Self-esteem

Self-esteem is very important for your physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Enhancing your self-esteem is another passage to personal growth and change. Life begins to take on greater beauty as we open up and appreciate ourselves. As we value and love ourselves, we gain an acceptance of others. Self-esteem is something we can change and when we do, everything in our life changes.
Self-esteem is simply the value we place on ourselves. If we link it to success, money, belongings and friends then we miss the mark.
Out of true self-esteem, we create results. We become healthier, happier and make a more significant contribution in life.

What is Self Esteem ?

Self esteem is the opinion you have of yourself. It is based on your attitude to the following:

• Your value as a person
• The job you do
• Your achievements
• How you think others see you
• Your purpose in life
• Your place in the world
• Your potential for success
• Your strengths and weaknesses
• Your social status and how you relate to others
• Your independence or ability to stand on your own feet

What is Low Self Esteem?

Low self esteem results from you having a poor self image caused by your attitude to one or more of the above. Example: you do not value the job you do highly or you feel you have no purpose in your life.

What is High Self Esteem?

High self esteem is the opposite! It is a very important aspect of your life. If you have a high level you will be confident, happy and sure of yourself. You would be highly motivated and have the right attitude to succeed. 

Self esteem is therefore crucial to you and is a cornerstone of a positive attitude towards living.

Self confidence tips

Everybody needs a confidence boost sometimes, so here are a few tips...

1) Feel Good when you Want

When you need to boost your self confidence or self esteem, find 3 things that make you feel good. These could be memories of good times, a piece of music, a holiday souvenir, or a person's face - use photos if it helps. Practise thinking about them and bringing them to mind.

Developing self confidence that lasts - because of the way emotions 'attach' themselves to memories, you will quickly train yourself to feel good when you want - a great help.

2) Beat Self Consciousness

Self consciousness is the No.1 enemy of self confidence. Learn how to keep your attention off yourself. You can do this easily by following these steps...

a) If you notice you have become self-conscious, (you can usually tell because you start to feel anxious), choose something 'everyday' you can see and study it in detail. For example: examine a door, look at the different textures and shades of colour, wonder about who made it and how and so on. The important thing is that you're learning how to keep your attention off yourself.

b) If you feel self-conscious in a social situation, it's usually because you don't have enough to do! Focus on what your purpose in the situation is. Whether you're there to:

• find out if you like the other people in the situation
• make others feel comfortable
• find out some information
• make business contacts
• and so on...

It's easy to feel self-conscious if you have nothing to do, and much more difficult if your attention is occupied by a task.

Think how comfortable you have been with others when you're all working toward a common goal. The common goal of socialising could be making friends, it could be the exchange of mutually beneficial information, it could be whatever you want it to be!

3) Don't Take Undue Criticism - Even From Yourself !

Challenge your own assumptions. Here's a few to get you started:

a) Confident-looking people have bad moments too.

b) Just because you feel under-confident, doesn't mean other people can tell.

c) If you're saying things to yourself like "You're no good at anything" then rest assured, you're wrong. Everyone can compose a sentence, get successfully to the store, eat without choking. Don't let yourself make sweeping statements about yourself - in the long run it is this sort of thing that can really damage your self image.

Building self esteem is not just about thinking good of yourself, it's about not thinking bad for no reason!

d) Just because you have felt bad about yourself in the past doesn't mean you're always going to feel that way. I have seen hundreds of people surprise themselves once they have learned how to build self confidence in a way that it stays built!

e) Learn how to develop your self confidence by following the tips from this site and notice the small differences as they happen. Persevere and don't expect everything at once. Beating low self esteem is a wonderful thing, and it's much easier than you'd imagine.