A guide to building self-esteem shows readers how to become active participants in their journeys toward self-discovery, how their past controls their present, and how to obtain fresh insights into their relationships. Reprint.
Nathaniel Branden was a Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer known for his work in the psychology of self-esteem. A former associate and romantic partner of Ayn Rand, Branden also played a prominent role in the 1960s in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Rand and Branden split acrimoniously in 1968, after which Branden focused on developing his own psychological theories and modes of therapy.
This book is more of a workbook to make you confess why you do what you do and why you think the way you think, it is actually more like dissecting your mind and detecting the motives that push you to do anything that you might consider as normal or acceptable, yet shocking at a more conscious level. If you do the sentence completions as Dr Branden suggests (I recommend reading the last chapter first in order to get a clear vision on how to do the sentence completion), I assure you that you will know at least 30% more about yourself by the end of the book. Discovering more about oneself might not solve the problems, yet it makes the stress fade away since you know the origin of the problem and may be able to think of a solution later. This book assists you through getting in peace with yourself and you may be more honest with yourself after reading this. این کتاب مثل یک کتاب مشق پر از جملاتی هست که باید کامل بشن و نکته جالب اینه که هیچ جواب درست و غلطی وجود نداره و حتی در صورتی که جوابی نداشته باشید میتونید یک جواب الکی بسازید اما قضیه به این سادگی نیست و شما بعد از انجام دادن این تمرین ها به مرحله ای از خودآگاهی میرسید که دلیل واقعی رفتارها و طرز فکرتون در مورد مسائل مختلف رو متوجه میشید و اگر صادقانه تمرینها رو انجام بدید از جوابهای خودتون شگفت زده میشید و لایه هایی از وجودتون که براتون تاریک بوده روشن میشن و این موضوع حتی اگر مشکلی رو حل نکنه اضطراب ناشی از اون مشکل رو میتونه کمرنگ کنه چون شما منشا مشکل و دلیلش رو میدونید و حالا بعدا براش میتونید راه حل پیدا کنید. در کل بعد از خوندن کتاب به شناخت بهتری از خودتون میرسید.
"In order to be a competent parent and to understand the emotions and needs of a child, we must be in contact with the child within us, the child we once were. If the child within is a stranger to us, so will be any child we may encounter. If we are alienated from our own capacity for love, or our own need for love, we will not understand the emotion of love in another. If we are cut off from our own excitement, the excitement of others will bewilder or annoy us."
"If we are a mystery to ourselves, we tend to find other people a mystery. On the other hand, people who are in reasonably good contact with themselves seem to find others more comprehensible. We need self-awareness and self-knowledge to understand the feelings and behavior of others."
It is quite enlightening. It is amazing how there is so much we know about ourselves that we are unwilling to admit. The author's work helps to breakthrough that reluctance until we see ourselves completely, accept ourselves and then chart a path of transformation.
Father of the self esteem actualization provided amazing tools for us to see the full potential of our psychological being. The inner child is very neglected in today's society yet when we learn to hear, heal, forgive and nurture that part of our personality, we are able to make peace with half of ourselves.