ALL of these affect your health by lowering your resistance to disease, increasing your own body’s attacks on itself (autoimmune disorders) and causing dangerously low mineral and vitamin deficiencies. Yikes–you may say, I engage in a lot of these behaviors!  Even if you did all of these things, you can start with just one. Pick one with the understanding that every little bit you do can make a difference in your happiness. Just the psychological effects of knowing you are tackling something in your life that is harmful to you makes a difference. Feeling good is a natural thing–but just like a cold can block our ability to breathe well, our behaviors can block our ability to feel happy. Give happiness a fighting chance–start a new habit today!

How important is feeling good? is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

If you have ever thought you were too shy to have friends, think about a TV show or a book you’ve loved. You fall in love with the characters and you can’t wait for the next episode or chapter. Then inevitably, the story has to end. No, you don’t want it to end…you want it to go on. These people are real to you. When the story ends, they end too. It’s like losing a real friend. Well, here’s the good news–you can have real friends! You can follow their story as they follow yours. You can talk to them and they will talk back.

How do you find friends? You become a friend. Maybe you’ll have to step out of your comfort zone but just Ask. Ask people about themselves, what they do, what they like, what music they listen to, their family, their pet, their job where they were born, have they every bunji jumped on and on. Once someone begins talking they will think you are awesome. Don’t think you have nothing to say, either. Your story is fascinating because everyone’s story is different. Thinking you have nothing to say means you don’t think you have any significance. Believe me, you do because no one else’s story is like yours….and that makes you interesting.

Story Lines is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Monday Morning is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Are you stuck in a rut? is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Does Your Birthday Really Matter? is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Some people, though, don’t know what to do when they aren’t running around. They like being busy because they don’t have to think about problems and issues that are bothering them.
I will tell you a secret: The more you don’t deal with your issues, the more power they have over you. They become more inscrutable because they are vague and seem to float away from us when we “remember” we have a problem. Sit down with yourself, write down what you think the problem is. Then write down what you would tell a friend if she or he had the same problem. Just the act of writing it down helps because you have finally taken control. Obviously some problems are more easily solvable than others but taking a step is a start–a good start to freeing up your Spring.

Most people dread January, February and March is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

We live in a city on the East coast and like many other cities, have had a lot of snow. Most of us have to park on the street and we have learned to squeeze three cars in spaces most people would only try to park two. We know that if we are careful, everyone usually gets a place to park. The snow has taken our parking places down by about 1/3 and those of us who get home late have to park blocks and blocks away. Not fun on a cold night, especially if you are toting groceries.

This person I mentioned took up two parking places for five days (no one knew whose car it was) even though someone had left a note on the car. Now the note wasn’t bad but it did have an edge to it. When the neighborhood found out whose car it was, someone approached her in person. Upon being asked to move her car, she was incensed. She said if the note had been nice, she would have moved it. Since that time, about three weeks now, even though she is the only person in her household she has consistently parked her two vehicles over four spaces. Despite attempts to mend this situation, she refuses to speak to anyone.

This is not about me. This is not about parking spaces. This is about how important our personhood is. Here is a person who probably has a long history of being wounded. She’s angry and wants to let people know she is somebody. If she had a good sense of self-worth, she would have said, “Geez-sorry, let me move it.”

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Our personhood, our soul, is given to us by God; this should be important enough in itself to remind us that hurting another person or ourselves is degrading and destructive. And it has a long tail…..

How Important Is Our Personhood? is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Cover via Amazon

Fluzzard

For me, it’s not only been the Blizzard of 2010 but the flu. There is a difference. Had it just been the blizzard I would have been looking busy but really just wasting time. The flu, however, kept me stuck on the sofa so I ended up watching old movies– wonderful, funny, tragical and magical movies.

Coming back to the real world put me in touch with the fact that we are so eager to move on to the next new thing that we give short shrift to anything not so new.  A movie comes out and within two weeks, it’s on DVD. Good songs are only good for a couple of weeks. No wonder people feel insecure about themselves. Any success is immediately overshadowed by the implication that if it’s not the latest thing, it’s not as good. We don’t take time to savor, to take our place in the universe—or if we do, it’s only for 15 minutes.  Here are some movies that have much to say and that we need to hear…again and again.

Network—the writing is phenomenal and so is the plot.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner- the writing is honest; Spencer Tracey died 16 days after he finished the movie. It still makes me sad that he’s gone. If you don’t know who he is, you’re missing something.

Fiddler on the Roof- Stunning insight into change and the human spirit. Sophistication doesn’t score. You can’t not sing.

The Bridge on the River Kwai – makes you understand why we should be on bended knee to anyone who served in the military in WWII.

Turner Classic Movies is showing all Oscar winning movies in February. You can even vote online for your top ten favorites. Catch is, you’ll have to watch some to be able to vote. It’s a great catch.

Reminder to love your life from favorite classic movies is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

Image via Wikipedia

The holidays are a very dangerous time for self-esteem.  The last thing we need to do is measure self-worth based on gifts. There are hundreds of opportunities now to turn away from activities that involve comparing ourselves to others. You only need to look within yourself to know if you are doing the right things. Don’t allow someone else to set your priorities for you. If you hate to do outside lights, get a spotlight and devote yourself to visiting the animal shelter if that’s what you want. It’s better to have a happy house than a tension-filled one that wears 10,000 lights. This season, more than all the others, should encourage you to value yourself because you are already valued…there is already a reason you’re here.

The holidays are a dangerous time for self-esteem is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth

There are two phone conversations I’m trying not to listen to–difficult because I can hear every word. These people think they are having a private chat but the rest of us know that the girl in row five is incensed with her boyfriend and the man a few seats up  has, for reasons we can only guess,  found it necessary to state over and over that he is a very busy person.

Something has been lost with the advent of this media-mad world. It is a sense of delicacy. I just feel funny around someone who would have such a private conversation in such a public place. In fact, it is in dreadfully, exceedingly enormously bad taste. I am sure these are good people. One of them may even help me with my big, overstuffed bags. But please, self-importance is not the same as self-worth. The first is loud and embarrassing; the second is quiet and dignified.

Self-importance is not the same as self-worth. is a post from: Terry Diebold on the Value of Self Worth