Rabbi Simcha Bunim, may the memory of  the righteous be for a blessing, had a famous oral teaching:

Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that he or she can reach into the one or the other, depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach into the right pocket, and, there, find the words: “For my sake was the world created.”

But when feeling high and mighty one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: “I am but dust and ashes.”*

I have no problem finding the message in that left pocket. I probably say similar things to myself 100 times or more every day: “You aren’t making any difference on this Earth.” “You are a loser.” “No one really likes you.” “You are unlovable.” “You’ll never really be happy.”

But the right pocket? I almost never tell myself, “For my sake was the world created” (or an equivalent feeling/statement). I’m just too busy reaching into that left pocket most of the time. Why can’t I reach into the right to make things right?

I wish I were a balanced person who could properly use both pockets (metaphorically). But for those of us who suffer from low self-esteem or negative self-talk, I think we need to empty out our left pocket for the time being and focus almost exclusively on the right one. Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (also known as the Rambam and/or Maimonides) was a preeminent Torah scholar, doctor and philosopher of the Middle Ages. In the Mishneh Torah, he wrote**:

So too should a person behave regarding all character traits. If he is on one extreme he should move to the opposite extreme and accustom himself to such behavior for a good while until he may return to the proper middle path.

To find the simcha of Rabbi Simcha (Bunim), I think I need to throw out the piece of paper in my left-hand pocket. It’s time to exclusively focus on the right one, until I know good and well that G-d loves me and put me here for a reason.