Making Yourself Expensive
Seeing yourself as a highly prized treasure today, can help you rise admirably and confidently above so many who surrender themselves to the lowest bidder and end up on the dirt path of indignity and indecency. It was Jackie Robinson who remarked “The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.”
Cherishing yourself will afford you a focused and fulfilling life that refuses to surrender itself to the welcoming arms of self-pity, self-hate, self-devaluation or any such paralyzing personal social prisons. Sometimes not placing a great premium on yourself may have nothing initially to do with anything you personally might have done, but more so what might have been repeatedly done or said to you by significant others. For example, if as a child your parents habitually called you negative names like idiot or stupid, over time you may begin to think that way about yourself. Such undesirable thoughts may restrict you from seeing yourself in a positive light. If on the other hand important people in your life were in the habit of reinforcing expressions that made you feel special and important, the chances of relating to yourself and to others may be very positive.
Take ownership of your Life
Bob Moawad, educator and motivational speaker once said: “The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Make a deliberate decision not to lay down on the bed of self-pity because of your past experiences, but take the good counsel from Harry Emerson Fosdick who remarked: “Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world - making the most of one’s best.”
Treat Yourself with significance
When you are treating yourself nicely it always reflects the value or worth you place on yourself. How you speak, dress, treat your body, what you put into your mind, the choice of friends or acquaintances with whom you associate and the places you frequent, often mirror the kind of merit you may have assigned to yourself. Never cheapen yourself. It was Abraham Lincoln who said: “It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.”
Speak confidently to yourself
Make it a practice of speaking optimistically to yourself. Think about and speak assertively to yourself regularly about your talents and acquired skills with which God has blessed you. It may surprise you to see your life developing more and more secure and avoiding a quest for endorsement from others to make you feel accepted. Norman Vincent Peale emphasized that “It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.”
Turn negatives into opportunities
Work toward making your life happy by taking what may have been negative features in your past and what may have warped your concepts about yourself, and select those that can be transformed to help beautify your future. The words of Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross are gems to cherish. “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
Never cheapen yourself. Make yourself expensive. Can you imagine what your country may be if every citizen makes a decision to view him or herself through valuable lenses?
Cherishing yourself will afford you a focused and fulfilling life that refuses to surrender itself to the welcoming arms of self-pity, self-hate, self-devaluation or any such paralyzing personal social prisons. Sometimes not placing a great premium on yourself may have nothing initially to do with anything you personally might have done, but more so what might have been repeatedly done or said to you by significant others. For example, if as a child your parents habitually called you negative names like idiot or stupid, over time you may begin to think that way about yourself. Such undesirable thoughts may restrict you from seeing yourself in a positive light. If on the other hand important people in your life were in the habit of reinforcing expressions that made you feel special and important, the chances of relating to yourself and to others may be very positive.
Take ownership of your Life
Bob Moawad, educator and motivational speaker once said: “The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Make a deliberate decision not to lay down on the bed of self-pity because of your past experiences, but take the good counsel from Harry Emerson Fosdick who remarked: “Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world - making the most of one’s best.”
Treat Yourself with significance
When you are treating yourself nicely it always reflects the value or worth you place on yourself. How you speak, dress, treat your body, what you put into your mind, the choice of friends or acquaintances with whom you associate and the places you frequent, often mirror the kind of merit you may have assigned to yourself. Never cheapen yourself. It was Abraham Lincoln who said: “It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.”
Speak confidently to yourself
Make it a practice of speaking optimistically to yourself. Think about and speak assertively to yourself regularly about your talents and acquired skills with which God has blessed you. It may surprise you to see your life developing more and more secure and avoiding a quest for endorsement from others to make you feel accepted. Norman Vincent Peale emphasized that “It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.”
Turn negatives into opportunities
Work toward making your life happy by taking what may have been negative features in your past and what may have warped your concepts about yourself, and select those that can be transformed to help beautify your future. The words of Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross are gems to cherish. “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
Never cheapen yourself. Make yourself expensive. Can you imagine what your country may be if every citizen makes a decision to view him or herself through valuable lenses?