Imitation and flattery

When we are very, very young, we don't care what others think.

We live outside the zone of self-consciousness.

It's one of the things that make little kids so funny and cute. They don't mind making mistakes because they aren't protecting a self-image based on what others feel about them.

Dogs never lose this, which is one of their most attractive traits.

But soon enough, we humans do become self-aware; we become absorbed by self-consciousness. We define ourselves, at least partially, by what others think of us -- by what we want others to think of us.

And many of us are uncomfortable with what makes us different ... a voice too high, a delivery totally unlike any other.

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