Self-esteem v. Self-compassion v. Self-worth v. Self-confidence

I am told that self-esteem is when you compete yourself with others, and that self-compassion is when you compete with yourself. Where does this tie into? Emotional Intelligence.

Yeah, here we are again talking about Emotional Intelligence. I keep bringing it up, because to me it is like the big reveal of the fMRI in the field of psychiatry. This is HUGE. It has the potential to change lives.

Why would I harp on changing lives? Because one in five of us has a mental illness and at least two out of those five have either committed suicide or have considered it. (I'm guessing about the two out of five, but that is my point.) It might be higher.

What if we should look into all four? Self-esteem, self-compassion, self-worth, and self-confidence.

Sometimes, self-esteem makes us too self-confident, but self-worth grows and grows with time. 

Self-compassion is described by the Dalai Lama as, "A sensitivity to the suffering of self and others, with a deep commitment to try to relieve it (to relieve the suffering)."  

So, that is all four...where would this lead to? A deep curiosity in the field of Emotional Intelligence. And I wonder, how many emotions there really are. 

Vocabulary ABC's in Mental Health Circles

Is there really such a thing as the field of Emotional Intelligence? Hmmm...I think there should be. 

I Have Shed My Vices that were My Alternative Method of Self-Medicating

Well, well, well...all that I can say about this is well, well, well...

It has taken me a long time to finally have the right medicine working for me, so that I could wean myself off of cigarettes, gambling, and, well, for those that know me, know I rarely drink.

There is a surprise when you shed these vices. I only recommend it if you have a physician helping you. But, I notice that my pockets are heavier, my breathing better, and my mind clearer. If I backslide, which I did buying scratchers (a lottery ticket), my pockets become light. So far I have stayed smoke free for almost eleven months now. That is not easy, since people smoke around me daily. But, things are changing here in California.

What I mean is that there is a new way of treating smokers here. Simply, they have banned it from entire cities, universities, restaurants, bars, and public parks. Slowly, California is becoming smoke-free. Yay, that helps me stay quit. 

What has me concerned is my gambling. I have gone without before, but that was after buying one lottery ticket (one dollar), once a week. Now, they have scratchers, as low as one dollar or as much as 30 dollars. I usually get a $3 or $5 ticket and end up with a few of those before I quit buying them. Only lucky some of the time, but usually I get a losing ticket.

What I found, was that, (and here in California), that a pack of cigarettes now cost, on average, ten dollars a pack. The usual smoker smokes a pack a day. In one year, that is 3,650 dollars (roughly). In one year! Disability only pays 12,000 dollars a year. That is 1/3 to 1/4 of your yearly income. What would you do with that amount of money, if you had it in one sum? You could go to school, you could buy a car, you can go to public events, etc. etc.

Not to mention, time. If you think about it, a cigarette takes about 7-10 minutes to smoke. If you don't smoke anymore, you now have about an hour and a half extra time on your hands. 

I highly recommend stopping the cigarettes, over all else, because it relieves restless legs from the side-effects that come with medicine. Physicians prescribe side-effect medicine, when in fact, if the client quit smoking it would be easier to tolerate and live with the side-effects, because....guess what?  

They go away! Behavior improves! The better you can manage your treatment!

But, you can't force people to quit, only encourage them to...
Also, if you motivate them, they may be more likely to try..  

Vocabulary ABC's (what you might need to know about mental illness that no one's told before) a useful link to webpages that explain in more detail, what a topic means to the mentally ill.