#basicgoodness

Because your parents did not fill you with a sense of your immeasurable worth, it does not mean that you can’t recognize it yourself. Basic goodness is the idea that being alive and wanting a degree happiness is the standard human condition. When you want yourself to experience good feelings and you hope for others to experience good feelings, that makes you a good person the same as any good person you can imagine. — zenmister

If you can recognize that goodness in yourself and express that goodness in your thoughts and actions then you will come to know it. If other people don’t see it or respond to it, it does not diminish it. When you see goodness in others, that is a reflection of your goodness. Look for it, that is how you get validation from others. When other people cut you down, notice that they are not expressing their goodness. Notice how they express their suffering. — zenmister

As you watch your mind, you begin looking for the dictator in you. Notice how you think about yourself. Do you think about yourself kindly, or critically? Notice how you judge others. Are you seeing their basic goodness or finding faults? Once you recognize that you are living with a dictator that is you, propped up by beliefs and habits, you have initiated your transformation.
— zenmister