Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Building Self Esteem and Confidence
Building self esteem and confidence is a process that involves making
changes. And making changes requires time and energy. So the first step
towards a healthier sense of self-worth is to improve your energy level.
To do this, make sure that you have a nourishing diet, sleep well,
exercise regularly, and make time to relax, enjoy yourself and be with
the people you love. Develop a kind of structure or schedule so that
these things are built into your daily life. No matter how busy you are,
make time for them.
Building self esteem and confidence hinges on breaking old habits and
developing new, productive ones. A key habit that needs to be shattered
is persistent negative thinking. For some of us, these thoughts are so
interwoven into the fabric of our minds that we assume that they are
normal - but they are not! Learn how to acknowledge and deal with your
inner critic.
Also, stop playing The Blame Game. Stop judging yourself and other
people in your life for what has happened to you in the past. Blame
serves no purpose other than to breed bitterness and resentment. This
wastes a lot of time and energy that you could use in more productive
ways. Besides, people do what they think is best at the time, the same
way you do. And we all make mistakes. So learn to forgive yourself and
others for past mistakes.
Learn how to reconcile, resolve and accept what has happened in the past
and know that it has made you a stronger person. Acknowledge your fears
and find out what's really behind them. Many of your fears are likely to
be groundless; it is the thinking, attitudes and beliefs that cause much
of the unnecessary fear. Fear is often a disguise for your lack of
belief in yourself and your judgements.
Once you've started making these changes to build your self-esteem,
commit to them! Even if you manage to use just one of the examples I've
suggested, it will begin to make a difference to your level of self
esteem. Know that you have value, regardless of what has happened
before.
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A Slice of Life - Produced and presented by Eugene Loh
Host of AM NewsTalk with Michelle Martin, weekdays 6am to 10am
on NewsRadio 93.8FM
11:19 AM
