Down Memory Lane

Start the day by smiling (that's according to psychologist). That's what I found in my notes and it was written a few years back. I wrote that in one of the lectures I attended. Today, I feel I'm going down to memory lane when my eyes caught that familiar notebook. And the popular face of that funny lecturer flashes back to my mind. Well, sitting comfortably in the lecture hall, I tried to keep myself  less "visible"  because I didn't want to be questioned on any of the topics lectured! I know it doesn't sound good but sometimes I ran out of ideas to express well on certain issues and failed to give good responses. It would make me fumble and mumble and gosh! even if I'd be able to utter some responses, it wouldn't be that satisfactory. Glad that it only happened occasionally.

As I flipped through the notes, a few of what I wrote refresh my mind. Among those written are as follows :

1. How well do you bounce back from disappointment, failure or any form of setback in your life?

• withdraw
• blame others
• develop a 'poor me' attitude
• get quite depressed
• cry and cry ......
• eat too much or
• give up

Or are you the type who certainly gets a little emotional and then .......

• analyses what went wrong and tries to fix it
• says "I'm okay! My action went wrong in the distance."
• plans a step by step recovery

Which among the above points would you prefer?

2.  Self-esteem - Why is it important for us?

• it is the foundation that we build the rest of us on
• it is about liking ourselves, wants and all
• you can learn to enhance your self-esteem
• you can maintain high self-esteem for life
• healthy level of self-esteem is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children or as a model for other people (e.g. expressing gratitude with sincerity)

What is self-esteem?

• acceptance of ourselves, by ourselves, for who and what we are any time in our life
• it is associated with the belief that we are worthwhile, capable and useful no matter what happened in our life, what is happening or what may happen
• it is identified by the way we act and behave, by  attitudes and beliefs we hold about ourselves and the way we feel about ourselves and the emotions we express

Healthy and high self-esteem

• we hold ourselves in high regard
• we like and accept who we are
• we forgive ourselves easily
• we always focus on our strengths and we can effectively distinguish ourselves from our behaviour or what we do
• if we make mistakes or mess something up, we still acknowledge that we are okay but we learn from experience

Self-esteem is also

• the ability to look at what we can do and
• what we have done
• build on this during our lives rather than looking at what we haven't done and what we cannot do and filling ourselves up with blame and self-doubt

How do we boost up self-esteem?

• Do some wonderful things

How do we know if we have it?

• will talk and act in a confident manner
• and certainly put our point of view forward if we feel it is required and necessary
• can deal with failures and admit when they are wrong
• can tell ourselves that we are hopeless and useless......

Well, that's a little bit of sharing on what I got during those days when my time was packed with books, lectures, assignments and examinations. No matter how hectic it was, today it brings back smile  for the memory is so sweet and I wish so much for such days again.

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