Tony Robbins, eat your heart out!

(Reposted so that Sam can contribute)

WARNING
This post idea worked a lot better in my head than it has in execution. It's ended up being a bit mushy for my liking and sounds like I'm practising writing form-teacher comments in reports. But what the heck, I'd hate to waste perfectly good typing so I'll publish it anyhows.........



I have decided that my latest Top Ten Challenge will be ....

TOP TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MYSELF

Show your inner pride. I think we spend so much time being self-critical that it's good to force yourself to turn the mirror towards your good side for a change (and dim the lights, so it's even more flattering). Try and add at least a few of your own points of strength in my comments section. Otherwise I will just look conceited and arrogant ......

1.
When I am in a bad mood I don't take it out on other people.

2.
On the whole I am reliable. If I say I'll play sports, I will. If I say I'll come to a party, I usually do. I may need reminding, but I try not to let people down (and for the record, when I do let people down I feel bad about it).

3.
I get it. I like to think I pick up on things fairly quickly.

4.
I am usually a good judge of character*.

5.
I like sharing stuff. Perhaps not food, but at work I love it when people use resources or units I've made with their own classes. I find it flattering.

6.
I have initiative. I find it really annoying when people hold up meetings with trivial things they could have sorted out in a much more efficient way. I will try and solve things on my own before taking up other people's time. This has become a mantra I'm drumming into my year nine class who keep coming up with comments in class discussions like 'Miss, I don't have a pen today' and 'Miss, I've lost my assignment sheet'.

7.
I have good taste in movies. Ok, that is totally subjective, but I would like to go to the movies with me (if I wasn't me).

8.
I am shy and sensitive. I learnt years ago that every personality trait has its positives and negatives. They're on a spectrum. I think there are lots of crippling features of being shy by nature, but I also think that it helps you develop empathy and sensitivity towards others (because you are so hyper-sensitive yourself).

9.
I get in the spirit. I like theme parties and games nights and stuff like that. I'm never a party pooper. I know how anxious you can be when you host an event that it's not going to work or be fun.....

10.
I can laugh at myself. I think everyone has different layers. Some people are confident on the surface, but insecure under it. I think I have a few alternating layers, but at my core I am self-assured. This allows me to absolutely take the piss out of myself and not mind if others join in :)





*
For example, here is what I like about a few of my fellow bloggers and friends (other than the superficial things like being hot and popular and fun) .....

Morgan
He is one of the truly 'good' people in the world. I like that he's constantly watching everyone around him to make sure they're happy/comfortable/feeling-confident/well-fed. He has a highly developed sense of empathy and reminds me of one of my favourite sections of writing from a JD Salinger short story. ** He is a social hub, too (much like Cassie).

Fishy
She has a truly infectious smile and shows joy openly. As Ange described her recently, 'She is really beautiful - she kind of glows'. She's the kind of person you can give a present to and not worry about whether they're gonna like it or not. Very appreciative of anything anybody does for her. She is also not at all snobby and is truly open-minded (not just in theory).

Sammy
He is deeply thoughtful and remembers tiny details about people. It's flattering when someone actually takes notice of things and brings them up later. I've seen him do it to many a person, many a time. It always makes them feel good. He's the kind of person who remembers your name after only meeting you once. I like that he's not extraverted and would rather tell you something as a quiet aside than announce it to a group. There's a real sense that he does things for himself, rather than to impress anybody else. He's someone I relate well to.

Angie
We have been friends for years and years. She is someone else who never takes her bad moods out on other people (and she has her fair share of issues, not the least of which is The Insomnia!). She handles things with humour and grace and a wise self-awareness. Up until this year (in a series of small events that snowballed into something else and would take a lot of time to explain properly) we had never really argued about anything at all. That's pretty good for a decade and a half of friendship! She is observant and has a real talent for knowing the right thing to say in a situation. There is a certain easy charm to her.

Cassie
My absolute favourite thing about Cass is that she likes it when her friends need her. She would be insulted if you had a crisis at 3am and didn't call her up about it. If you text her and say 'I am feeling crap - I need cheering up!' she'll be round in ten minutes flat. She is dependable and loyal, like a labrador :) She also isn't afraid to make a fool of herself and risk acting silly, which makes her incredibly fun to be around. She hasn't lost that childlike spark and joins me in 'getting in the spirit'.

**
“If or when I do start going to an anaylst, I hope to God he has the foresight to let a dermatologist sit in on our conversation. A hand specialist. I have scars on my hands from touching certain people. Once, in the park, when Franny was still in the carraige, I put my hand on the downy part of her head and left it there too long. Another time ,at Loew’s Seventy-second street, with Zooey during a spooky movie. He was about six or seven, and he went under the seat to avoid watching a scary scene. I put my hand on her head. Certain heads, certain colors and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me. Other things, too. Charlotte once ran away from me, outside the studio, and I grabbed her dress to stop her, to keep her near me. A yellow cotton dress I loved because it was too long for her. I still have a lemon-yellow mark on the palm of my right hand" (excerpt from Seymour’s diary in Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters)

It relates to a key theme I like to teach when I'm doing The Catcher in the Rye, 'the burden of sensation'.