Self-Esteem

Note from Ro: Today's thought comes to you via a marvelous book – Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. It is a how-to-straighten-your-mind-out-so-you-won't-keep-beating-yourself-up-and-you-can-appreciate-what-you-have-and-are wonder. Rozanne Paxman A Unique, Individual Creation "Alas! The fearful Unbelief is unbelief in yourself." – Carlyle "Of all the traps and pitfalls in life, self-disesteem is the deadliest, and the hardest to overcome; for it is a pit designed and dug by our own hands, summed up in the phrase, 'It's no use – I can't do it.' "The penalty of succumbing to it is heavy - both for the individual in terms of masterful rewards lost, and for society in gains and progress achieved. "We simply must get it through our heads that holding a low opinion of ourselves is not a virtue, but a vice. Jealousy, for example, which is a scourge of many marriages, is nearly always caused by self-doubt. The person with adequate self-esteem doesn't feel hostile towards others. He isn't out to prove anything. He can see facts more clearly, isn't as demanding in his claims on other people. "Prescription: Stop carrying around a mental picture of yourself as a defeated, worthless person. Stop dramatizing yourself as an object of pity and injustice.... The appreciation of your own worth is not egotism unless you assume that you made yourself and should take some of the credit. Do not downgrade the product merely because you haven't used it correctly. "The biggest secret of self-esteem is this: Begin to appreciate other people more; show respect for any human merely because he is a child of God and therefore a 'thing of value.' Stop and think when you're dealing with people that you're dealing with a unique, individual creation of the Creator of all. Practice treating other people as if they had some value – and surprisingly enough your own self-esteem will go up. For real self-esteem is not derived from the great things you've done, the things you own, the mark you've made – but an appreciation of yourself for what you are – a child of God." Buy a copy here. Read it without charge online here.