Accepting does not necessarily mean liking, enjoying, condoning. I can accept what is-and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck.

Most of the time, I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.

Some people stand and move as if they have no right to the space they occupy. They wonder why others often fail to treat them with respect-not realizing that they have signaled others that it is not necessary to treat them with respect.

The desire for self-esteem without integrity is like the desire for wealth without effort-a longing for the unearned.

Fear and pain should be treated as signals not to close our eyes but to open them wider.

We tend to feel most comfortable, "most at home", with people whose self esteem level resembles our own.

To accept struggle as part of life, to accept all of it, even the darkest moments of anguish; to be motivated by love rather than fear, by confidence rather than insecurity: these are the benchmarks of high self-esteem. The wish to avoid fear and pain is not the motive that drives the lives of highly evolved men and women; rather, it is the life force within them, thrusting toward its unique form of expression-the actualization of personal values.