 A friend in my men’s group said something this morning that kind of blew my mind. He said, “self-esteem is not a judgment, it’s an action.” Usually when we think of self-esteem we think of feeling better – a subjective evaluation of how I think I’m doing. My friend is suggesting that self-esteem is me treating myself well, that the focus needs to be on the action – the feeling will come on its own. It’s worth looking at the definition of esteem, which is “to have respect and admiration…” for the object of our esteem. It’s not about how the object of our esteem feels! The definition is about the one doing the esteeming, not about the person being esteemed! Hang in here a moment – this means esteem is a gift or honoring that comes from outside of the person being esteemed… Which makes self-esteem seem a little tricky. This question will help pull it together: “Do I respect and admire myself?” What is it to respect and admire? The first thing I notice is that respect and admire are both verbs, which reinforces my friend’s original observation. Now, what are some of the qualities of respect and admiration? When I respect someone I let them be who they are, I don’t try to tell them what to do, I support them without judgment, I let them have their own experience, I try to withhold my unsolicited advice. When I admire someone I see in them an example of what I’d like to be, and sometimes through that vision, I become aware of my own gifts and shortcomings and am inspired to be better. Now I can ask: Do I let myself be who I am? Do I support myself without judgment? Do I allow myself to experience my life as it is? Am I an example of who I’d like to be? Am I aware of my shortcomings? Do I inspire myself to be better? These questions take me beyond merely feeling better about myself, and point down a wider path that I can begin to walk: I can take action. I can choose to do the better, the right, the healthier thing. I can catch myself when I judge myself harshly. I can give myself a break. I can give myself encouragement instead listening to my inner critic. I can open myself to challenges and opportunities rather than shutting down or trying to control. I can be grateful for where I am and from where I’ve come. I can notice my growing edge and step up to it. And I can look at myself in the mirror and be OK with who I see. It’s helpful for me to remember that this is a journey and an exploration, not a checklist. This is learning skillful means – an action to practice, not something to convince myself about. I hope you find this helpful…  Over the years I have encountered a few stories that really speak to me. This story reminds me to hold lightly my ideas about “THE WAY THINGS ARE” and to remember that there are forces at work that I don’t know about. Once there was a farmer who lived with his son and one day they found a beautiful white horse. The people of the village said, “Such a beautiful horse, you are so lucky!” The farmer gave the horse a handful of grain and said, “We’ll see…” Sometime later the son and the horse were clearing a field when the horse took fright, and the son fell and broke his arm. The villagers said, “Oh, too bad your son broke his arm, that horse was bad luck after all.” The farmer took his son to the doctor and said, “We’ll see…” A week later the army came to the village and conscripted all the young men except the farmer’s son who had a broken arm. The villagers said, “You’re so lucky, your son didn’t have to go to war!” Putting a saddle on the horse the farmer said, “We’ll see…” As humans we have meaning-making minds, but in this story the farmer declines to presume he knows what events mean. In his openness, the farmer demonstrates great skill in riding the wave of existence, staying in the present moment without grasping at this or that.
Sometimes in my life difficult situations arise, situations that I’m likely to judge as dire before I even take a moment to breathe. One of my growing edges is to wait and see… |
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