If you had to choose one person - a real person, or an imaginary one - to watch you through your whole life, and know everything you do and why you do it; not j

If you had to choose one person - a real person, or an imaginary one - to watch you through your whole life, and know everything you do and why you do it; not judging or disciplining you, but just being aware of your inner self ... who would that person be? Who would you choose, and why? Would you choose someone you respect? Someone you would not wish to hurt or shame? Would it be someone who brings out the best in yourself? Would you want to earn their respect for yourself? Would you choose someone who rates people as winners and losers, bosses and suckers? Someone who doesn't care how they make others feel, so long as they're the ones on top? Would you want to earn their approval as another winner on their level? The choice you make will tell you where your self-respect lies. Look after your self-respect. Other things can disappear from your life, either temporarily or permanently: health, wealth, love, security, friends, luck, dignity, purpose, joy. They're not always in your control. But self-respect is in your own keeping. And it can be enough, by itself, to make you feel that life is still worth living, and that you're glad to be who you are. Seek Joy. Seek the company of people you admire. You can seek their company through the internet, books and film as much as by actually meeting. Who are your heroes? Try to keep them, and what's heroic about them, in mind. Recognise they are human too, though.