Has anyone ever told you that you are “ugly?” What if they say things like “You don’t belong here!”- or – “We don’t want you here!” “Go away!”

Here’s a secret: Anybody who says ANYthing bad about you or TO you doesn’t like themselves. They are unhappy people.

It’s true. Anybody who acts or talks to someone else in a mean way is taking out their own frustrations.

Don’t ever believe anyone who is unkind to you. Such people don’t like themselves, or have been told terrible things about themselves and have believed it. So they don’t know how to be kind to someone else.

How to be happy might be a topic for another moment. Right now, we are talking about YOU and knowing there is nothing wrong with you – even if it is your mother or father who is talking to you!

You are here, as a human being, to learn and experience what it means to be “human.” There are many ways to be human, but the right way is to be kind to yourself and to others. Learning to be helpful and – most importantly – to love yourself. This is your biggest lesson in life.

So how do you learn it? For starters, you talk to yourself and become your own best friend.

Many people believe another person has to tell them they are “okay” for them to believe it. That’s because everyone begins by being told what to do: How to talk, how to dress, how to do this-or-that. They learn to have other people tell them what is right and what is wrong. But at a certain point, a person has to begin thinking for his or herself.

Becoming self-confident begins with believing there is nothing wrong with you.

Now, learning manners and how to talk to others and how to treat people, animals, and even plants, with consideration is one way for you to realize you have a lot to give to others.

So many people also believe they need someone else to judge that they are okay. But the only one who really matters on the subject is YOURSELF.

The secret is to TELL YOURSELF that you are okay. 

You don’t need anyone else to tell you. That is who gives you “permission” to be okay – you give it to yourself!

By the way, that is also the first step toward gaining self-confidence. The next step is to keep your own promises to yourself which is a way to earn your own self-respect. 

But in this moment, remember that no matter what anyone else tells you, you are the one who decides there is nothing wrong with you.

Believe it, for it is true.