Putting Yourself Down

"It's not enough to know how to ride – you must also know how to fall."
Mexican proverb

PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN

This is a big week at Exchange.  We are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Child Care Information Exchange, and we are hosting our fifth annual World Forum in Early Care and Education in Acapulco, Mexico.  To celebrate these two events, the content of ExchangeEveryDay for the next few weeks will be taken from the 25 year history of Child Care Information Exchange as well as from presentations at the World Forum.  Today we start with this excerpt from the July 1985 issue of Exchange:

"Working in the field of psychology and counseling, psychologist Dennis Gannon in Rochester, New York has learned many ways in which people make themselves miserable and put themselves down.  In Preschool News (May/June 1984), the newsletter of the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency in Rochester, Dr. Gannon listed the ten most deadly ways in which we can continue to put ourselves down and make ourselves miserable:

1.  Not being in concious charge of your own life and not accepting full responsibility for your own growth and total well-being regardless of handicapping circumstances beyond your control.

2.  Not having or actively pursuring a life objective that is meaningful to you, lack of clear-cut and meaningful goals to guide your decisions and preclude coasting, self-indulgence, procrastination, and lack of self-discipline.

3.  Being a professional people pleaser.

4.  Working at an occupation that you heartily dislike, especially one that is not meaningful to you.

5.  Depending on others for a sense of importance and realness, rather than realizing that everyone is of equal worth and importance, not recognizing that we vary only in our individual awareness and our specific talents and capabilities.

6.  Not allowing yourself the right and freedom of full expression, not developing your innate talents and capabilities.

7.  Comparing yourself and your accomplishments with those of others as a gauge of your individual worth and importance.  Having a conviction that you must prove your worth through superior performance and achievements.

8.  Not speaking up for your own convictions.  Letting others ignore or belittle you, not realizing that no one can insult or put you down unless you accept their worth and authority over you.

9.  Depending on others to do things that you are capable of doing for yourself.

10.  Not realizing that your very existence proves your innate worth and importance regardless of how well or how poorly you conform to accepted standards.