Only for girls

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

2009-05-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

If you put yourself down, others will follow. If you believe in yourself, others will follow.
When you strut your stuff, you’re not being a show-off. You’re making a contribution. Sharing your gifts. It takes courage to get out of your own way and run with your talents. Courage to excel in something. But don’t you owe it to yourself to succeed? To make yourself proud?
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright said, “Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance.”
Don’t be obnoxious. But do be amazing. Marianne Williamson wrote, “We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Step by step, I can move forward.

2009-05-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Goethe wrote, “Know thyself? If I knew myself, I’d run away.” Everyone has moments of self-doubt. A person who never suffers from self-doubt may be insufferable. But to constantly second-guess or berate or feel sorry for yourself is not ideal, either. “Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress,” said Oprah Winfrey. “Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.”
Forgive yourself for not being perfect, then strive to shore up your shortcomings. Can you be more considerate, more hard-working? Can you step out from behind the curtain and realize your potential?
Dorothy Parker wrote:
I shall stay the way I am Because I do not give a damn.
Good poem; bad attitude. A little effort goes a long way. And if you start out apathetic, you can wind up pathetic.

Self-esteem is a fragile thing.

2009-05-17T10:18:00.001-07:00

Many girls are in a mad rush to grow up. But you can’t hurry puberty or confidence. And would you really want to? Why not revel in your one and only chance to be the age you are now?
Besides, everyone feels awkward. Everyone is going through this. “Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes along,” wrote Samuel Butler.
Appreciating yourself and becoming introspective does not happen overnight. “I loaf and invite my soul,” wrote Walt Whitman. “I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. (I am large. I contain multitudes.)”
If you act differently with different people, it doesn’t mean you’re a hypocrite. It means you’re finding out who you are.Which takes time. Dave Matthews sings, “Am I right side up or upside down?”
Answer: Right side up. Honest.

Being a teenager is a confusing time.

2009-05-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

It takes years to discover who you are and to understand the rules of the game.Years to figure out how to be loyal to yourself and respectful of others. Tom Cruise said, “I truly believe high school is just about the toughest time in any-one’s life.” The good news: Confidence is cumulative. As Alanis Morissette sings, “You live, you learn.”
Adolescents and adults have always had difficulty appreciating each other. Here’s what Socrates wrote way back in 400 B.C.: “Young people nowadays love luxury; they have bad manners and contempt for authority.They show disrespect for old people . . . contradict their parents, talk constantly in front of company, gobble their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
Some strife is inevitable. But respect between generations is a worthy goal, and harmony gets easier.

There is always one true inner voice. Trust it.

2009-05-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it’s hard to know who you are and what you want and whom you like and why you like that person.The answers change because you’re changing. Growing.
But deep inside, you are you.You were you as a baby, you were you as a kid, and you are you right now.
“Let me listen to me and not to them,” wrote Gertrude Stein. It makes sense to consider the advice and opinions of other people. But don’t let their noise drown out your inner voice. And don’t let the way you sometimes talk or behave in front of others make you lose sight of who you are when you are alone, when you are most you.
“You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself,” aviator Beryl Markham cautioned. Get acquainted with yourself. Tune in to the dreams you have by day and by night. Blend in when you choose to, but appreciate what sets you apart. “The more I like me, the less I want to pretend to be other people,” said Jamie Lee Curtis.

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

2009-05-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

Love yourself. Love the things that make you you.Your values and talents and memories.Your clothes, your nose, your woes. If you love yourself, you can jump into your life from a springboard of self-confidence. If you love yourself, you can say what you want to say, go where you want to go.
The world can be a tough place, and some of the billions of people out there will try to knock you down. Don’t join them. Do things that make you proud, then take pride in what you do. And in who you are.
Who are you anyway? What makes you you? How are you like your siblings and neighbors and friends? How are you different? If you were your own secret admirer, what would you most admire?
“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself,” Oscar Wilde wrote, “is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.” Keep pursuing your individuality. Keep being yourself. Becoming yourself. It can be comforting to dress and act like everyone else. But it is grander to be different, to be unique, to be you.