Esteem News 

1September2010

Esteem vs stereotyping

Posted by Cecilia under: Philosophy.

As esteem has a double impact on the persons being involved the same happens with stereotyping.  When we give esteem to the persons around us it helps them as well as ourselves.  Giving esteem encourages us in our own self-esteem and good feelings.

When we are stereotyping others it has the same negative impact on us as it has on the persons being touched by it.  The team of Michael Inzlicht, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto found that stereotyping has a lasting negative impact on us.

In order to determine whether negative stereotyping in a particular situation had lasting effects, Inzlicht’s team performed a series of tests. They placed participants in situations where they had to perform a task in the face of negative stereotyping. After the participants were removed from the prejudicial situation, researchers measured their ability to control their aggression, eat appropriate amounts, make rational decisions, and stay focused.

Their results show that prejudice and stereotyping have lingering adverse impacts.

Living esteem prevents us from stereotyping by two reasons. First we realize that everything we do has the same impact on us as it has on the people.  Second esteem makes us see people in their own uniqueness which prevents us from stereotyping.

17August2010

Self-esteem and intrinsic value

Posted by Cecilia under: Philosophy.

We line ourselves up with our fellow men in order to receive love.  This is the reason why we assess our own intrinsic value according to how our fellow men value us.  When we are praised we feel good.  When we’re reproached our self-confidence decreases immediately and we feel bad.

On which basis do we value ourselves?  With high self-esteem we can handle critics or reproach better.  A high self-esteem means that we know us in who we are and in what we do.  Doing so we don’t need to line ourselves up with our fellow men.  We know that we are unique as well as each other person is unique.

4August2010

How positively do we see others?

Posted by Cecilia under: Art and Culture; Philosophy; Science.

Did you ever watch yourself when you speak about others?  The kind of how you speak about others and how you see others reveals more about yourself than about the persons.

How positively you see others is linked to how happy, kind-hearted and emotionally stable you are, according to new research made by Wake Forest University psychology professor Dustin Wood and his team. The researchers found a person’s tendency to describe others in positive terms is an important indicator of the positivity of the person’s own personality traits.

This study confirms what esteem is creating in our lives.  By giving esteem toward others we give esteem toward ourselves. When we see others in a positive way we speak about them in positive words and reveal with it how positive we are ourselves. Esteem creates esteem.

28July2010

Esteem for animal welfare - or how to ask pigs if they’re optimistic about their lives

Posted by Cecilia under: Science; nature.

Our daily mood affects our judgement of ambiguous events.  We experience this for example at our job. If we’re having a bad day and we’re presented with an ambiguous cue such as our boss calling us into his office, the first thing that goes through our head is what have I done wrong? We call this a negative cognitive bias. But on a good day we greet the same ambiguous event far more positively, we might look forward to a pay rise.

Experts from the Newcastle University’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development have shown for the first time that a pig’s mood can lead to similar reactions showing that pigs are capable of complex emotions which are directly influenced by their living conditions. Pigs living in an enriched environment (more space, freedom to roam and play) were optimistic toward an unknown noise. While pigs placed in a smaller, boring environment showed pessimistic reactions toward the same unknown noise.

Dr Catherine Douglas, leader of the research team explains: “We can use this findings to finally answer important questions about animal welfare in relation to a range of farm environments, for pigs and potentially other farm animals.”

Quality of life of our farm animals is becoming increasingly important. The study is part of ongoing research at Newcastle to further our understanding of animal welfare and improve the lives of farmed stock.  For consumers as well as for scientists and government it is important to acknowledge the welfare of farmed stock.

8July2010

Esteem for Taos Pueblo Pow Wow

Posted by Cecilia under: Art and Culture.

A pow wow is a gathering of Indian Nations in a common circle of friendship.

The term pow wow comes from the Algonquin nation of the Eastern Woodlands, meaning “a gathering of spiritual leaders.”  Originally, Indian tribes held celebrations to commemorate successful hunts or harvests. Many tribes had ceremonial dances to prepare for war and to celebrate victories. The old tribal War Dance as it was known and is still called today, evolved over the last four or five decades into a contemporary social dance and the pow wow into a social gathering and celebration time.

This weekend July 9-11, 2010 the Taos Pueblo Pow wow will be celebrated. A wonderful opportunity to see Native American dancers at the beautiful location of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

17May2010

Esteem is essential

Posted by Cecilia under: Philosophy.

Sometimes speaking about esteem includes also speaking about the opposite.  The opposite of esteem can be humiliation.  But much more often the opposite of esteem is simply experienced as “non-esteem”. This means people doesn’t get esteem without being humiliated just by being ignored or disdained.

Experiences of being disdained make people feel worthless, takes away the sense of their life - seemingly.  Esteem is essential - essential for life and happiness.  Everybody who ever experienced this broken feeling of contempt can realise how important esteem is. This could be the approach toward esteem from the other side of life.

6April2010

Esteem in difficult times

Posted by Cecilia under: Economy; Philosophy.

It might be hard to smile and to give esteem to other people when times are difficult.  It’s nevertheless worth giving esteem in difficult times as well as in good times.  It definitely helps the other people and ourselves.

3November2009

Esteem News on Hiatus

Posted by Cecilia under: Uncategorized.

After 18 months and over 600 posts we’ve decided to take a break from daily posting on Esteem News.  It’s been our pleasure to bring you our daily thoughts about esteem.

We have decided to focus our attention toward other writing projects that we’ve neglected for many months.

From time to time we’ll have thoughts that we share with our followers on Twitter.

Thanks to our loyal readers for your support and comments.

3November2009

With esteem we don’t need to like everything

Posted by Cecilia under: Philosophy.

When you live a life of esteem your friends might question you when you don’t have esteem for something they enjoy.

Having preferences in life such as eating, sports or hobbies is deeply human.  There are as many preferences as there are people.  Some like football while others like baseball.  This doesn’t mean that diehard football fans don’t give esteem toward baseball.  It just means they have preferences.

Not giving esteem toward something could be perceived as contempt.  But expressing that you like something more than something else isn’t a sign of contempt.

Living esteem daily prevents us from expressing contempt toward something we don’t like.  At the same time esteem frees us from needing to like everything.  We still can have our preferences as long as we don’t disrespect people with other preferences.

2November2009

Esteemful living in Dignity Village

Posted by Cecilia under: Art and Culture; Economy; Environment; Health; Philosophy; Politics.

It started as a Tent City founded for homeless people and grew into a permanent neighborhood called Dignity Village.  After conducting elections, Dignity Village even has their own administrative and legislative branches of government.  The name tells it all: Dignity Village is a place that gives dignity back to people who’ve lost their jobs and homes - which sadly has become a national crisis.

The small houses are primarily built by the villagers.  Building their own small houses in Dignity Village also means building self-respect through the knowledge that they can still accomplish good things for themselves.  Organizing an entire village with all kinds of activities and responsibilities is an even stronger means toward building a high self-esteem.

Dignity Village is an incredibly strong sign of lived esteem.  People who feel they’ve lost all esteem in our society just because they lost job and home can experience an esteemful life.  Actions like Dignity Village are necessary to give hope and esteem to those who’ve lost so much.