==== ==== What is Self Esteem and How Can It Help You http://personaldevelopmentplansinfo.com/what-is-self-esteem-and-why-self-help/ ==== ====
I deserve only good things, so nothing bad can happen to me! These days, we hear the term self-esteem every day. We relate to it and most of us know what it means because we've heard about it since we were kids. At least one of our teachers tried to explain what it means and how we can develop very good self-esteem. They told us that selfesteem is one of the most important things to have if we want to be happy. We are grownups now; if we go back to our school years, we realize that maybe we didn't understand the concept behind the term self-esteem, because our lives don't reflect a realistic respect for ourselves. What does self-esteem really mean?If we focused on these two words, the first word is self, which means your own reflective consciousness; in other words, it means my OWN person. The second word is esteem, which means respect and admiration. If we put together the two words, it means "my own respect and admiration." But the term self-esteem is much more than that. Self-esteem is how much you value yourself and how important you think you are. It is how much confidence and capability you think you have. It is feeling good and comfortable doing what you want to do. It is the ability to feel good and have fun. It is giving yourself permission to enjoy your life and to feel and embrace all your emotions, including fear, frustration, anger, and others. Your self-esteem is a complete detailed picture of you, it is your self-image. How do you see yourself? What do you think about yourself? What do you feel about yourself? That is your self-esteem! If you want to know more about your self, answering these questions may help you. It is very important that you have a piece of paper and a pen to answer them. How much do you love yourself?Loving yourself means that you accept yourself completely. See yourself without any judgment or recrimination. Accept all the good qualities (of course you have them!) and work on the ones you want to improve. Nobody is perfect, but everybody has positive qualities, you just need to look inside you. Ask people who know and appreciate you to help you find your strengths. Make a list of all the qualities you have and read it every day. And make another list with the things you want to improve and work on that every day. How much do you believe in yourself?Every person believes in themselves, what do you believe about you? Write down everything you believe about yourself, positive and negative. Then, on another piece of paper, write on the left side all the positive beliefs and on the right side the negative ones. The negative ones are limited beliefs that you need to change, things like "I don't deserve to be happy," "I don't like my body," "People don't like me,"... and others that are stopping your happiness. You need to replace your limited beliefs with empowering beliefs because they are a very important part of your self-esteem. How much do you respect yourself?If you notice that other people don't respect you it is because
you don't respect yourself. The most important thing is your own respect. The way you treat yourself others will treat you. You deserve only good things and you are capable to get them as soon as you believe and respect yourself. Be aware of the words you say to you. What is your self-talk every day, do you use empowering or dis-empowering words? How much do you admire and value yourself?You are the most important person in this world! Create an ideal-ME with a specific vision and work on it every day. You are very valuable; this world wouldn't be the same without you. You are in this world for a reason and you have an important mission. It is your responsibility to find and accomplish it. Congratulate yourself for every little (big) accomplishment every day. How much do you accept yourself?Accepting yourself is very different from resignation and not doing anything to improve your life. Accepting yourself means being happy and able to enjoy every day of your life, but at the same time it requires you to be honest with yourself and seek opportunities to grow and improve things. For example, if you are not happy with your body, the first step is to accept and love your body as it is. Learn how to feel good and appreciate your body. When you feel good your body and mind work together and react better to how you're improving your body, such as exercise, dieting, and others. You need to be very honest with yourself when you answer these questions. When you read your answers you will discover that you have qualities, talents, and reasons to celebrate your life. At the same time you will find your limited beliefs that are stopping you to grow and be happy, so know you are ready to clean them and reprogram new ones. Now that you have a better idea about yourself, you are ready to improve your self-esteem. Here are three steeps that you can do: - Heal and release your past.It is very important to close your past circles and live in the present. If you are living in the past (or in the future) you are wasting your time and losing your focus. The past is already done and we cannot do anything to change it, but if we don't let it go, our past experiences are controlling our now and ruining our life. A good exercise to heal your life is to write down on a piece of paper the details of one bad past experience. Write about all your negative feelings and emotions. You can write names if you want. Let go of everything you're holding inside. When you finish, burn the paper. Breathe slowly three to five times, take another piece of paper and write what you learn from this experience. Everything has two sides, it depends how you see it. Focus your mind on seeing the good side of the event. Forgive yourself and others. Everybody makes mistakes. Write grateful affirmations because you are alive and great things are coming to you. Maybe you will need to repeat this exercise a few times to heal yourself, just don't do it that same day. - Evaluate your present.Ask yourself, how do I feel right now? What is missing in my life today? Maybe you are not living the life you want, maybe you feel frustrated, depressed, stressed or dissatisfied with your life. Realize that you are here to be happy no matter what and if you are not living the life you want, you need to make changes. You are the creator of your life and only YOU can change it when you take responsibility. - Look for your ideal future.The first question here is what do you really want to do with your life?
How does your ideal-life look like? If you can describe it in detail and visualize your ideal life, it will be easier to accomplish it. What are the things you need to change to get what you want? Remember that you are in charge of your life and you are a creator, so if you can create your ideal life in your mind you can bring it to reality and live the life you deserve. The next time you hear the term self-esteem, think about your inner self, because your selfesteem is YOU. The complete picture of you, your self-image has a big impact on your reality. It gives you the power to love, believe and accept yourself completely and create the life you deserve.
Patricia Anaya is an Author, Speaker, Life Coach and Creative Director. Her new book for children "The Three Powers, Magic to Love Yourself! was published on 11/11/11 ( http://www.TheThreePowers.com ). The Three Powers, Magic to Love Yourself! teaches children the principles to love themselves and to develop their own ability to make good friends and be happy. Patricia is the creator of brainywoman.com, has a passion for creating projects that help people, especially women and children. "brainywoman.com opens up a lot of possibilities to touch women's lives and help them to improve self-esteem. Don't forget to visit http://www.brainywoman.com to find more inspirational and practical articles like this. "Learn how to create the life you deserve by focusing your words, thoughts, feelings and emotions."
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