Topic 13.7. The Turning Point: Self Esteem

The Turning Point: Self Esteem

Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one.

Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Your beliefs about yourself affect how you feel, and how you appear to others. Your self-confidence, self-esteem and a whole host of other aspects are the result of your self-image. What you don’t know, will hurt you. The origin of this bold statement goes back to the fundamental law of cause and effect. There is a reason for everything that manifests around us in our lives, whether we are aware of our role in attracting it, or not!

So often, we can incorrectly tend to blame all kinds of circumstances for the challenges we experience in our lives. We fail to take responsibility for being the ultimate attractor of these less than desirable events. When we learn how to effectively shift how we think and behave in these key situations, we take responsibility for creating the results we desire.

Now the real question becomes: What do we need to do within ourselves so that we become a more effective attractor of our desired results?

The answer to this great question is simple: your level of self-esteem! Your level of self-esteem is the primary determining factor that influences your behavior in every moment of your life.

Research shows that over 85% of us experience some form of diminished self-esteem in our lives. For some people, their overall self-esteem is at a consistent low point, but for most people, poor self-esteem can occur in certain situations and settings.

However, Iit’s in the key emotional moments of your life that diminished self-esteem can hurt you the most. For example, you may be applying for a job and you are given a tough question and all of a sudden, you start feeling uncomfortable or you might even sabotage your chances by saying something foolish, because you lack the necessary self-esteem to hold yourself as a great prospect for the company interviewing you. Or, perhaps, it could be in the area of relationships and intimacy where your poor self-esteem might prevent you from achieving your desired result. All too often, unproductive levels of self-esteem in certain key areas are passed on to children who experience problems similar to those that their parents have. Or maybe it’s in a business setting, where you sometimes feel intimidated, shy or uncomfortable as a result of diminished self-esteem.

I suspect it is fair to say that we have all experienced our share of these types of situations. The good thing, is that this does not need to continue to happen. You can be as strong, confident and productive as you wish, in any given situation. You fully deserve that. I am committed to showing you the way to realising a stronger and healthier overall level of self-esteem, where you can consistently enjoy a higher quality of life.

Not knowing that we have deficits in our level of self-esteem hurts us, because we are unaware of the extent of the problem that exists in our lives. When we are unaware of a problem, we cannot solve it intentionally. In order to find out where the problem is and how strong it is, please consider the following few questions:

In what situations do you feel uncomfortable?

How might this discomfort prevent you from achieving what you desire?

Would you be more productive in these important life areas if you raised your level of self-esteem?

Since we know that we can improve the quality of our lives by elevating our self-esteem, let’s do just that. There’s a whole new universe waiting to be explored, and it’s within you. Sit back, relax and take this incredible mind-bending journey. I look forward to championing you, to help you achieve every aspect of your dream life. Together, we can make it happen.

What is Self-esteem?

There are countless ways to define what self esteem is, and it is important that you clearly understand what self-esteem is and how it is formed.

Some examples include:

Self-esteem is how much a person likes, accepts, and respects themself overall as a person.

Self-esteem could be defined as what our unconscious mind believes to be true about how worthy, lovable, valuable and capable we are.

Self-esteem is generally considered the evaluative component of our self-concept, a broader representation of the self that includes cognitive and behavioural aspects, as well as evaluative or affective ones.

Self-esteem Myths

Because there are so many aspects that comprise self-esteem, there are also many myths around this topic. While many of the ways that self-esteem is defined have elements in common, the myths around the topic of self-esteem can confuse us dramatically. Often these myths come from beliefs that we picked up at some point in our lives. These myths can hold you back from optimising your self-esteem.

A few of the popular myths about self-esteem are:

My level of self esteem is fixed. It is a given and I cannot affect this.
Only poor and uneducated people suffer from low self-esteem.
It is my parents’ (…another’s) fault that I have self-esteem issues.

Of course these myths are not true. In fact, there are many more crucial myths that can keep you from sensing the need to raise your level of self-esteem and therefore radically upgrade the quality of your life.

Practice this:

Instead of using everything around you to gather information about what is wrong with you, what if everything reflected your inter-connectedness with all of life?

Pointers for enjoying positive self esteem:

Change

Nothing stays the same. Change is the way to the future. You need to change your thinking, so that you can start to behave differently and attract different people and experiences into your life. The more you change within, the greater will be the changes without. It is impossible for nothing to happen. Here are 4 steps to change your life:

Only think optimistically and affirmatively.

Play your vision movie every day.

Treat every person you meet as if they were the most important person in the world.

Take action every day to manifest your vision.

Compassion

Compassion is the way to treat every aspect of life.

Courage

Courage is the way to apply strategic intuition and creativity to shape what you feel uncertain about, and your destiny.

Excellence

Excellence is the way to inscribe your work.

Fair Play

Fair Play is the way to approach every touchpoint.

Fun

Fun is the way to colour your work, your love and your life.

Humility

Humility is the way to draw upon your strengths.

Integrity

Integrity is the way to generously season everything you do.

Loyalty

Loyalty is the way to dedicate yourself to the indefatigable realisation that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”. Martin Luther King Jr.

People

People need people It’s the way to expand your capacity for greatness.

Respect

Respectfully is the way to behave.

Service

Service is the way to embrace leading and following.

In brief:

Don’t harm your neighbours, friends and family. Help them.

Don’t be stingy. Use your wealth with generosity, for offerings and charity.

Don’t let your body be idle. Meditate, do pranayama and yoga.

Don’t let your speech be negative and untrue. Recite your affirmations (mantra).

Always have pure thoughts towards others.

Give up doing wrong, and do what is wholesome.

Whatever happiness and suffering you undergo, regard them as the result of previous actions.

Always act in accord with the greatest good.

Together, these values serve us as a guidepost; a quiet force that defines our character and builds a strong foundation for a life of ethical integrity, moral uprightness, a life of gratitude and good courage. To borrow a phrase from President Obama, these values are the “source of our confidence—the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.”

Choosing faith over fear, and refining your values and beliefs, is an important part of being a responsible being on this planet. These must be choices that your heart is happy with, and those that will bring you comfort, joy or guidance, in moments when you need assistance.

Manifest your greatest life yet. This is a new age, a new way of doing things, a time of heightened, enlightened consciousness, with a new paradigm. Progressing beyond simple ‘techniques’, we move towards an inspired, conscious way of living and loving to achieve success in our lives. We must cleanse the mind of old, worn out, unproductive processes that only serve to impede humankind’s path. Stripped of all borders, limitations and boundaries that formerly applied to our personal visions for success and defined how we misused energy, we are now invited into the creative dance by keeping our energies in the now, where all potential exists, with full, divine, limitless expression. We lovingly embrace, rather than resist, the moment, where magic is made. We align with the source of creative power within, to manifest our dreams and destiny.

If we did all the things we are capable of doing

we would literally astound ourselves.

Thomas Edison