self - self 2 - self 4
   

Very often a change of self
is needed more than
a change of scene.

Arthur C. Benson

   

It is not pride when the beech-tree refuses to copy the oak.  The only chance of any healthy life for it is to be as full a beech-tree as it can be.

Phillips Brooks

      
What is important is to realize that whether we understand fully who we are or what will happen when we die, it's our purpose to grow as human beings, to look within ourselves, to find and build upon that source of peace and understanding and strength that is our individual self.  And then to reach out to others with love and acceptance and patient guidance in the hope of what we may become together.

Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross
  
In thinking of ourselves as divided into “I” and “me,” we easily forget that consciousness also lives because it is moving. It is as much a part and product of the stream of change as the body and the whole natural world.  If you look at it carefully, you will see that consciousness—the thing you call “I”—is really a stream of experiences, of sensations, thoughts, and feelings in constant motion. But because these experiences include memories, we have the impression that “I” is something solid and still, like a tablet upon which life is writing a record.

Alan W.Watts
The Wisdom of Insecurity
   

You have within you all of the strength and wisdom you could ever need.  Never doubt that.  Never fear to draw upon it.

Susan Santucci

  

Learn to value yourself, which means to fight for your happiness.

Ayn Rand

  

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If only I may grow:  firmer, simpler—quieter, warmer.

Dag Hammarskjöld

  

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to
have more things, or more money, in order to do more
of what they want, so they will be happier.  The way it actually
works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are,
then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

Margaret Young

  

One of the most common words in the invalidating, self-blaming
stories we believe about ourselves or our situations is the
word “should.”  The psychologist Albert Ellis has coined the
phrase “Stop shoulding on yourself.”  When you tell yourself that
you should feel or be another way, you are likely to feel bad
about yourself.  As an alternative, try telling yourself that
it is okay to feel or be the way you are, even though you
have some idea that you should feel or be different.

Bill O’Hanlon

  
We usually look outside ourselves for heroes and teachers.  It has not
occurred to most people that they may already be the role model they seek.
The wholeness they are looking for may be trapped within themselves by
beliefs, attitudes, and self-doubt.  But our wholeness exists in us now.
Trapped though it may be, it can be called upon for guidance, direction,
and most fundamentally, comfort.  It can be remembered.
Eventually we may come to live by it.

Rachel Naomi Remen
  

It's easy to see and notice what we like in other people.  Sometimes,
it's not as easy to see the attributes and beauty in ourselves.
It's good to see the beauty in others.  But sometimes, take a
moment and get excited when you notice what's
beautiful in yourself, too.

Melody Beattie

   
If you love yourself, you take good care of yourself.  But early in life many of us stop loving ourselves and lose a sense of our own value.  Others grow up with a sense of self-worth but get beaten down by the difficulties of life and then give up caring about themselves.  I don't want to criticize people and tell them what to do.  But I would like to see everyone accept themselves and love themselves as much as they love their pets.  Some people only learn to love themselves when a life-threatening illness awakens them.  When they are facing death, they stop smoking and start eating fruits and vegetables.  Why wait until your life is almost over to realize that you should care for yourself?

Bernie Siegel

   

    

Personally, I haven't grown up with influences that focused on
my personal power and potential, so I've had a hard time
focusing on it as an adult.  It's a lot of work, to be honest,
but work that's well worth it.  You are a very valuable person,
just as valuable as world leaders and doctors and lawyers and
other people who are constantly in the news.  Your value
may not manifest itself in the world arena, but when it does
manifest itself, you can be sure that it provides a great boost
to people other than yourself.  Strive to reach your potential,
not just for yourself, but for the others who will be
positively affected by your actions when you've
acknowledged just how valuable you truly are.

tom walsh

   

As you move into the day, be aware of
how you treat yourself.  As you shower
or bathe, be aware of how you handle your
body.  Are you gentle?  Or are you rough?
As you eat your meals today, be aware of
how much time, energy, and attention
you give to nourishing yourself.  When it
comes to self-nurturing, are you
attentively conscious?  Are you
unconsciously rushed?  Be aware of
what you do to and for yourself,
because you set the
standard for others.

Iyanla Van Zant

   

Don't let the opinions of other people determine the image
you have of yourself.  There is no need to feel either
appreciated or understood.  Be even-minded.  What you think
about yourself is everything.  What others think about you has
no value at all, unless you choose to give it value.

Shantidasa

    

    

When we become expert at loving and caring for ourselves,
we feel healthy, centered, and strong.  We don't need to escape from
our reality through shopping, eating, drinking, drugging, or losing ourselves
in abusive relationships.  We feel warm and safe within ourselves.
We learn to value everything about ourselves--our bodies and
minds, our feelings and needs, our potential, strengths and weaknesses--
throughout all the seasons of our lives.  We feel free to acknowledge
the truth of who we are, realizing that God didn't send us here perfect,
but to work toward perfection.  When we trust fully, accepting ourselves
not as we wish to be but as we are, we develop a sense of wholeness
that brings us joy.  We stop hiding and worrying about whether anyone
else sees our flaws.  We aren't defensive or judgmental.  We know
who we are, we know where we stand, and we accept that
we--like everyone else in the world--have some growing to do.

Susan L. Taylor

   

Three things are certain:  Life's too short to live for other people.  (I wish
someone had told me that in my twenties.)  And this, too:  Life doesn't come
with a rewind button.  If we want to live genuinely, we have to free ourselves
from the beliefs, attitudes, and judgments of others.  We have to strive
to be our truest self.  We have to hear and heed the advice of Children's
Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman:  "You were born God's
original.  Try not to become someone's copy."

Patti LaBelle

  

self - self 2 - self 4

I have observed that the vast majority of those between 12 and 20 years
of age are bitterly disappointed with who they are and what they represent.
In a world that worships superstars and miracle men, they look in the mirror
for signs of greatness, seeing only a terminal case of acne.

James Dobson

  

This is the miracle of life:  that each person who heeds him or herself
knows what no scientist can ever know:  who he or she is.

Soren Kierkegaard

   

My dad always used to say, "If you take a step and it feels good,
you must be headed in the right direction."  What he wanted us
to understand was that we needed to measure our progress against
an inner compass, using our feelings, our comfort level, and our
knowledge of ourselves as the ultimate guide. . . .
   I've spent most of my adult life trying to hear that inner voice
above the noise around me. . . . It says softly that happiness is
as simple as having something to look forward to in the morning.
It says, in a low murmur I sometimes have to strain to hear,
that now is the time to have fun.

Linda Weltner

   

The self exists both inside and outside the physical body,
just as an image exists inside and outside the mirror.

from the Ashtavakra Gits

     

Would you be a pilgrim on the road to Love?  The first condition
is that you make yourself as humble as dust and ashes.

Ansari of Herat

   

I will cease to live as a self and will take as my self my fellow-creatures.

Shantideva

  

We can spend our entire lives betraying ourselves and choosing fitting
in over standing alone.  But once we've stood up for ourselves and our
beliefs, the bar is higher.  A wild heart fights fitting in and grieves betrayal.

Brené Brown
Braving the Wilderness

  

   

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Rather than fitting one's life into the demands of external conformity,
rather than living one's life as an imitation of the life of another, one
should look to find the authentic self within.  One should labor to
develop one's own unique style in crafting one's soul.  An individual
who denies his or her own individuality articulates life with a voice
other than that which is uniquely his or her own.  One who suppresses
one's own self is in danger of missing the point of one's own existence,
of surrendering what being human means.


Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin

  

When we cannot find contentment in ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

La Rochefoucauld

    

The culture we have does not make people feel good about
themselves.  And you have to be strong enough to say
if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.


Morrie Schwartz

   
Before I ever heard the term "emotional dependence," I knew that, in some mysterious way, I turned my life over to other people. It didn't matter who they were--my parents, husband, kids, friends, coworkers. If they were happy with me, then I could be happy. If they approved of me, then I felt worthwhile.  If they granted permission, then I believed it was okay for me to do or be something. I looked to others for approval before feeling confident enough to take a step or a stand. I wasn't myself; I was whoever I thought the person I was trying to please wanted me to be. Since I wasn't a mind reader, no matter what form I pretzeled myself into, I wasn't able to please everyone all of the time. But I tried.  That's emotional dependence!

Denying or sacrificing ourselves on the altar of others' expectations--or what we perceive to be their expectations--leaves us with no self. Without an awareness of our self, the courage to express who we are, and the willingness to experience the discomfort and exhilaration that follows, we are not truly living. We are existing merely as mirrors, reflecting other people's lives. Until we are willing to be our unique and beautiful (and, sometimes, ugly and mundane) selves, we cannot truly love either ourselves or others, and love is what life is all about.

Sue Patton Thoele
   

Trust yourself.  Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live
with all your life.  Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner
sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Foster C. Mcclellan

  

The most important aspect is to be yourself and have confidence
in yourself. . . . Triumph can't be had without the struggle.

Wilma Rudolph

  

I painfully dug up the entire field
so that I could plant my own crop.

Sheldon Kopp

Working on self-knowledge is not easy.  Often, the harder it is, the more important it is.  We dig up things we would rather not see.  We resist the pain.  We have a choice between a lifetime dull ache and a brief acute confrontation.

We settle for the familiar and confuse boredom with depression.

We all have unexpected moments of insight.  "Oh, that's what that was all about."  Few of us seem to be willing to push deeper.

People who refuse to do their personal homework reap crops sown in the past by their parents' influence and other powerful experiences.  Unwilling to dig deep enough to set their own values and perceptions, they are caught forever working over the same small parts of their past.

Do your homework.  Self-knowledge is for the purpose of contributing.  You can change your perception of the past to bring peace to your present and our future.

Jennifer James
Success Is the Quality of Your Journey

   

I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on
the earth is not a hardship but a pastime--if we live simply and wisely.

Henry David Thoreau

   

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t
be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s
thinking.  Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own
inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart
and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to
become.  Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs

   

The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and
head and hands, and then work outward from there.

Robert M. Pirsig

   

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

  
There is a dangerous threat in the air these days—the threat of our being thought for,
ruled, regulated, pushed around, made into Things.  There is only one weapon against
that.  The weapon is the Self—the unique and incalculable reality that is a human soul.

Eric Manners (1953)
    

Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we
really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are
responsible.  Make that decision primarily for yourself, because
you can never really live anyone else's life, not even your own
child's.  The influence you exert is through your
own life and what you become yourself.

Eleanor Roosevelt

   

Everybody is unique.
Compare not yourself with anybody else
lest you spoil God's curriculum.

Baal Shem Tov

   
self
- self 2 - self 4

   
I exist.  I am.  I am here.  I am becoming.  I make my life and no one
else makes it for me.  I must face my own shortcomings, mistakes, and
transgressions.  No one can suffer my non-being as I do, but tomorrow
is another day, and I must decide to leave my bed and live again. 
And if I fail, I don’t have the comfort of blaming you or life or God.

Joseph Zinker
  

Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not
success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.  Success, popularity, and
power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often
comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection.
When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable,
then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.
The real trap, however, is self-rejection.  As soon as someone accuses me or
criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself
thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody.  I am no good. . . I
deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned."  Self-rejection
is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice
that calls us the "Beloved."  Being the Beloved constitutes
the core truth of our existence.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

  

Don’t take yourself too seriously.  It just makes life all the
harder.  It’ll all come out in the wash anyway, because God’s
glory eventually will eclipse everything that goes wrong on
this earth.  Lighten up and learn to laugh at yourself.  None
of us is infallible.  We make mistakes in life, and more often
than not, they’re funny.  Sometimes, being your own
source of comedy is the most fun of all.

Luci Swindoll

   

     
    

Found online:
 

 
(Found online images come from a variety of unattributed
sources from various social media pages.  They're too nice
not to share!)

     
    

Alone in his car heading west, it's easy for Jason
to feel sorry for himself and mad at the world.  But
then he gives a ride to Hector and learns that life
isn't nearly as negative as we sometimes see it,
and that the prejudice and discrimination that
he's experiencing aren't unique to him--and aren't
impossible to overcome.  The friendship between
this young man and his 70-year-old passenger is
an inspiring story of love and dealing with
obstacles in our lives.    
Book - Kindle

   
    

    
    

Articles and book excerpts on self:

Accepting Yourself Unconditionally      Brian Tracy
Acknowledge the Totality of Your Being      Richard Carlson

Your Higher Self      Wayne Dyer

Keeping It Together      Rachel Naomi Remen

Pruning a Tree      Bernie Siegel

Self-Love      M. Scott Peck

from "Self-Reliance"      Ralph Waldo Emerson

Site to Be Developed      Bernie Siegel

Taking Charge by Taking Responsibility      Dan Millman

from The Te of Piglet      Benjamin Hoff

Your Hidden Potential      Ari Kiev

A Complete and Balanced Life      Helaine Iris

Ponderings on Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata"      tom walsh

Doing vs. Being      tom walsh

Successfully Downloading and Installing "A-Ha's"      Julie Jordan Scott

Elevate Your Life Simply and Lusciously      Julie Jordan Scott

How to Open up While Staying Safe      Rinatta Paries

In This Day      Bob Perks

It Is up to You      Jim Rohn

Journey into Your Heart      Ronald Bissell

Let Freedom Ring!      Kathy Paauw

Listen While You Speak      Louise Morganti Kaelin

Making Change, One Layer at a Time      Rosemarie Rossetti

Morning Pages      Asoka Selvarajah

Self-Improvement as It Applies to You      Robert Taylor

Solitude and Seclusion      Khalil Gibran

Sometimes Undoing and Forgetting Are Best      Asoka Selvarajah

Sprouting Seeds--the Roots of Self-Growth      Gary Barnes

The Teachers in My Life      tom walsh

Top Ten Principles to Live by--Plus One!      Louise Morganti Kaelin

You Are a Marvel      Pau Casals
The Most Important Meetings You'll Attend Are the Meetings You Have with Yourself     Denis Waitley
The Art of Living with Ourselves      Wilferd A. Peterson