Featured Article: Self-Esteem – the immune system of the mind and of the spirit
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Self-Esteem: Believing in Yourself

"Self-esteem is the immune system of the mind and of the spirit." Lee Pulos

While most of us occasionally experience bad feelings about ourselves we understand that these feelings are normal and come from the natural ebb and flow of life. We accept that not every day will be our best day, but know that life is good.

But some people have consistent bad feelings about themselves, suffering from low self-esteem. Self-esteem is a basic feeling of self-worth, self-love, self-respect and self-acceptance. Having a low self-esteem prevents you from living your life as you would like and robs you of the joy life has to offer.

Sometimes there are reasons for low self-esteem, and there is almost always something we can do about it.

I recently worked with a client whose self-esteem issues showed up at work. She would frequently defer to others, doubting her own insights. Often she had good ideas that she held back, criticizing her own ideas and thinking everyone else had better ideas. Then later, she would realize that her ideas had been the best. She also noticed that regardless of how long she spent writing reports or proposals she never felt they were good enough. She worked long hours and many weekends to meet her high standards, and her schedule was taking a toll on her health as well as personal relationships.

We spent some time talking about how she wanted to show up at work, discussing just what that would look like to her, and what some of the challenges would be as she worked to change her undesired behavior. She formed a very clear picture of how she wanted this part of her life to look and then wrote a strong affirmation statement. She practiced repeating that statement to herself to remind her of her goal and what it would look like already completed.

Over time she grew bolder in speaking out in team meetings, and cut way down on her work time to focus on better self-care. Not every situation turned out like she hoped, but she did her best to not let negative self-talk control too much of her thinking. Things didn’t shift over night, but by being focused on a clear purpose and taking small steps to accomplish her purpose, she gradually increased her sense of confidence and respect of herself, and started enjoying more fun-filled activities on the weekend with family and friends.

My client's purposeful actions not only improved her self-esteem at work, but created more joy and satisfaction in her life as a whole.

Here are the steps my client took to improve her self-esteem, and how you can do the same:

• Reflect on how satisfied you are in your life: In the areas where you are not so satisfied, create a plan that will allow you to create lasting, positive, lifestyle changes. Focus on just one thing at a time.
  
• Acknowledge your strengths and victories: Focusing on your strengths supports your remembrance of just how capable, victorious and powerful you are.
  
• Recognize your challenges: Recognizing your challenges is the first step to dissolving them. They will have less power to sabotage your ability to move forward.
  
• Develop a clear vision or intention of how you want your life to look: This will provide you with the motivation and energy to create the goals and take the actions steps needed to arrive at your desired destination.
  
• Use affirmation and visualization: A strong affirmation and clear visualization of where you want to go or how you want to be can help shift your attitudes, personal behaviors and negative internal dialogue.
  
• Take small steps forward: Break your goal down into small, scheduled, realistic action steps. Ask someone supportive to help hold you accountable. By doing this you can transform a challenging possibility into a manageable probability.
  
• Let each action be a learning step: When you learn from what doesn’t work as well as from what does work, it is a win-win situation. When something doesn’t work, re-evaluate and revise.
  
• Implement mind/body self-care practices: Everything we do or don’t do either empowers us or sabotages our ability to create healthy and happy lives. Daily self-care practices decrease stress and increase our mental, physical and spiritual capacity, while supporting us in creating the life we want.

Nourishing your self-esteem honors a positive, compassionate view of yourself, remembering that no one is perfect and gracefully accepting your occasional failings or mistakes.

The Healer Within: Using Traditional Chinese Techniques to Release Your Body's Own Medicine *Movement *Massage *Meditation *Breathing (Paperback) by Dr. Roger Jahnke.

Read this book and be inspired. You will find simple self-healing methods that are easy to understand and easy to implement. You are going to feel wonderful!

Dr. Wayne Dyer says, "The most profound healing resources are produced within us. Dr. Jahnke has created a beautiful bridge to the mysterious domain of the Chinese sell-healing arts. The Healer Within makes ancient mind/body secrets accessible to everyone."

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