self-image

When you watch Olympic athletes in competition, does your self-esteem plummet? Of course not. On the contrary, you feel wonder and admiration; you're inspired that such exceptional individuals exist. So why can't we feels the same way about beauty?

Truth be told, I__ still in awe of her, but I found it easier to relate to her. She really made me see that we are all the same. We all suffer the same feelings of inadequacy because we are not like others, but that__ what makes us so special too.

Her skirt was nice, but she was wearing a dull-colored blouse that wasn't at all attractive. I'd have to remember to tell her not to wear it when she was with me if the two of us were going to get together, I thought

We can choose partner, make friends, hire people who make us feel faultless. But think about it _ do you never want to grow? Next time you__e tempted to surround yourself with worshippers, go to church.

Love yourself and that is all the love you need.

Telling yourself you like the way you look is easy. Believing it is an entirely different kettle of whales.

In the story of Ugly Duckling, when did the Ugly Duckling stop feeling Ugly? When he realized that he was a Swan. Each of us has something Special, a swan of some sort, hidden inside somewhere. But until we recognize that it's there, what can we do but splash around, treading water? The Wise are Who They Are. They work with what they've got and do what they can do.

It__ hard to feel desire when you don__ feel desirable

I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.

for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.

I used to be self conscious about my height, but then I thought, fuck that, I'm Harry Potter.

If I say, __ am weak,_ I ensure that I stay weak. If I say, __ cannot,_ ____ not the type to,_ __ am not able,_ then I set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. As I think of myself, so I shall be.

If I don__ know who I am apart from everyone else, I probably need to spend some time apart from everyone else.

Stop looking outside or at others for that which you seek of yourself.

We build a self-image from stored memories including a swarm of physical and social interactions, evocative emotions, and other associative experiences. Selfhood also comes from the language, symbols, and artifacts, which potent combinations create cultural beliefs. We build a self upon real as well as imaginary experiences. A person__ rational and irrational beliefs forge a sense of self. The books that we read, the music we listen to, the films we watch, and what church or other social gatherings we attend constitute meaningful activities that congeal and work together to shape our sense of identity. Cultural determinants drive how we work, play, worship, and raise our children. Culture has its own sources of reinforcement that can influence members of society to adopt an interdependent, communal sense of self, or an independent, individualistic sense of self. Culture is not fate, but none of us is immune from the great octopus of culture; its tentacles touch us every direction that we turn. Our self-identity is subtlety influenced by the prevailing political-social culture as well as affected by our perceived social status, economic or otherwise.

The death of our self-worth begins at its appraisal, for such an action erroneously implies that our worth can be quantified.

How frustrating to think you can be lost to yourself. And yet how often it is that a stranger stares back at you from the mirror. Maybe in truth we never see ourselves as clearly as the thousands of eyes that daily take us in.

My job is not to worry about what everyone else thinks about me but to discover what I think. If I actually want to know what someone else thinks, my job is then to ask that person. More often than not, however, it isn__ important to know. It__ okay if people are mad at me, and it__ okay if people think I__ a complete idiot__s long as I__ doing my best. Just because certain people might have judgments about me, it does not mean they have authority over me. To truly form my own life, I had to ask questions like __hat are my needs? And __hat are my thoughts?_ I had to acknowledge both my strengths and my weaknesses. I had to form my own opinions based on my reality instead of someone else__.