Permission

Do I introduce to others thoughts about myself that might never have occurred to them without my planting them there. If the words I use have the power to make me feel tall or small, then don't those same words have the power to let others see me in a similar light. When I say something negative about myself to another person during a casual conversation, I am transmitting to them that its alright to think of me, or to even speak of me in that way. Yet in the past when that has happened, I've felt bewildered and betrayed.

In the Big Book it says, "we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt."

I need to be cognizant that when I use negative words to describe myself, that I am actually giving others permission to do the same.