Integrity is the integration of ideals, convictions, standards, beliefs-and behavior. When our behavior is congruent with our professed values, when ideals and practice match up, we have integrity. Nathaniel Branden More Quotes by Nathaniel Branden More Quotes From Nathaniel Branden How do we nurture the soul? By revering our own life. By learning to love it all, not only the joys and the victories, but also the pain and the struggles. Nathaniel Branden pain struggle joy If you feel inadequate to face challenges, unworthy of love or respect, untitled to happiness, and fear assertive thought, wants, or needs- if you lack basic self trust, self-respect, and self-confidence- your self-esteem deficiency will limit you, no matter what other assets you possess. Nathaniel Branden self-confidence self-respect self-esteem To attain "success" without attaining positive self-esteem is to be condemned to feeling like an imposter anxiously awaiting exposure. Nathaniel Branden exposure self-esteem feelings When your principles seem to be demanding suicide, clearly it's time to check your premises Nathaniel Branden checks principles suicide Reason and emotion are not antagonists. What seems like a struggle between two opposing ideas or values, one of which, automatic and unconscious, manifests itself in the form of a feeling. Nathaniel Branden reason-and-emotion struggle ideas We do not hear the term compassionate applied to business executives or entrepreneurs, certainly not when they are engaged in their normal work. Yet in terms of results in the measurable form of jobs created, lives enriched, communities built, living standards raised, and poverty healed, a handful of capitalists has done infinitely more for mankind than all the self-serving politicians, academics, social workers, and religionists who march under the banner of compassion. Nathaniel Branden compassion self jobs Either you will make your life work, or your life will not work. Nathaniel Branden The greatest barrier to achievement and success is not lack of talent or ability but rather the feeling that achievement and success, above a certain level, are outside our self-concept-our image of who we are and what is appropriate to us. Nathaniel Branden achievement self feelings Some people have a view of self and of the universe that obliges them to struggle for happiness, to yearn for happiness-"some time in the future"-perhaps next year or the year after that. But not now. Not at this moment. Not here. Here and now is too terrifyingly close, too terrifyingly immediate. They suffer from happiness anxiety. Nathaniel Branden struggle self happiness If we do not believe in ourselves- neither in our efficacy nor in our goodness- the universe is a frightening place. Nathaniel Branden efficacy goodness believe Most of the time, I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative. Nathaniel Branden wasting-time waste people The reputation you have with yourself - your self-esteem - is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life. Nathaniel Branden self-confidence important self-esteem As you grow in self-esteem, your face, manner, way of talking and moving will tend naturally to project the pleasure you take in being alive. Nathaniel Branden self-esteem talking moving A goal without an action plan is a daydream. Nathaniel Branden planning goal action We must become what we wish to teach. Nathaniel Branden teach wish Self-esteem is not a luxury; it is a profound spiritual need. Nathaniel Branden luxury self-esteem spiritual To exist without purpose is to be at the mercy of the chance encounter, the chance invitation, the chance phone call, the chance event- always being controlled by forces external to oneself. Nathaniel Branden encounters events phones When people are not accepting toward themselves they Nathaniel Branden obsessed acceptance people Anyone who engages in the practice of psychotherapy confronts every day the devastation wrought by the teachings of religion. Nathaniel Branden atheist teaching thinking It's not that achievements prove our worth but rather that the process of achieving is the means by which we develop our effectiveness, our competence at living. Nathaniel Branden effectiveness achievement mean