Basic to enjoying the full and harmonious functioning of the whole personality is the acceptance of ourselves as persons of worth. This central and necessary concept has often been perverted by early conditioning. After a lifetime of self demeaning disesteem it takes courage to step our and firmly claim our birthright of personal value and dignity.

Can we benefit from psychological knowledge without personally submitting to one of its forms of therapy? Yes, I certainly believe we do and can further benefit enormously in understanding ourselves, our children and the wider society.

Psychology has already taught us very many things about the driving forces which cause the human to interact- We have learned of the great importance or the early infant years and how they affect the rest of life. We have learned that personal fears, guilts and angers can destroy the individual's ability Co enjoy life and his relationship with his fellows.

A psychologist helps his clients to adopt a new attitude to life, to give up destructively downgrading himself and accept himself as a person of worth. He helps him to give away his guilts and fears and start living a positive life in harmony with his true self.

I hope that the information given, and the stories I tell will help others along the path to achieving personal fulfillment. To take new attitudes to self, problems and society. These are workable attitudes with attainable real rewards.

We all adopt attitudes to life according to the genes we inherit and the conditioning and indoctrination to which we have been subjected. Some of us are outgoing, adventurous and willing to accept risks for the expected rewards. Some of us are cautious, afraid of risk and restrictive in outlook. Some are tolerant and trusting, while others are belligerent and suspicious.

I know a New Zealand family who were on a world tour in I939. They were deep within Germany when they heard on the B.B.C. that war could be declared at any time. Naturally they had no desire to be interned thousands of miles away from home for the duration of war, so drove for the border and got through just before it was closed.

They had started with a full tank of gas but were unable to buy more on the way. Halfway to the border the father turned to his wife and said "The tank is half empty, dear." "No, mother" came a firm voice from the back seat "The tank is half full." Later on the father commented again "The tank is three quarters empty, dear." "No, mother, the tank is a quarter full" came again from the back seat.

That is the difference between optimism and pessimism. No wonder that young man became a very respected leader and successful businessman.

It is possible to divide people into broad groups such as introverted or extroverted, liberal or conservative. None of us, however, is all of one extreme. Each of us also carries something of the opposite attitude within us.

Each of us has his own mixture of ingredients which make for differences between people-

We express our concepts and attitude to life in everything we do. We tend to form associations with others of somewhat similar attitudes. We move away from those whose mixture of concepts is too far removed from our own and join forces with those with whom we feel more at ease.

Then if our concepts are so markedly the result of our conditioning and have so influenced our whole attitude to life and associations, is it possible to change? Or are we caught in the life cycle in which we were cast? Are there factors which can liberate us from the repetitive cycle of fixed attitudes?

Yes, attitudes can change through a mental process by acquiring new concepts- When we are convinced that a new concept is effective or reasonable we can adopt it. A person can be converted to a new concept by logic or some happening. A motor accident may cause a man to adopt a new attitude toward safety measures. A loving woman can bring out new attitudes in her man. Of course this is also part of conditioning which goes on for all of life.

Because our mental processes affect our attitudes we are subject to such incoming influences as education. We accumulate new factors which can change the balance of our attitudes to a new slant- Change may be slow but it does happen as a result of knowledge, experience and an inquisitive mind. No change is likely, however, in any person who is content with things as they are. Change may arrive from dissatisfaction with the result of present concepts.

Experience tells us that there are many who would welcome improved enjoyment of life if they only knew how to change to that kind of enjoyment. So I ask for recognition that a change of concept is possible and then a willingness to prove it. It is in everyone's power to acquire these new attitudes to life.

Overcoming problems can be very satisfying. Professional or business people are continually overcoming problems. Their business success is largely related to problem solving. The bigger the problem the greater the stimulation and the greater the satisfaction at its solution. So it can be with emotional problems. Just complaining about them and wishing they would go away will solve nothing. No one has to be stuck with a

problem for all of life.

There are however no magic disappearing tricks. Every problem calls for action. Each problem must be examined in all facets. So the first positive attitude to take towards problems, is to determine to examine and

solve them.

We tend to repeat the manner in which we do things- We develop routine patterns of getting up in the morning, washing dishes, eating, working and socially interacting. When we have a problem and things are not working properly we can adjust that routine to make it fit into some other pattern.

Our attitudes to ourselves, society and the world we live in are also habitual and may need adjustment.

We are nearly all driven by our emotions and often tend to act irrationally. We allow our feelings rather than knowledge to motivate us. If we are going to change our attitudes for the better we will need to be careful to understand and accept our feelings without invalidating clear thinking.

Let us start by looking at ourselves and adopting a new personal concept of evaluation, a better sense of One of America 's foremost psychopathologists Dr. Carl Rogers, with his team, have made notable contributions to individual therapy techniques. Rogers believes that human beings are born with a tendency to 'actualise' themselves as fully functioning persons, to Strive to maximise their potentials, There is a life force

pushing us towards fully developing ourselves as individuals.

Of course it is not a new unfelt, unknown experience ro awaken self realisation. Surely it has already had some start for most of us. We are, after all, each primarily interested in ourselves and wane the best possible for ourselves. What may prevent this full development is the negative conditioning to which we have all been subjected, some more than others, Disapprovals, mockery, sarcasm, downgradings and emotional conflicts have caused many to lose all confidence in themselves. We can become confused and overcome with fears, guilt’s and angers. The drive to self actualising can become damaged and even destroyed by a poor emotional and environmental society.

Self actualising or becoming a fully functioning per' son in one's own right is, I. believe, of prime importance to living a successful, happy and satisfying life. It is a key to personal change toward self respect, understanding, integrity and love in its fullest sense. We do not have to be stuck in the old habit rut, we can move

towards personal fulfillment. We can adopt attitudes of change.

As an example, a hypochondriac is one who unconsciously really wants ro be ill, because it is the only way he knows of gaining attention and sympathy for himself, or as a means of escape. So he will welcome illness even ac great suffering to himself, because of what he hopes to gain from it. Before he can be cured of his hypochondria he must change his thinking, his demand for the attention or escape he so desperately needs. So it is with most emotional disorders. We need to look very deeply and carefully at the driving force of the emotion with a determination and willingness to take new altitudes, to recognise old ones which did not work and adopt a new outlook.

Let me quote Dr. H. Guntrip. "Our deepest emotions and impulses are not fixed instincts, but ego reactions to personal objects in the inner world, surging up to complicate our reactions to our external objects in

the world."

Reading concepts is fine and interesting but has little effect until we apply them to our lives. I wish to encourage the reader and do more than titillate his or her mind. That is why our next chapter is entitled "Putting Oneself at Risk". The proof of the pudding is in the eating, we need to make personal contact by direct application.