Build, don’t destroy
“Our negative sense of self has been replaced by a positive concern for others.”
Basic Text, p.16
Spreading gossip feeds a dark hunger in us. Sometimes we think the only way we
can feel good about ourselves is to make someone else look bad by comparison. But
the kind of self-esteem that can be purchased at another’s expense is hollow and not
worth the price.
How, then, do we deal with our negative sense of self? Simple. We replace it with a
positive concern for others. Rather than dwell on our low self-esteem, we turn to
those around us and seek to be of service to them.
This may seem to be a way of avoiding the issue, but it’s not. There’s nothing we can
do by dwelling on our low sense of self except work ourselves into a stew of self-pity.
But by replacing our self-pity with active, loving concern for others, we become the
kind of people we can respect.
The way to build our self-esteem is not to tear others down, but to build them up
through love and positive concern. To help us with this, we can ask ourselves if we
are contributing to the problem or to the solution. Today, we can choose to build
instead of destroy.
Just for today: Though I may be feeling low, I don’t need to tear someone down to
build myself up. Today, I will replace my negative sense of self with a positive
concern for others. I will build, not destroy.