Their World—their culture and generation and family history—gave them the greatest of opportunities. How we feel affects almost every single decision we make during the day. We all experience hardship during which we need the reassurance of the spirit. Some people’s lives are negatively impacted by low self-esteem. There was a young man who wanted to go to college and become an artist, even though he was failing high school. He was afraid of trying, because he was afraid he would not succeed. With that revelation in hand, the young man goes on to pursue his dream. The conditions on which we can receive that supernal blessing are made clear in the words that are spoken every day, but perhaps do not always sink into our hearts and minds. To have the spirit sent to us, we must always remember the Savior and keep his commandments. There are three essentials for good self-esteem: Stop blaming others for your problems; start setting realistic goals; and start seeking beneficial influences. It is not easy, but it is possible. “I can do all things through God who strengthens me,” reports Philippians 4.13. Many therapists are trying to converge us to the ideals of self-reliance, reinvention, and individuality. And this inevitably puts the burden on our shoulders: your problems, yourself, your needs. What can you do to make your life better? #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

The focus is turned away from the system and how it works, and aimed back at the individual: Oh, you are not the movie star you wanted to be? Well, honey, you just did not try hard enough. You are not the young rebel who bucks the system and earns a pay raise and a big corner office? Well—your self-esteem quotient is lobe, others can sense the limitations of your aura, your image needs an update. Jennifer, a lawyer, stood in her office, dumfounded. Her boss, a pretty sensitive man, had just told her she was not going to get the raise she expected. Tears burning behind her eyes, Jennifer found the words to ask why. “I do not like your attitude. We will she how things look in another three months,” her boss replied. As Jenifer made her way home, she was really stressed out. “I was really counting on that raise. Is he just being cheap? Do I have an attitude problem? Gosh, if I get fired, it is going to look awful.” After months of stress and low self-esteem, Jennifer decided to give her boss what he wanted—attention—even though it cut into the time she needed to do her job well. She smiled at him all the time, showed empathy when he told her his troubles, and when he was not around, she did her work. After three months he told her that her attitude had improved tremendously, and have her a raise. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

The self-esteem industry places the emphasis on you, your desires, needs, expectations, sacrifices, willingness to work hard. This not only encourages us to consider ourselves capable of changing and taking control of our lives, but discourages any examination of the overall system in which we live our lives. By failing to present anything even remotely like a realistic picture of the chances of success, self-esteem mythology teaches us to internalize failures and limitations, and conditions us to accept lives of disappointment and regret. When we believe in self-esteem mantra, we believe that we are always the source of our failures. Though our lives are steeped in a promise of success that is not always based on self-esteem, hard work, and talent as we are told, and when we take this promise literally, we feel our inability to become whatever we have set our sights on as our fault, our failure. God has repeatedly said he would structure mortality to be a proving and testing experience. Hence, enduring is vital, and those who so last will be first spiritually! There are so many things to be endured: infirmary, injustice, insensitivity, poverty, aloneness, unresponsiveness, being misrepresented and misunderstood, and, sometimes, even enemies. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

We tend to think only in terms of our endurance, but it is God’s patient long-suffering which provides us with our chances to improve, affording us urgently needed developmental space or time. However, because so many people preach, once you overcome your self-esteem deficit, you can do anything you want. And once you have self-esteem, you too will have your own book, TV show, and speaking gigs. You will be super-special, an entertainment vector complete wit name, niche, style, and corporate sponsor. An alien visitor surveying our culture and seeing how there is a lack of affordable housing, how hard it is to obtain a higher education depending on your demographics and lifestyle, the overpopulation causing too much traffic, and the high crime rates might well conclude that it is a lack of self-esteem that plagues North American more than any other problem—more than cancer and heart disease, more than severe inequities in the distribution of wealthy and resources, more than injustice and discrimination. Yet, if certain mortal experiences were cut short, it would be like pulling up a flower to see how the roots are doing. Put it another way, too many anxious openings of the oven door, and the cake falls instead of rising. Moreover, enforced change usually does not last, while productive enduring can ingrain permanent change. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

The American Dream kind of started in the 19^th century, when America was a population building and developing nation. For instance, a Russian tailor artisan came to America, takes to the needle trade, works in a sweat shop for a small salary. Later takes garments to finish at home with the help of his wife and other children. In order to increase his salary, he works through the night. Later he makes a garment and sells it on New York street. He accumulates some capitol and goes into business venture with his sons. They open a shop to create men’s garments. The Russian tailor and his sons become men’s suit manufacture supplying several men’s stores. The sons and the father become prosperous. The sons’ children become educated professionals. Therefore, the success stories started when the population was low and they were able to build generations of wealth by keeping money in the family. A similar situation also happened in more modern times whereas gangster made money, then squared up, moved to the suburbs and sent their children to school so they could get an education and make money without doing back breaking labor. That way they would not have to worry about how they would be able to pay their bills, nor would they be working in sweat shops to support themselves. It is a literate and intellectual culture. With their education, they could work for a corporation and have a pension, paid time off, and a climate-controlled office to work in. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances ad opportunities. And while self-esteem matter, it is not the sole basis for success. For example, no one rises to the top of the New York legal profession unless he or she is smart and ambitious and hard working. To get hired at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in the prestigious office building known as Black Rock, it takes a small miracle. Unlike New York’s other major law firms, all which have hundred of attorneys scattered around the major capitols of the World, it operates only out of that single Manhattan building. They specialize in general practice, have 260 attorneys, revenue of $580 million, and turns down much more business than it accepts. And unlike every one of its competitors, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz does not bill by the hour. It simply names a fee. Once, while defending Kmart against takeover, the firm billed $20 million for two weeks work. Kmart paid—happily. If its attorneys do not outsmart you, they will outwork you, and if they cannot outwork you, they will win through sheer intimidation. There is no firm in the World that has made more money, lawyer for lawyer over the past two decades. They have a track record of original and groundbreaking solutions and innovations that have had a dramatic impact on business and law. They are leaders in legal matters. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

Patient endurance is to be distinguished from merely being acted upon. Endurance is more than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance; it is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, it is to act for ourselves by magnifying what is allotted to us. If, for instance, we are always taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be. If we are constantly comparing to see if things are fair, we are not only being unrealistic, we are being unfair to ourselves. Well-adjusted in our society means atomized, solitary, on your own, and able to handle the burdens of being on your own. People should be about to project security and confidence through the appropriate articulations of the soul. However, so many people are buying into the power of self-esteem, and few seem to be happier for it. Rates of depression, stress anxiety, and suicide continue to climb. Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death for Americans. It is estimated the 90 percent of suicides suffer from depression. It was found that 35 million Americans suffer from depression severe enough to require medical treatment. The Western Word is plagued by depression. It is estimated that by 2020 depression will be the leading cause of disability in developed nations and the second leading cause Worldwide. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

We put to much on a person when we tell them by changing who you are, the World will change, too, instead of actually taking an interest in them and sincerely trying to help them work through there problems. Tell a person they have to change in order to be accepted makes people feel like freaks inside, as if they are not loveable. It is also important to set reasonable goals and keep faith in God. Have you ever noticed when you really listen to a person and try to comfort them their response to it is automatic—eyes light up, ears perk, heart beats harder; and here comes the excitement; here comes something that makes life worth living. Therefore, true enduring represents not merely the passage of time, but the passage of the soul—and not merely from A to B, but sometimes all the way from A to Z. To endure in faith and does God’s will. Therefore, involves much more than putting up with a circumstance. Sometimes spiritual obedience requires us to hold on lovingly. Emotionally mature people take autonomic stress responses as a sign that their feelings must be dealt with. They allow themselves to experience the feelings fully, even if they are painful. Only at this point can they follow the natural propulsion toward rational thought that leads to appropriate action (or inaction). Neglecting to feel the hurt fully leads to the kind of inappropriate action—pretending nothing has happened will only make one more unhappy. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

We often need the process of time in order to come to our spiritual senses.  Feelings always manage to find a way out. You know that already: tension headaches, insomnia, mild depression, and upset stomach have plagued all of us at one time or another. Denied emotions even prompt our bodies to respond as though threatened. In the absence of some kind of physical release or stress management technique, your body remains all dressed up with nowhere to go, stuck in a state of internal alarm. Recent medical studies show that seventy percent of people who feel unwell enough to call their physicians are suffering from some type of unresolved emotional distress. We also pay a price for squelching our natural responses to pleasurable emotions. Few of us are rewarded in societal terms for fully expressing joy. Life can be so empty without joy. The empty-life syndrome may lead to severe depression, or addiction to alcohol or cocaine or other drugs. Cognitive psychologist have recently hypothesized that the capacity to take pleasure in people, activities, and things is primary factor in overcoming addiction. We are daily guided by the divine spirit, and if there is anything in it that does not belong, it is cast out because there is one perfect life in one now. Be guided by divine intelligence in love, in joy, and in complete self-expression. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9