Article October 5, 1968 Issue

You Can Heal Hurt Feelings

[For young teens]

AYLESA FORSEE

If a teacher criticizes your attitude in the classroom or a parent objects to your haircut, cluttered room, or choice of records, do you feel hurt? Are you so eager for approval from friends that if they say anything critical your day is practically ruined?

Reliance on Christian Science will not guarantee freedom from criticism. You'll always have to cope with some disapproval, especially if you are a student leader. And it's to be expected that in the process of working out your own standards and goals there will be times when your ideas will not coincide with those of your parents or other adults. But through Christian Science you can learn to handle oversensitivity and find the way to benefit from criticism.

Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "During many years the author has been most grateful for merited rebuke."^{Science and Health, p. 9;} Suppose that a correction is merited—you realize that you've been watching television too much or acting irritably. You may be tempted to react the way a sensitive plant does. It is beautiful as long as no one disturbs it, but it withers if anyone touches it.