perspectives

Hurrah! I've identified why I was dragged down, and now I've put my finger on it, it's much easier to get back up again. Today I want to remember (tho with a kinder tone than perhaps it suggests) "what other people think of you in none of your business." Being concerned as to what others think of me and wanting them to only think well of me is an oldie and I know I can let it get to me, but actually what's important is what _I_ think of me. We are the only ones who know what we are facing/feeling/thinking/doing, and if others judge us on what they perceive from their standpoint, that is their call. Impressionable and interrelated tho we all are, we don't have to let the views of others diminish us.

And so, if I was only to concern myself with what I thought of myself, I'd have work to do. There's definite room for improvement about thinking kindly of myself. If I shed the worry as to what others are making of me, it frees up a whole pile of energy to focus on smiling at how great a job I'm doing of being the love. I've kept a christmas card from a volunteer who said lovely things about me, in case I need to remind myself that there are many who think highly of all I do and all I am. But mainly, I need to remember that it's not what others think that matters at all - they might have it wrong, or they might have it right, they might think I'm the bee's knees or wish I'd never been born. But instead of fretting as to how others see me, my business really is just the art of being myself. Clearly this can be seen as arrogant, an ignoring of other people's perspectives. And of course there are times when other people's perspectives can make a positive difference. I'm very grateful to the friend this week who solidly offered her view that I was doing well. I told her that whilst i didn't wish to accuse her of lying, I did not feel that I was doing well. She didn't try to impose her view, she said that from where she was, she could see I was doing well, and she said it was totally fine for me to feel from my perspective that I wasn't and that I didn't have to pretend I felt otherwise. So I'm not suggesting that I stop listening to other people's perspectives - just that they are only a perspective, like mine is only a perspective and I can choose to work on mine as it's the only one I need to influence :D