That's just not me..

"You're just too stupid!"
"You're a complete moron!" "What are you.. an idiot?"
"Woah, you are faaaaaaaaaat!"
"You sure you want dessert? Aren't you on a diet?!"
 "Wow, you really could stand to put on a few pounds eh? I can see your bones protruding!"
"What do you mean your jeans aren't designer?!"
"He's/She's just not that into you... "

Things like these can be shot of of people's mouths... and cut through us like arrows or knives... splitting us right through to the very core. Sometimes, some of these are slung as mere jokes... witty one liners meant as just playful banter... we may have even said them ourselves at times...

Most of us may have heard some of these things while growing up... and perhaps never let them go, as adults... so, they stay swirling and festering in our minds as adults.. and when something happens like failure.. be it, a loss of job, a flailing marriage/relationship, etc.. we retreat to the depths of our minds and can fall into the trap of replaying these horrible mind messages, over and over again... wearing ourselves and our esteem down in the process.

Here's where one of my favourite quotes comes in: ""No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt

If we choose not to believe these messages, or even better, play better messages - Messages like:
I simply kick ass, I am awesome, I am smart, I am witty,.. etc... then the other messages won't hold as much power... 


It's also up to us what we choose to believe about ourselves... 
I gave my friend this example - If you know that you are a genius.. or absolutely brilliant... (have degrees, score ridiculously high marks in school, are part of Mensa, etc) if someone were to call you stupid... it probably wouldn't bother you too much... However, if you struggled with your weight (say you were grossly underweight for your height, and are very sensitive about this fact) If someone called you Twiggy, or made a rude comment about this... This would probably strike a nerve... Why? Because it's already something that you have at the forefront of your mind... and are already beating yourself up about... and ergo, probably allowing other people to as well. 


So, perhaps the positive affirmations do sound akin to "Stuart Smalley" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Smalley 
However, I do believe it is an integral part of the path to happiness with ones self, and having good esteem. 

Not to mention, when those not so great messages come flying at you, you can simply duck out of their way gracefully, and think to yourself... "That's just not me"... as you know you are more than just a sum of these fragmented parts of bad message streams that float around... and perhaps ... eventually those bad messages will once and for all take a hike for good in the space of your mind..