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Ok, Not OK, Still Ok!: On Learning To Be One's Own Best Friend
This book is a fantastic book on self help. It can also be followed as a course on Self Esteem for anyone. Trainers, Counsellors and Teachers could use this to promote Self Esteem Programs
21 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 1, 2022
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August 27, 2022
Firstly, Father Ephrem Thomas S J (RIP) passed away 2 months ago - on 29th May 2022. I am a relative of the late Jesuit priest through my paternal side. Having met Father Thomas in 2012 during my last visit to India, I can surely say that he has left his legacy behind for future generations of aspiring self-realisation enthusiasts.
Father Thomas invites the reader to understand the context under which he had written the book - that everyone has a side which is "ok in some areas, not ok in some other areas but still ok" since we all encompass a mixture of the good, and the bad, the positive and the negative. He states that 'Self-esteem is loving oneself with one's strengths and weaknesses.' He points out that if your self-esteem empowers you to love yourself with your strengths and weaknesses, there is no possibility of straying into the world of hubris. And moreover, he rightly points out that pride and hubris are, indeed, signs of low self-esteem.
The book has 25 exercises, inviting the readers to go through them and reflect on their experiences in finishing them as they help in deepening awareness of the self. Father Ephrem illustrates the reasons why people tend to be often very much negative and critical of themselves. This fails them in their endeavours to become their own friends and improve their future selves. He advises the reader to "learn to appreciate one's worth more and more". He also quotes the famous late psychologist Carl Rogers who said "If I were to search for the central core of difficulty in people as I have come to know them, it is that, in the majority of cases, they despise themselves, regarding themselves as worthless and unlovable". Therefore, to help better oneself, one needs to recognise that this absence of self-esteem is a universal problem not limited to oneself. Therefore, self-esteem is loving oneself by accepting one's own weaknesses and harnessing one's own strengths.
The way we see ourselves has a profound impact on the way we live our lives and the way we relate to others. To become a best friend to oneself, one needs to learn to love themselves and cultivate self-worth. A series of positive experiences will invariably enhance one's self-esteem, whatever the level of one's self-esteem. Even a single experience can create spirit in one's self-esteem if the experience is an intense one.
Father Thomas invites the reader to understand the context under which he had written the book - that everyone has a side which is "ok in some areas, not ok in some other areas but still ok" since we all encompass a mixture of the good, and the bad, the positive and the negative. He states that 'Self-esteem is loving oneself with one's strengths and weaknesses.' He points out that if your self-esteem empowers you to love yourself with your strengths and weaknesses, there is no possibility of straying into the world of hubris. And moreover, he rightly points out that pride and hubris are, indeed, signs of low self-esteem.
The book has 25 exercises, inviting the readers to go through them and reflect on their experiences in finishing them as they help in deepening awareness of the self. Father Ephrem illustrates the reasons why people tend to be often very much negative and critical of themselves. This fails them in their endeavours to become their own friends and improve their future selves. He advises the reader to "learn to appreciate one's worth more and more". He also quotes the famous late psychologist Carl Rogers who said "If I were to search for the central core of difficulty in people as I have come to know them, it is that, in the majority of cases, they despise themselves, regarding themselves as worthless and unlovable". Therefore, to help better oneself, one needs to recognise that this absence of self-esteem is a universal problem not limited to oneself. Therefore, self-esteem is loving oneself by accepting one's own weaknesses and harnessing one's own strengths.
The way we see ourselves has a profound impact on the way we live our lives and the way we relate to others. To become a best friend to oneself, one needs to learn to love themselves and cultivate self-worth. A series of positive experiences will invariably enhance one's self-esteem, whatever the level of one's self-esteem. Even a single experience can create spirit in one's self-esteem if the experience is an intense one.
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