Rebuilding Your Self Esteem!
Self Esteem is a critical factor in reducing stress and meeting and conquering life’s challenges, where you believe you are worthy of love and happiness.
Indicators of Low Self Esteem:
If the following feelings or thoughts are present, you may have a low self-esteem:
- I do not like myself
- I am a fraud
- I do not deserve love
- There’s something wrong with me
- I’m not worthy of respect from other people
- It’s difficult to make eye contact with other people
- I’m overly distressed by criticism
If these seem familiar, you would be wise to adopt a self-improvement program to boost your self-esteem.
Increased Stress Levels and Low Self-Esteem:
When you have low self-esteem, it is difficult to cope with stressful situations.
As you do not think you are worthy or capable of completing that task successfully.
- You may be constantly engaged in negative self-talk
- Perhaps you have an on-going negative internal dialogue
- You may be overly concerned with “What others think of you”
- Too much energy is spent on earning the acceptance and approval of others
Your stress level goes up and your self-esteem goes down each time you fail to achieve your goal. This cumulative effect can lead to a lifelong inability to move forward in life.
Confidence and Self-Esteem are Different!
Self-esteem issues are more than a lack of self-confidence.
- You may have a successful career, but feel unworthy
- Perhaps you are unable to love yourself or experience happiness
- Many successful people, are miserable if they have low self-esteem
- Low self-esteem makes it easier for others to manipulate you
- You may become unsure of your own feelings and opinions
What You Can Do to Improve Your Self Esteem?
It is important then, to have a healthy self-esteem, so that you can experience happiness when you achieve material success.
Low self-esteem makes it very difficult to succeed in any endeavor, as you become, your own worst enemy.
Through negative self-talk you constantly put obstacles in your own path to success. We sometimes refer to this as self-sabotage!
- Stop criticizing yourself: Learn not to condemn yourself for the small slip-ups that we all are prone to make in our lives. You have to accept mistakes as a necessary part of life.
- Praise yourself when you do something great Be overly generous in your praise, but it’s crucial to be honest.
- Visualize yourself as being successful Always see yourself as achieving the goal before you set out
- Accept praise gracefully When someone congratulates you, thank them and accept the compliment with pride
Positive Stress Levels
Life is full of stressful situations, some of which are healthy and beneficial:
- We all benefit from some stress in our lives, it is what makes life interesting
- A little stress motivates us to attempt tasks we might not otherwise attempt
- When you have a deadline to meet, stress levels increase, and you find the strength to complete the assigned task on time
Stress can assist you to become more focused on the task, and increases your reserve of strength, in a pressure situation. You may have experienced being able to think more clearly, when trying to meet a deadline.
Stress can stimulate the brain, focus our attention and provide the strength need for optimal performance.
Just as stress can help us to focus it can also clear the clutter from your mind. When you approach tasks in a positive manner, stress can help you by releasing unimportant thoughts allow you to focus and concentrate better.
Keeping Stress Levels Down
You will experience stress in everything you do in life.
Therefore, it is significant to learn stress management techniques and relaxation protocols to deal with stress and anxiety.
Channel stress to your advantage, instead of allowing it to control you.
One of the easiest ways to reduce stress is Mindfulness, simply focus on attention on your breathing for a few minutes while deep breathing, allowing the body to relax and the mind to calm.
When combined with self-hypnosis or meditation exercises, such as progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), this simple physical activity can assist you in keeping calm at all times.
The Advantages of Relaxation
- Increased energy
- Clear mind
- Improved decision making
- Mental clarity
- Better control of your life
- Improved self-esteem
Breathing Exercise – Mindfulness
This simple exercise when practiced in stressful situations will help to lessen the effects and allow you to cope and recover quickly.
- Find a quiet place to sit
- Focus your mind on your breathing
- Breathe in deeply, using your diaphragm … count to three … thinking “Calm”
- Hold the breath for the count of three
- Exhale completely to the count of three … thinking “Relaxed”
- Repeat three times, or more …
When feeling more comfortable, breath normally, and continue with your task with new energy and focus on achieving your goals.
For a complimentary hypnosis session, using Progressive Muscle Relaxation techniques, visit this link.