Self esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.

Do not marry the enemy of your excitement.

Loving consciously does not mean subjecting your relationship to endless analysis. It means something much simpler: paying attention. Noticing. This requires presence.

The lies most devastating to our self-esteem are not so much the lies we tell as the lies we live.

Live with integrity, respect the rights of other people, and follow your own bliss.

The more you surrender to the fear of someone's disapproval, the more you lose face in your own eyes, and the more desperate you become for someone's approval. Within you is a void that should have been filled by self-esteem. When you attempt to fill it with the approval of others instead, the void grows deeper and the hunger for acceptance and approval grows stronger. The only solution is to summon the courage to honor your own judgment, frightening though that may be in the beginning.

For "I" to become "we" and yet remain "I," is one of the great challenges of marriage.