Steve's mind wanders as he does his homework. "I'm never going
to do well on this history test," he thinks. "My dad's right,
I'm just like him — I'll never amount to much." Distracted, he
looks down and thinks how skinny his legs are. "Ugh," he says to
himself. "I bet the football coach won't even let me try out
when he sees what a wimp I am." Julio is studying for the same
history test as Steve, and he's also not too fond of the
subject. But that's where the similarity ends. Julio has a
completely different outlook. He's more likely to think, "OK,
history again, what a pain. Thank goodness I'm acing the subject
I really love — math." And when Julio thinks about the way he
looks, it's also a lot more positive. Although he is shorter and
skinnier than Steve, Julio is less likely to blame or criticize
his body and more likely to think, "I may be skinny, but I can
really run. I'd be a good addition to the football team." We all
have a mental picture of who we are, how we look, what we're
good at, and what our we