Quote

The practice of assertiveness: being authentic in our dealings with others treating our values and persons with decent respect in social contexts refusing to fake the reality of who we are or what we esteem in order to avoid disapproval the willingness to stand up for ourselves and our ideas in appropriate ways in appropriate contexts.

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
Reality
Respect
Treating
Persons
Stand
Authentic
Ideas
Ways
Willingness
Assertiveness
Way
Practice
Fake
Contexts
Values
Appropriate
Assertive
Social
Decent
Disapproval
Others
Esteem
Dealings
Order
Avoid
Refusing

More quotes by Nathaniel Branden

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Force, governmental coercion, is the instrument by which the ethics of altruism - the belief that the individual exists to serve others - is translated into political reality.
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For the rational, psychologically healthy man, the desire for pleasure is the desire to celebrate his control over reality. For the neurotic, the desire for pleasure is the desire to escape from reality.
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You have a right to your feelings. Your feelings are there to tell you something, but they are not infallible guides to behavior.
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Self-esteem is not a luxury it is a profound spiritual need.
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It's not that achievements prove our worth but rather that the process of achieving is the means by which we develop our effectiveness, our competence at living.
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The stability we cannot find in the world, we must create within our own persons.
Nathaniel Branden
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There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.
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Even when our life is most difficult, it is important to remember that something within us is keeping us alive- the life force-that lift us, energizes us, pulls us back sometimes from the abyss of despair. True spirituality does not exist without love of life.
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If we do not believe in ourselves- neither in our efficacy nor in our goodness- the universe is a frightening place.
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It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior.
Nathaniel Branden
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Most of the time, I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.
Nathaniel Branden
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There is no value-judgment more important to a man--no factor more decisive in his psychological development and motivation--than the estimate he passes on himself.
Nathaniel Branden
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Most of us are taught from an early age to pay far more attention to signals coming from other people than from within. We are encouraged to ignore our own needs and wants and to concentrate on living up to others expectations.
Nathaniel Branden
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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.
Nathaniel Branden
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Our motive is not to prove our self-worth, but to live up to our possibilities.
Nathaniel Branden
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Anyone who really loves you wants you to be authentic. And anyone who doesn't want you to be authentic doesn't really love you.
Nathaniel Branden
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Capitalism, by its nature, entails a constant process of motion, growth and progress.
Nathaniel Branden
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Respect starts with ourselves.
Nathaniel Branden
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We tend to feel most comfortable, most at home, with people whose self esteem level resembles our own.
Nathaniel Branden
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There is only one reality - the reality knowable to reason. And if man does not choose to perceive it, there is nothing else for him to perceive if it is not of this world that he is conscious, then he is not conscious at all
Nathaniel Branden