“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”—Proverbs 18:21.

We have often been taught that we need to be careful of what we say, because our words have the potential to do great harm to other people. This is indeed true.

However, we also need to be aware of the harm that others can cause us with their words. We often seek affirmation from other people, and when someone cuts us down, belittles us and tells us that we have failed, it can cause us a lot of grief.

Sometimes we beat ourselves up over someone else’s comment, without stopping to consider if their criticism is valid. We should consider the source, and not allow negative people to dampen our spirits or deter us from our purpose. While some criticism is helpful, we should be careful not to give harmful people unwarranted power over our lives.