If no one is available, hold a doll, bear or pillow, and bring in love to the hurting part of you. Open to your concept of God or Spirit and allow this source of love and strength to nurture you. It is often not advisable to seek the help of the person who activated the wound because: 1) he or she may still be stuck in their own wounded place, the place that touched off your wound; 2) you might become dependent upon your beloved taking care of you and taking the pain away instead of actually healing the pain. Day by day in every way I am getting better and better. This quote was made famous by the French hypnotist Emile Coue . This is a wonderful quote to keep in mind when you find yourself slipping into a morass of negative thinking. Our minds are more powerful than we give them credit for being. It is truly amazing that our subconscious mind will grab on to just one negative thought and refuse to let it go, whereas it may take several times (or several hundred) positive thoughts to reprogram that thought, but it will happen with perseverance. <i>Or were they never able or had the potenial themselves to begin with?</i> Potenial has no limits! <i>Is wanting success selfish?</i> I think if you keep things in perspective and don't let the success take over your life and most of all don't think your better than anyone!! Learn from other people s experience, so you ll never have to encounter the same mistakes. Sometimes, you may want to wonder if some people are born leaders or positive thinkers. NO. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self esteem and drawing lines for self improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. Happy as You Want to Be Almost everyone have heard the hit single 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby Mcferiin's simple message surely made a lot of people by telling them not to worry. Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. In fact, aikido's message is that true power lies in blending. Power without blending is destructive. And to blend without power is to lose our center. Now back to my image control problem. The graphic reflection of my work initially challenged my self image. But the timing was perfect. Just as my work was evolving to include the powerful aspect of aikido, my colleague captured that power and clarified it graphically.