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KNOW THYSELF - HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR SELF ESTEEM?

Everything that has ever happened and will ever happen to you, everything you might become
and accomplish, is influenced and determined by the way you think.
We have already seen that “external” factors such as events, decisions and influential people,
have an impact in shaping our lives.

The most significant “internal” factor that influences our experience of life is our self esteem.

We will all have a rudimentary awareness of what self esteem means to us. Having regard to the
importance of self esteem in achieving long term authentic happiness in the key areas of our
lives, this section will explore the subject in some detail.

This session delves into our self-esteem, which can be defined as the impression we hold of
ourselves which, consequently, influences all of our experiences in life. Self-esteem reflects how
we think about ourselves and the value we assign to ourselves as people. These thoughts may be
positive such as “I am intelligent and capable” or negative such as “ I am stupid and useless”.

A positive or high level of self-esteem enriches the quality of your experience of life. It makes you
feel good about yourself with the ability to truly appreciate yourself. It gives you a sense of
belonging, of feeling safe and empowered to set and achieve whatever goals in life you desire.
You feel energised to tackle new challenges, confident and courageous enough to push out the
boundaries of your personal ‘comfort zone’ and generally enjoy a much enhanced experience
of life.
YOUR SELF CONCEPT

Your self-concept is an expression that is commonly used to for your complete bunch of beliefs
about yourself, the life you live and the world you live in. As we have seen, your beliefs determine
what becomes real for you. Those beliefs have been gathered since your earliest childhood from
your parents, family, friends, teachers and others. Some are still current, others are not. It is proba-
ble that you are hanging on to beliefs right now, despite the fact that subconsciously, you know
they no longer serve your best interests.