are available to you. Find out what is behind the unknown door.

1) Use new approaches that will create new results in your future.

2) Be comfortable in expressing yourself.

3) Be the person you want to be seen as.

4) Welcome problems as an opportunity to learn. Be the victor in each situation, not the victim.

5) Learn to see truth in your life.

6) Help others become dedicated to personal development and growth.

Being grateful for all things in life is liberating. It frees the mind from fear and embarrassment.