>>What makes you as a person feel important in life?

That I realize the importance of life itself. It is what we have to work with ... and only that to work with. May as well make it as pleasant, wholesome, fulfilling, rewarding as possible. My attitude about life gives me importance .... I think.

>> What would make you feel important in life if you do not feel this way?

Not sure I understand this question. If I did not (see above), what (else) would make me feel important??

Uhmmmm well, wealth, power, authority, responsibility, ... 'importance' has to be mirrored by something .. important as related to ......

A parking lot sweeper is important. The CEO of a huge company is important. In an employment situation, they are both important to each other ... though one more so than the other .. perhaps.

Not sure I can answer your second question very well.

I agree with your answer. The second question was for those who dont feel important in life like myself. status seems to be so important in this world and if you dont have it then it can leave some feeling defeated in life so I guess its important to feel important and so I want to figure out a way to make myself feel important besides in the role of a mother. You see I have signifigant short memory problems which affects my learning new things so it can leave me feeling defeated at times and unable to climb the latter in life even if I have the desire.

Feeling 'important' is part of self esteem. From my view, self esteem is is directly connected to love for self.

It's interesting ... ask a few people 'who do you love?" and see how many include themselves.

What is ironic is the MORE you love yourself, the MORE you find love in life .. for others and for yourself. No love inside .. no love outside.

Love yourself FIRST ... then there is plenty of it for others.

You will feel important when you have high self esteem ... and you will have that when you amply love yourself.

thanks for your input. i know you are correct but the road in which we learn how to love ourselves can be a long journey:-).

good question: I guess with my religious upbringing I grew up believing that importance is based on your ability to give to others, to be needed, to make a difference in the world for the greater good, or in any small way.
maybe I see this is not the most healthy way to think because my importance is based on things outside of myself .... interesting
If these means of importance were taken away..could I possibly find my own importance another way?
I recently joined this group and a big reason was because someone I k new my own age born on the same day as me had died and his life seemed more important than my life why am is still here?. I don't work with kids or have a close solid family relationship like he did, I am not a person loved by the whole community where I live, I dont have a husband who would miss me , BUT I have a daughter I love and this question made me think why is she important it isn't becasue of what she is doing it is just becasue she is Thanks for helping me see this

>>can be a long journey

I think the length of the journey is directly related to the amount of effort. Took me a long time to understand it ... but milliseconds to achieve it .. once I 'got it'.

Before .. I would say "Uh .. well OF COURSE I love myself .. why not?" and yet, I had no clue HOW to love myself. Once one realizes being very, very good to yourself is how ... it gains momentum.

Think of all those you treat well .. your children, your pet, your friends, your other family members ... all you need to do is start being 'as' good to yourself ... and you are 'on your way'.

for me what makes me feel important if i dont feel important is my family my children and grandchidren and great grand children ...........my dad ................my brothers and sisters ......................the people i love ...............finishing a painting ...............having my husband showing how much he loves me all the time just in little ways .............i also have a problem with short term memorie and just like you it is hard for me to learn knew things i can learn it just takes more efert .............but when i need to rember it like say if i had to rite a test my mind would be blank ...............actualy thats how my mind works naturaly when i was in school i could never pass a test because of that i pased some tests ...............it makes it hard to make conversation i realy heat that so i keep to my self i do have some frends that i seam to be able to talk to and they dont seem to mind that i forget things ...............i dont think i need to feel important i think i need to feel loved ..........and to me being a mother is the most important job there is ..................we are bring up the next generation they will chang the world ....................god bless....it is important for me to feel self esteem .............i dont belive that eneyone is more important than eneyone else ..............god bless

I am so tired of hearing how important having status, money, who you know, etc.... What matters to me is how people treat others and what is in their heart. Period...
Hugs GB

How you treat people really is most important but I am so aware of how often people with status and all these things do not treat people well at all and I guess if I want to do anything about the "bad" eggs in high positions.....I need to raise my status to some degree :-). There are good hearted people with a high status...all the things mentioned. I thank you for all your replies. Hugs to u all.

I am not as important as the mission I am trying to achieve. If you meet me, and forget me, you have lost nothing. But if I am not able to convey a message of hope that you can grab onto, then I have missed my mark. My importance is not judged by me, but by someone else.

Staying alive!!! Now THAT is important.