About the Book
We begin life as curious, creative and hopeful creatures. We see the world around us as a place filled with wonder and opportunity. But many of us grew up with a troubled childhood set in a society that taught us to fear, hate and harm ourselves. After starting out as butterflies we were forced by life’s hardships to become caterpillars. With this “reverse metamorphosis,” our positive, soaring souls became buried under layers of negativity.
Dr. Louise Hart has written a powerful book to get metamorphosis going in the right direction again, and recover one’s self-esteem.
Self-esteem—or the lack thereof—dictates how we manage our lives. It is essential for mental health, well-being, and healthy families. This book will help you uncover your wonderful true nature that has been there all along.
Improving one’s self-esteem is the single most important thing a person can do to develop the inner strength needed to resist pressures to use drugs or drink excessively. It can give one the courage to make good lifestyle decisions, set boundaries, lose weight, stop smoking and even find a job.
“Recovering self-esteem is a process,” she says. “As we grow older, we develop so many layers of defenses that we end up wrapped in a cocoon. The three stages that help us to turn back into a butterfly are: Reaching In, Reaching Out, and then Reaching High.”
From the moment you begin to direct your own life, your days as a caterpillar are numbered. “First we learn to listen to ourselves, accept ourselves, set personal boundaries and formulate goals. Once we emerge from our former cocoon, then we are ready to approach the world anew.”
Her book explains how recovering self-esteem is a journey in discovering the remnants of one’s self-worth and weaving them into wings. It is founded on finding compassion for oneself and affirming that you have always been okay—even when you felt like a lowly plodding caterpillar. It involves understanding what happened to you, healing old wounds, and moving to a better place.
Loosening the grip of the past, you start spinning your cocoon and growing within it. The topics, skills, and exercises serve as stepping stones to discovering and recovering self-esteem, and becoming a butterfly, finding new power, and preparing to return to one’s community to participate and build a new life.
The final step of transformation involves emerging from your cocoon, spreading your wings, and living your life in a whole new way.
“Transformation introduces infinite possibilities for joy, adventure, love, and delight which bring lightness and continual renewal to the soul. Life itself becomes its own reward.”
About the Author
Dr. Louise Hart, 73, is the author of two highly regarded books, The Winning Family: Increasing Self-Esteem in Your Children and Yourself
and On the Wings of Self Esteem
. With an Ed.D. in the field of Community Psychology, she is a thought leader in positive parenting. Dr. Hart has spoken at over 400 conferences, hospitals, schools, communities and army installations across America and abroad. She is also publisher of two international bestselling children’s books written by Dr. Pat Palmer—Liking Myself
, and The Mouse, the Monster and Me
. Her daughter, Kristen Caven, is co-author of On the Wings of Self-Esteem and works in the prevention-based field
My Take on the Book
Self-esteem is so fragile! We are dealing with issues surrounding this with our oldest daughter and she is only 6. With all of this in mind this book was a welcome addition to our home. The book itself was very practical and held some great ideas and tips on how to improve poor self-esteem and help people feel better about themselves.
Many of the things that were suggested made perfect sense and were things that made me think"of course" , and in saying this I was impressed with the amount of things that were so easy to integrate into practice! I enjoyed the simple exercises and though many were geared toward older people, I even augmented them to work with my eldest as well and I think they are working!
I think all of us at one time or another have dealt with issues regarding low self esteem, and this book puts it all into perspective. Thus, I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
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