Questions….
ByQuestions tell others you care enough about them to take the time to learn more about them, what they’re feeling, what they need. You can shine a light of caring and love over them by asking questions. When your self-esteem is healthy, you’ll find yourself using questions to uplift and encourage the poeple around you. Then watch what happens! People will come alive and love you for making it happen.
There is definitely an art to asking questions – of yourself as well as others. You can ask yourself appropriate, effective questions to help you get the outcomes you want in your personal and professional relationships. The questions you ask yourself and how effectively you answer them determines the degree to which you’ll be able to ask effective questions of others.
My father, William J. McGrane, Jr., was a master teacher. His life was filled with his own emotional pain and problematic self-esteem and because of what he observed and experienced he constantly asked himself two questions: ”Why do I and others hurt so much, and what can be done about it?” As a result, he embarked on a life-long quest researching self-esteem, beginning when he was a senior in high school Dad knew there had to be an answer to what was causing him so much pain.
In college, he learned that words had power and soon became a wordsmith. He began abusing their power, using them inappropriately-increasingly intimidating those around him. He would feel powerful for a moment, yet his pain would only increase, driving him to search for a way to relieve it.
He finally discovered the missing piece was value judging. He had been comparing his value to that of others and this can injure or destroy self esteem.
Have you compared yourself with others and the outcomes they have? Do you struggle daily with knowing who you are? Take a look inside and ask yourself if you have been showing love and respect to yourself…. this is the first step to healing the pain.
