SELF-ESTEEM

Why the problem is so common in today's world. The results of low self esteem. Two kinds of self-love, negative and positive. The basis for a proper self-esteem. The creation of a loving God and the focus of divine love. Worth a good deal though unworthy.

FOREWARD

"Nobody loves me ... Everybody hates me... I'm going down the garden to eat worms..."

I don't know where I first heard that little jingle. But it's a good one to sing at a pity-party, because it exposes a well-worn truth. If you can just find a way to corner people, stop them in their tracks, pin them down and make them honest, you soon discover that an embarrassingly high percentage of ordinary, capable, loveable human beings secretly don't like themselves very much. Or, in some cases, actually detest themselves.

Now, while I've never felt that bad about John Cooney, I have, I must confess, wasted large chunks of my life feeling very disappointed in me. And I suspect you're no different—especially on bad-hair days.

We're all guilty, aren't we, of stinkin' thinkin'—"Who am I? I'm no good at anything! I've tried, but nothing works! I could never do that! I wish I was someone else!" And we could all use a once-a-month check-up from the neck up.

Which (you've guessed, haven't you?) is just what this booklet is intended to do ...

I have, on occasions, allowed myself to dream of a much more healthy world ... a world in which all people, from earliest childhood on, are taught that they're unique and one-of-a-kind. But then I'm reminded that life-changing truths like this aren't just taught—they're caught! And that I'll never convince anyone else (my wife, my kids, my grandkids, my friends) that they're special unless I'm deep-down convinced that I am.

So may the words on the pages that follow be therapy, and not just theory. And may they come alive for you and the people you're close to.

John Cooney
Founder/editor, Grapevine magazine

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