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The higher our self-esteem, the stronger the drive to express ourselves, reflecting the sense of richness within. The lower our self-esteem, the more urgent the need to prove ourselves or to forget ourselves by living mechanically and unconsciously.

Nathaniel Branden

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Nathaniel Branden
Age: 84 †
Born: 1930
Born: April 9
Died: 2014
Died: December 3
Academic
Non-Fiction Writer
Psychologist
Psychotherapist
Within
Urgent
Forget
Lower
Living
Esteem
Sense
Drive
Self
Express
Mechanically
Need
Stronger
Unconsciously
Needs
Prove
Richness
Higher
Reflecting

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Doing more of what doesn't work doesn't work.
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To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals—to the best of our ability, whatever that ability may be—and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.
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... there is an irrational, cultish tendency in many intellectual movements, and Objectivism, alas, is no exception. Ayn Rand's personal obsession with loyalty did little to discourage this trend.... Rand had often protested, 'Protect me from my followers!'
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A depression is a large-scale decline in production and trade...there is nothing in the nature of a free-market economy to cause such an event.
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If my aim is to prove I am 'enough,' the project goes on to infinity-because the battle was already lost on the day I conceded the issue was debatable.
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If you overcome your fear to ask someone for a date, a raise, or help with a project, that is an act of self-assertiveness. You are moving out into life rather than contracting and withdrawing.
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Self-esteem is not a luxury it is a profound spiritual need.
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A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.
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For children mastery entails struggle. This means they must be permitted to struggle. If parents inappropriately step in to help-out of impatience or solicitude-they sabotage important learning. Among other things, the child is unlikely to discover the advantages of perseverance and self-discipline.
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What is guilt? It is moral self-reproach-I did wrong when it was possible to have done otherwise.
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No one is coming to save you.
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Freedom is still the most radical idea of all.
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As you grow in self-esteem, your face, manner, way of talking and moving will tend naturally to project the pleasure you take in being alive.
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The ultimate test of our integrity is not how we deal with those whom we agree but how we deal with those who we do not agree.
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Integrity is the integration of ideals, convictions, standards, beliefs-and behavior. When our behavior is congruent with our professed values, when ideals and practice match up, we have integrity.
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Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.
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Set goals that don't feel all that easy, that challenge you, stimulate you, and give you a chance to stretch and push yourself. That is where the power of growth lies.
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I have to respect other's opinions even if I don't agree with them.
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The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.
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If we attach more importance to what other people believe than to what we know to be true - if we value belonging over being - we will not attain authenticity.
Nathaniel Branden