Mindreader summary

Generally, the happiest among us are those who have emotionally healthy relationships. That’s because being vulnerable and letting people into our lives requires a bit of ego deflation. To have someone come into our lives, we need to make space for them. When someone is fearful or ego-driven, their problems fill up their whole life and their capacity to give love is diminished – there's simply too little space for anyone else.

Such self-absorption is an example of someone with low self-esteem. And it’s evidence of a deeper emotional pain. Emotional pain leads to self-absorption – just like with physical pain. When you have a headache, it becomes difficult to focus on what someone might be saying to you. Self-absorption is the same and it can express itself through arrogance, self-pity, or trouble empathizing with others’ problems.

Emotional resilience is the ability to deal with stress and adversity while maintaining a healthy mental attitude. This is the difference between people who allow stress to drive them into depression and those who can handle the periodic tribulations of life. And it’s all down to the fact that emotional resilience stems from a healthy self-esteem.

Let’s take a closer look at how ego functions.

But why does the ego do what it does?

People with low self-esteem tend to take their frustrations out on the world around them. Whereas a healthy person is able to be authentic and nonjudgmental, the unhealthy person is fixated on themself. And when you see someone focused so much on themself, it tells you a lot about who they truly are.

So what are some tell-tale signs that someone might be troubled?

First, consider whether the person you’re dealing with tends to react to life calmly. Or do they blow things out of proportion, getting upset over trivial things? For people with poor emotional health, who lack perspective because they’re always focusing on themselves, everything’s a big problem. While having a balanced perspective allows us to see things in their right size, people without a healthy perspective are unable to do the same.