BASIC ACTIONS TO TAKE IN BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM
1. Take conscious charge of your own life – of everything you think, say and do. It is not the event that is so important as your reaction to that event. You can choose your reactions.
2. Recognize and accept your own authority to make the ultimate decision on everything you do, for it is you who profits or suffers according to the consequences of your every choice.
3. Be kind and gentle with yourself and give your own basic need TOP priority, with the understanding that your own well-being is your primary responsibility. Remember that the better you take care of your own needs, the more able and willing you are to contribute to the needs of others.
4. Remember that you are not your actions. Your actions are but the means your awareness selects to satisfy your needs.
5. Have a meaningful life objective and conscientiously work toward its fulfillment.
6. Do not depend on others’ opinions or actions for a sense of personal worth and importance.
7. Do not procrastinate. Either generate the necessary motivation through a careful evaluation of the pros and cons or dismiss the proposed activity from your mind.
8. Keep in mind that you invariably do the best your current awareness and skills permit, and that you always have. Purge yourself of any self-condemnation, shame, blame, guilt or remorse.
9. Allow yourself the freedom to make mistakes, to fail, without self-accusation, feeling defeated or “less than”. See mistakes as areas for further growth.
10. Let go of criticism, condemnation and resentment by realizing that everyone is doing the best his prevailing awareness permits.
11. Accept every problem and difficulty as a challenge to your awareness but do not demand perfection.
12. Do not be dependent on others for their permission, confirmation or agreement. Refer to your own inner basic value.
13. Do not try to prove your worth through your achievements. Remember you have nothing to prove.
14. Do not drift and do not establish arbitrary deadlines. Do first things first, one at a time and live but a day at a time. Be deliberate and moderate in all your actions.
15. Do not vacillate – any decision is better than no decision at all.
16. If your life is not going as you like, look to your inner self for clues, become aware that choosing is a choice – not choosing is also a choice. We can choose to make pain or happiness for ourselves.
JM:vr opeiu29-afl-cio
