I think if you scanned people’s brain, you would find that their brain is busy, busy, busy, thinking about the dishes, the bills, the alarm clock and shopping with only small breaks for planning next month’s birthday party. Most people are in survival mode. When I ask about next year or what is going to happen in ten years, they look at me as if I fell from the sky.
Read Pandora’s Box »
Today, in part 7 of the self-esteem mini-course, I would like to talk about doubts, the killers of self-esteem, and the role parents can play in filling up doubt-holes with confidence.
My hope is that if you want your kids to have high self-esteem, you will shift your focus from your kids to yourself. Because your attitude as a parent is the key to raising happy, confident kids with high self-esteem.
Parents who drink are more likely to raise kids who grow up to be drinkers. Parents who gamble are more likely to raise kids who grow up to gamble themselves. Therefore, parents with doubts and low self-esteem are more likely to raise kids with low self-esteem.
I believe this cycle needs to end.
Read Get Rid of Your Doubts »
Every person dreams about extreme happiness, a time when we do only the things we want, spend most of our time with the people we love the most, have the money to give ourselves everything we want, are at the peak of our health and our life is perfect.
I think most of our energy in life is spent on bridging the gap between our reality and our dreams, but this energy is wasted if we do not know where we are going.
Many people, when I ask them about what is going to happen in ten years, they say they do not know. I wonder how they can bring themselves to that day without knowing that is where they are going. Most people feel they have no control over what is going to happen in ten years, so they give up planning.
One of my coaches told me that when he was 18, he went to a personal development seminar and the presenter gave them a task to complete – to list the 100 things they wanted to do in their lifetime – and they had to finish it within a week. I remember that when he told me that, I thought that one week was a short time to make this important list. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that the reasons it seemed hard for me were:
1. I had never written my list and I thought that 100 things would come up to my mind in a second, but when I tried, I could only come up with a few.
2. I was afraid that writing the list would be like carving it in stone.
3. I was too worried about how I would get there.
The 3 difficulties I had with making my list of 100 things taught me 3 things.
When I was 14, I promised myself to have words like Marianne Williamson’s speech for Nelson Mandela on the walls of my house to keep me inspired. For those of you who know me, my house has such writings on the walls, in every diary, on every photo album and on the bathroom mirror (in lipstick). I am inspired!
I feel Marianne Williamson captured my life’s journey in this fabulous quote. Many years ago, when I had to make the decision of what to do for a living (except breathing, eating and sleeping), it was the light I saw inside myself that led me to choose Special Education.
I came up with the belief that only people who have seen the light can guide others to find their own and that this is my life’s purpose. Therefore, I dedicated my life to working with gifted children and children with learning difficulties.
Read Permission to Shine »
I got this story from a good friend (Thank you, Norm) and thought I would share it here, because it touched my heart and I wanted it to touch yours.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
Read The Hospital Window »
For most of us, the word “judgment” has bad connotations. It is almost equivalent to criticism. We associate it with laws, trials and with sentences – with power. There are judgmental people; there is a judge in court and even a “judgment day”.
In the personal growth process, we aim to solve the puzzle of our right to judge. Are we allowed to judge? Is it good for us? How to live with the label of being “judgmental”?
When judgment is the weighing of evidence and feelings in order to make a choice, the real question is “Can we be non-judgmental”?
Read Windows of the Heart »
Many of my clients tell me I need to work for the Department of Education to encourage people to become teachers. Since I am so passionate about my teaching and I think it is the best job ever, they think I can convince any person, even those who do not like children, to shift to education.
I have my doubts about convincing any person, but I am sure that being an educator is the best job ever.
Traveling, I think, is a wonderful experience for us all. Children can benefit from travelling even more than grownups, because travelling expands their knowledge, ideas, beliefs and boundaries. Many people ask me, “Why take kids on expensive trips if they cannot remember all the details?”
So I ask them, “Do you remember all the things that made you who you are today?”
We live in a very special era. We are exposed to things today that 100 years ago we could only dream of. Think for example, 100 years ago, only lucky people living next to the ocean knew how a whale sounded. Today, every 3-year-old can tell you how a whale sounds and looks.
Technology has helped a lot to bring the world to our homes. In the beginning, there were photos, then moving picture and now live telecasts, showing things as they happen. We heave reached a point where we do not leave home and we think we can experience life through the screens of our TV and our computer.
But we cannot!
The first step to getting your goal is to start moving. “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there”, said Will Rogers. You see, in the fast-paced world of expanding knowledge and amazing technology, if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. The world does not wait for us in sympathy, to just stop feeling sorry for ourselves, or sort out our excuses. Every day we procrastinate increases the gap, and tomorrow we’ll have to run faster in order to catch up.
Read Action! »
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