No longer are you to scold yourself. Now you are to uphold yourself. Even if you drop a treasured dish, congratulate yourself. Be happy. One less dish to wash, to think of, to worry about. Think more of yourself than you do a dish.

Think more of yourself. Favor yourself. Listen to this, beloveds. The less you fault yourself, the less will others fault you.

Have you not pounced on your perceived faults? Haven't you done that? I am telling you that you have overdone that. You have faulted yourself way too much.

You may complain that other people discount you. You have discounted yourself. You have been like that figure in Greek mythology who climbed the mountain only to slip back time and time again. He never could quite reach the top. In your perception, that's you in a nutshell.

Now you are going to be a great friend to yourself. Would you talk to your good friend the way you talk to yourself? Are you your own good friend, or are you an instigator?

A friend doesn't probe into what is wrong with you. A friend doesn't say to you some of the remarks you make to yourself. Tell yourself:

"Hey, you are good. When you fall down, you jump right back up. You are bright, and you stand tall. You are a blessing. You are a good guy. Most of all, you are good to yourself. And so you are good to others. Of course, God says there are no others. Well, then, you are a leader of the world, and leaders don't berate themselves. You have no time for that. You are busy on other matters.

"A leader in the world is a leaper! And you are one who leaps to the occasion. You always come up running. No grass grows on you. If you fall down, you leap up and keep on going. You are a great resource to yourself.

"You have a great attitude. It is such a pleasure to be with someone like you. I want to be like you.

"You know that if you find fault with yourself, you are clinging to the past. There is no reason for you to hit yourself. Let bygones be bygones.

"If you are keeping a list of errors you made, throw out that list. I tell you this as your friend. Compile a list of the beautiful things you have done and are going to do. The first thing on your list is that you will encourage yourself at every turn. Just the way I, your good friend, talk to you, this is how you will talk to yourself. No longer will you kick yourself. Now that is a foolish thing to do. Never make that mistake again. Never get down on yourself again.

"From now on, you are going to be your own buddy. You will be cheerful about yourself and others and everything. So what if you made an error. Let it go. No matter what you've done, let it go. Let it retreat. Let it recede. No longer belabor it. Even love your errors. The minute you make an error, you graduate from it. Congratulations.

"When you make an error, you have a tiger by the tail, and so you move forward in life. You move lickety-split. You are moving forward and have no time to recount the past whatever its state was.

"You are one who leaps over tall buildings! This is for you to keep in mind. Not lapses, not trials, not errors. Carry yourself high. You are a champion. Chin up," you say to yourself.

 

John