Friday, February 4, 2011

teaching

tumblr_lfq1iylWrC1qd2irpo1_500

photo: tumbler, kim kardashian

as a teacher of interpersonal communication

i tell my students that we have to lay the foundation (who am i?) before we can start adding the bricks (how do i communicate with others?) because


out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks
(matt 12:34)

and most of the foundation for interpersonal communication lies in self concept and self esteem...

jlo

photo: google, jennifer lopez


and a big part of the development of self esteem comes from social comparison


{and face it, we rarely are comparing apples to apples}


what you see is usually never the whole picture


of a person's life...their emotions, their circumstances, their looks...

goldie

photo: google, goldie hawn

most of these college students get it right away


and all of them get it when i show them these photos


{especially the young women}


sometimes social comparison can be a motivator to be a better person


but sometimes it can drag down our self esteem


and ultimately effect our relationships with others


i tell my students...


be yourself. everyone else is already taken anyways.
-oscar wilde


6 comments:

Pansy Cottage Girl said...

You are a very wise teacher. Thanks for sharing that lesson with all of us.

patty said...

aw-you know, this is one of my favorite ad campaigns. it gets a lot of criticism, but i say, if it serves to get out this message, it's good by me.
fantastic post. xoxo

carissa... brown eyed fox said...

oh yes... i'm loving this post!!!!!
great cathy!
and btw... my favorite classes in college...
interpersonal communication... i loved them...
LOVED!
i will now live vicariously through you and your beautiful teachings okay! :O)

when i was at the gym yesterday i had the barlow girls song "mirror" singing in my ears... have you heard it?
oh it is good too.
who IS that mirror to try to define us anyway? :O)

hugs from wy!
big ones

oh...
your photographs are jaw dropping wow!
they just get better and better at every turn!

Julie said...

SO true! Comparison comparison. So tempting but so misleading. Thanks for the reminder, I needed it today.

*The Beautiful Life* said...

Cathy I'd love to share this post. :)

Ruth

Paul said...

As is often the case, you touch on one of the great truths of our relationships with each other.

I love your Wilde quote.

I am reminded of a verse by Kipling [possibly slightly paraphrased]:

If England was what England seems,
And not the England of our dreams,
But only putty, brass 'n paint,
'ow quick we'd drop 'er,
But she ain't.

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