Time to Garden Out the Weeds in Your Self Respect Thoughts
One important aspect of respect is self respect.
Like many attributes in life, respect for yourself is something you must have before you can give it to others. It is almost impossible to respect and love others if you do not respect and love yourself.
For, as Zig Ziglar has pointed out, "The most influential person who will talk to you all day is you, so you should be very careful about what you say to you!"
Your heightened self awareness and self understanding, is very critical.
If you are not careful, your constant chatter with yourself will pull you down through negative thoughts that create a poor attitude, an unattractive demeanor and reduced self esteem.
That is why it is important to understand and be aware of what motivates you and what drives your own self respect to lower levels. After all, having low self esteem is like driving through life with your personal hand brake on.
"To think bad thoughts," notes James Clavell, "is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline -- training -- is about."
How do you eliminate, or at least control, the bad thoughts buzzing throughout your mind?
Jim Rohn answers this question with a gardening metaphor: "You cannot take the mild approach to the weeds in your mental garden. You have got to hate weeds enough to kill them. Weeds are not something you handle; weeds are something you devastate."
Perhaps it's time to do a little self respect gardening work this weekend?
This article is partially excerpted from Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon.
