By: Jaime Mejía (Translated by Jessica Schwartzman)
In last Thursday’s Neighborly Conversations Dialogue Circle, we talked about very important topics such as:
- Trying to please everyone else.
- Not speaking out against situations that we dislike.
- Doing what is asked, despite not liking it.
- Dressing according to a partner’s wishes, not how we wish.
- Tolerating hurtful and mocking words from friends
- Not being able to say “enough,” even when something is hurting us
Some of these situations happen often and with people close to us, but we aren’t able to stop it out of fear of hurting them or the friendship, or simply because we don’t dare do so.
We listen to participants’ sharing of very similar problems that have happened to others and how they solved them.
And one main theme emerged...
Everyone agreed that the most important thing in life is ONESELF, that we should learn to like ourselves as we are.
- “I should be proud of who I AM”
- “I examine how I treat myself”
- “If I care for myself, everyone else will learn to care for me”
Still more important is that the path is mine and no one else’s. Self-love and self-respect are a fundamental part of walking my own life’s path.
Your thoughts, your feelings, and your work are what define you as a person, so there is no need to accept humiliations, jokes, or conditions that stop you from being yourself.