As children we trust the adults around us and we see ourselves through their eyes. “Good boy; good girl” “Aren’t you pretty” You’re such as smart little guy” We overhear people say “oh, maybe he’ll grow out of it” “Wait till she’s older, maybe with braces” We are told “Why can’t you do anything right? ” “Why can’t you be like your brother” Some of us hear only negative things, some of us only positive. We believe what we hear. But often, even as a child, we hear this voice in our head that contradicts what we are told. Who to believe?

We go to school and all of a sudden the kid who is so stupid at home is a star at school. The teachers gush, gold stars all around but then the kid goes home and hears “You’re useless”. Who to believe?

We get older and we begin to see that what we can accomplish and what we were told we could are very different things. Sometimes that kid who has been told he’s the greatest thing on the planet discovers he’s not the smartest kid in the room, maybe not even close.

And still that voice – “How stupid can I be if I get such good marks at school” “If I’m so terrific how come I always come in next to last?” Our little voice has a better grasp on the reality of who we are than the people around us. But who to believe?

Tell the lie often enough and it becomes the truth but wait. It can be a lie of love, which builds false expectations. It can be a lie of hate that crushes.

Some people never learn to listen to the little voice. They believe what they are told by the people around them. It’s sets some up for a fall and leads others to never rise.

We can only see ourselves truly from the inside. No matter who someone tell us we are, unless we believe it from the inside, then it is not so. Unfortunately there are folks who believe what they are told, and never listen to the voice in their head and never see themselves from the inside out.

Who do you believe?