There is an Indian proverb that says everyone is a house with 4 rooms - a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Many of us tend to live in one room too much of the time - neglecting to dust, clean and maintain the others. However if we don't go into each room every day - even if it is just to air it, we are not complete as a person.

Steven Covey in his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" refers to this self-renewal as the 7th habit and says we all need to and should 'sharpen the saw'. He goes on to say that investing in ourselves is the most powerful investment one can make in life - we cannot give to others what we don't have within ourselves.

The 4 rooms or dimensions are:

THE EMOTIONAL:

Our emotional life is most often as a result of our relationships with other people. True peace of mind only comes when you have harmony in your life and most of the harmony we search for is linked to people with whom we interact.

A wonderful book in which Ruiz offers a code of conduct for all of us that can transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, happiness and inner peace.

A book that has been in print since the 1940's. Frankl endured years of horror in Nazi concentration camps and developed a revolutionary psycotherapy approach known as logotherapy. The core of his theory is the belief that mans' primary motivational force is his search for meaning. A truly incredible book.

Hill shares 17 principles and shows us how to identify them in ourselves and by then incorporating them into everything we do we will achieve greater success in all aspects of our lives.

It is valuable to assess the relationships with the people in our life - be they friends, family, colleagues, your spouse, lover or partner - do they emotionally lift and inspire you or do they pull you down? Everyone of us also needs meaning and purpose in our own lives - which is what Viktor Frankl focuses on his book "'Man's Search for Meaning"' - and when we find that purpose and meaning we tap into our energies and become more fulfilled. Emotional renewal is also about giving and where possible assisting others in some meaningful way.

THE MENTAL:

We need to continually stimulate our minds otherwise they atrophy at a frightening speed. Continuing to educate ourselves is mental renewal. Whether it be through reading, watching selective television programmes, writing or whatever it may be that stimulates you mentally. Mental renewal keeps us young and interesting! I also believe that mental renewal is attitude renewal - we need to continually assess our attitude and how we can maintain a positive one - albeit with effort and discipline. Edward de Bono in his book "How to have a Beautiful Mind'' says we need to work at becoming more interesting by, amongst others - learning to listen better, questioning, communicating more effectively and assessing and adjusting our attitude.

THE PHYSICAL:

This dimension involves caring for ourselves through eating the right foods (most of the time!), exercising and looking after our health and well-being. The experts tell us that to be healthy and fit we need to build the body in 3 areas - endurance, flexibility and strength. By renewing the physical dimension we also enhance our capacity for work and pleasure. The other spin-offs are enhanced confidence, greater self-esteem and positive self-concept…and are we not all wanting this in our lives?

THE SPIRITUAL:

The average person is said to have approximately 60000 separate thoughts every day. With so many thoughts there are very few gaps - however it is essential to find them - to create 'silent spaces' for spiritual renewal. Pythagoras said - we need to learn to be silent and allow our quiet mind to listen and absorb. Covey refers to this spiritual dimension as your 'core'. It is a very private area of your life however a very important one. Whether it be through meditation, quiet moments, silence or those precious times of solitude it is essential we renew our spiritual dimension. This too takes time and effort - however the positive spin-offs are immeasurable.

So which of your rooms need airing and cleaning? Which dimensions of your life are in need of renewal?

It's never too late, however start now!