There Is No Value-judgment More Important To

What A Great Teacher, A Great Parent, A Great Psychotherapist And A Great Coach Have In Common Is A Deep Belief In The Potential Of The Person With Whom They Are Concerned. They Relate To The Person From Their Vision Of His Or Her Worth And Value.

Whether Your Focus Is On Preserving And Strengthening Family Ties In A World Of Increasingly Unstable Relationships, Gaining Access To A Decent Job, Growing And Evolving As A Person, Or Guiding A Company Through The Stormy Seas Of A Fiercely Competitive Global Marketplace-whether Your Goals Are Material, Emotional, Or Spiritual-the Price Of Success Is The Same: Thinking, Learning. To Be Asleep At The Wheel-to Rely Only On The Known, Familiar, And Automatized-is To Invite Disaster.

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.

To Accept Struggle As Part Of Life, To Accept All Of It, Even The Darkest Moments Of Anguish; To Be Motivated By Love Rather Than Fear, By Confidence Rather Than Insecurity: These Are The Benchmarks Of High Self-esteem. The Wish To Avoid Fear And Pain Is Not The Motive That Drives The Lives Of Highly Evolved Men And Women; Rather, It Is The Life Force Within Them, Thrusting Toward Its Unique Form Of Expression-the Actualization Of Personal Values.

Productive Achievement Is A Consequence And An Expression Of Health And Self-esteem, Not Its Cause.