Abraham Twerski - When Do the Good Things Start?
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People with low self-esteem are likely to misinterpret many things in the light of their conviction that they are inadequate, worthless, and unlikable.
Suppose you walk into a room just as another person happens to be leaving. Your coming in and the other person's leaving are totally unrelated. But if you happen to be a person with low self-esteem, you may think, 'He is leaving because he saw me coming. He is just like all the rest. He doesn't like me.' When bad things happen it is a pity, but that is all there is to it. However if you are prone to self-deprecation, you are apt to interpret everything as an indication of your inadequacy. If you are really feeling worthless, you may see yourself not only as too inadequate to cope with the world, but as so inadequate that you cannot live with yourself. Whereas most people can look at both their successes and their failures, people with negative self-images are preoccupied exclusively with their failures, not only the ones that have already happened, but all those that could possibly happen in the future. People with low self-esteem may be totally oblivious to those things they do that do turn out well. In fact, the only thing that they think they can achieve that comes close to success is a failure which is of lesser magnitude. |
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- When Do the Good Things Start?
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