janbear
11-26-2006, 02:55 PM
It is easy to live for others. Everybody does. I call on you to live for yourselves. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Selfishness, of course, is not conducive to healthy self-esteem. The point is that unless we first take care of our own buisiness we will have nothing of value to give anyone else.
Selflessness can be a superficial hiding place. It is easy to live for others, to get involved in their lives, to endlessly ruminate on what is wrong with them, and what they need to do to improve their lot. But always and endlessly dwelling on others doesn't leave us much time to "look to our own houses." If our energies are always visiting, who's minding the store at home?
All real advances in self-esteem are made when we dare to deal with ourselves. Other people's issues aren't our affair. The real question is, what are ours? What are our own personal black clouds that keep the sun of self-esteem from shining from our lives? What character defects are making us want to run away from ourselves? What are our fears, insecurities, jealousies? These weeds must be rooted out if our garden is to grow.
From: Believing in Myself
Selfishness, of course, is not conducive to healthy self-esteem. The point is that unless we first take care of our own buisiness we will have nothing of value to give anyone else.
Selflessness can be a superficial hiding place. It is easy to live for others, to get involved in their lives, to endlessly ruminate on what is wrong with them, and what they need to do to improve their lot. But always and endlessly dwelling on others doesn't leave us much time to "look to our own houses." If our energies are always visiting, who's minding the store at home?
All real advances in self-esteem are made when we dare to deal with ourselves. Other people's issues aren't our affair. The real question is, what are ours? What are our own personal black clouds that keep the sun of self-esteem from shining from our lives? What character defects are making us want to run away from ourselves? What are our fears, insecurities, jealousies? These weeds must be rooted out if our garden is to grow.
From: Believing in Myself