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From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 16 Oct 2006
Time: 23:35:28 -0500
Remote Name: 205.188.116.202
I neglected to comment on your awareness of the value of giving ourselves recognition for our achievements in life, no matter how small they may seem to be at the time. Almost all of us, especially those of us involved in self-improvement, and I am no exception, tend to focus on what we want to change and seem to follow the saying, "Good, better, best; never rest until your good is better and your better best." Living that way can cause us to feel over-whelmed and discouraged at times because we think we will never be who we are striving to be. That is why giving ourselves recognition for accomplishments and looking at ourselves in a balanced fashion is so important. This was recognized by the song writer, Hoagy Carmichael, many decades ago when he wrote the lyrics: "You've got to accentuate the postive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between." And more contemporaneously and succinctly by Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master, "We need to address our non-problems to gather the strenght to address our problems." So, you recognized something very basic and important when you recognized the importance of remembering to appreciate our strengths and accomplishments, especially as balanced against our strivings for personal change. Best, Ellen-Marie Silverman