In Any Culture, Subculture, Or Family In

Your Choices Have Psychological Consequences. The Way You Choose To Deal With Reality, Truth, Facts - Your Choice To Honor Or Dishonor Your Own Perceptions - Registers In Your Mind, For Good Or For Bad, And Either Confirms And Strengthens Your Self-esteem Or Undermines And Weakens It.

The More You Surrender To The Fear Of Someone's Disapproval, The More You Lose Face In Your Own Eyes, And The More Desperate You Become For Someone's Approval. Within You Is A Void That Should Have Been Filled By Self-esteem. When You Attempt To Fill It With The Approval Of Others Instead, The Void Grows Deeper And The Hunger For Acceptance And Approval Grows Stronger. The Only Solution Is To Summon The Courage To Honor Your Own Judgment, Frightening Though That May Be In The Beginning.

To Preserve An Unclouded Capacity For The Enjoyment Of Life Is An Unusual Moral And Psychological Achievement. Contrary To Popular Belief, It Is Not The Prerogative Of Mindlessness, But The Exact Opposite: It Is The Reward Of Self-esteem.

High Self Esteem People Can Surely Be Knocked Down By An Excess Of Troubles, But They Are Quickerto Pick Themselves Up Again.

Romantic Love Can Be Terrifying. We Experience Another Human Being As Enormously Important To Us. So There Is Surrender -not A Surrender To The Other Person So Much As To Our Feeling For The Other Person. What Is The Obstacle? The Possibility Of Loss.