OUR SUCCESS AT FRIENDSHIP business, sports, love- indeed, at nearly every enterprise we attempt - is largely determined by our self-image. People who have a confidence in their personal worth seem to be magnets for success and happiness. Good things drop into their laps regularly, their relationships are long-lasting, their projects are usually carried to completion, and they have a way of enjoying the pleasures tha the day brings. To use Blake's phrase they "catch joy on wing".
On the other hand, some people seem to be magnets for failure and unhappiness. Their plans go awry, they have a way of torpedoing their own successes, and nothing seems to work out for them. In the counseling office where i work we see many such persons. In most insance my colleagues and i find hat their problems stem from a difficulty with self-acceptance. And when we are able to help them gain more confidence many of their psychological roubles take care of themselves.
There is no value-judgement more important
to man - no factor more decisive in his
psychological development and motivation -
than the estimate he passes on himself.
--Nathaniel Branden
