How opinions of others shape our self-image

Did you ever stop and think how the opinions of people around you impact your self-image?

While I hope that you’re not self conscious about such things, I do ask how the opinions of your friends or family influence the perception you have of yourself?  How do your co-workers or bosses perceptions affect your belief in you?

Often I’ve wondered how much the opinions of our peers impact us, and do we benefit from their views or are they detrimental to our self image?  Constructive feedback from individuals is an important tool for each of us to use in continuing to improve ourselves.  However, too much information from too small a group can be counter-productive to self improvement.

As an example, I used to detest other people’s criticisms.  I still don’t like it, but have learned to listen for the lessons that help me grow as an individual.  Sometimes they’re hard to find, occasionally layered under unintentional (even some intentional!) barbs or slights.

There are truths to everything, but learning to find what is valuable and what isn’t can be something of an art form.  So how about you?  Have you turned personal critiques into tools for improvement?  What things have you learned that you would add to make people’s opinions more valuable to you?

Photo credit: Pulpolux!!!

Technorati tags: Self Image, Self Opinion