Inspirational Wrtiting #7

Watch out For Self-Pity ~ Robert H. Schuller

You certainly do not rebuild self-love by indulging in self-pity. Self-pity does not generate self-respect. Self-pity focuses on the unhappy past, keeping alive the very experiences that must be forgotten and left behind. Self-pity focuses on what has happened. while you are concentrating on the unfortunate past, you are in the moment enslaved, controlled and dominated by that self-demoralizing past. When you recall the past, you are at the moment recaptured by it. It may have happened, but don't allow yourself to remain trapped in the experience by self-pity.
"Forgetting these things are behind-I press toward the mark," Paul wrote. If unpleasant things come to pass-by all means let them do so. Why are we so inclined to self-pity? Are we trying to tenderly nurse a wounded self-love? If so, we must see that self-pity only keeps the wounded pride raw and open. In our self-pity we hope to gain the pity of others, mistaking sympathy for respect. We crave to reassure the faltering self that it is worthy after all. If we feel this way, we must understand that pity is not necessarily respect. Sympathy is not necessarily esteem. Or do we indulge in self-pity-trapping ourselves in the past-for fear of moving ahead into a future where we might suffer additional assaults? Is self-pity a deceptive defense mechanism willfully experienced to protect me from the new risks I may encounter if I start thinking of beginning again?