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The Key to Adaptive Coping: High self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:51:01 +0000

Our personal relationships are often influenced by the feedbacks others give of us. However, it must be taken into consideration that in choosing our personal relationships, we often base our choices on the kind of personal feedback we want to receive from others – that is, a person with low self-esteem would more likely interact with another individual who view him less positively. On the other hand, an individual with a high self-esteem would want to establish relationships with people who give him a high regard.

People with low self-esteem would often view a failing relationship as a direct cause of their own weaknesses. However, in order to protect themselves from this sudden strike to their personality, they will try to find faults in others to hide their own failures. However, the only positive way of dealing with these failures is by effectively handling the issues at hand. Having a positive self-esteem helps protect an individual from the negativity of failures; that is because one is able to see one’s strengths despite the failures that have happened to him.

People with a high self-esteem are able to take on a positive look at every failure he has experienced. Moreover, he is able to analyze his own set of strengths and weakness that led to the eventual failure of a relationship. However, this failure does not hinder him from establishing other relationships. A high self-esteem helps an individual cope with the stresses of life and the anxieties brought about by problematic relationships.

Affirmations to Improve Self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:49:50 +0000

When people hear the term self-esteem, the first thing that comes into mind is how they perceive themselves at a particular moment. However, this is only a vague definition on what self-esteem really is. Self-esteem is an integration of many different factors surrounding our daily lives. It involves more than one’s perception as well as how other perceive us. Self-worth or self-value, which is often coined with self-esteem is the result of an interplay between our state of mind, our body and the environment in which people live.

A positive self-esteem is very important in achieving a healthy life. A high self-esteem is synonymous to perceiving ourselves as worthy of receiving positive things in life such as love, success and belongingness. However, more than this, a high self-esteem promotes healing and a positive way at dealing with all the problems that we may encounter. On the other hand, negative self-esteem is detrimental to our very existence. It invites stress and anxiety, which leaves people vulnerable to failures and problems with personal relationships.

A high self-esteem is often reflected by how much respect others give. Positive affirmations are one of the strongest tools to improve one’s self-esteem and establish one’s life purpose. The key to utilizing positive affirmation lies in consistency. That is, integrating into one’s lifestyle the positive practices to improve self-esteem is the only way to achieve such a feat. Building on a positive image and living in a positive way is the most effective means to maintain a high self-esteem.

Romantic Relationships Strengthened by High Self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:48:57 +0000

How well an individual handles a personal relationship is often a reflection of one’s own self-esteem. More than just a sense of personal value, self-esteem greatly influences how well we handle the stresses of a personal relationship. How we face every problem is often reflected in how much value we give to ourselves. As such, a high level of self-esteem is the key to having satisfying intimate relationships, which answers an individual’s need for love and belongingness.

A lasting relationship is often built on a strong foundation between two individuals. Since intimate relationship should be a give and take relationship, each individual must be able to extend an equal share of love to one another in order for the relationship to work. Often, an individual with a low self-esteem is more vulnerable to experiencing negative emotions stemming from dissatisfaction with some aspects of the relationship. Keeping the motivation to continue with the relationship is often the result of a high self-esteem that should be shared by both individuals in a relationship.

A high self-esteem promotes happiness and satisfaction to both individuals involved in a relationship. Every relationship is often tried with the introduction of problems and strains in the relationship. However, individuals with high self-esteem are able to cope better with these problems; thus, a better outcome is often seen in this kind of scenario. People with high self-esteem are able to take on a positive outlook in life; thus, they are able to handle problems effectively without compromising one’s personal relationships.

8 Practices to Have a High Self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:48:22 +0000

From a developmental point of view, self-esteem can be seen as a product of many life practices. No single practice or life milestone can contribute to the overall self-worth one has. Instead, self-esteem, or one’s self-worth, is best viewed as the product of 8 practices that people can engage into. Self-esteem is increased by how well an individual integrates 8 vital life practices into his own lifestyle.

Self-acceptance. Before people can realize their dreams, they must accept who they are. By accepting our own strengths and weaknesses, we are able to understand ourselves better.
Self-responsibility. Our every action has its own set of consequences. By being responsible for our every action, we can say that we are able to effect change.
Self-assertiveness. Life gives us many opportunities to realize our own strengths and weaknesses. However, this will depend on how well we are able to assert ourselves and accept the opportunities presented to us.
Conscious living. We are not the only beings that exist in this world. As such, we must be conscious of our own position in this society so as not to bring unnecessary disturbance to it.
Purposeful living. We live for a purpose. However, not all people know what their purpose is. Finding this purpose is what helps us keep motivated in living our lives.
Compassionate living. Self-worth is often reflected by how well others value and respect us. As such, in order to gain respect by others, we must live compassionately and share our blessing with others.
Selfless living. With selfless living, we extend our blessings to others without expecting something in return.
Living with integrity. The only way we can truly value ourselves is when we can prove to ourselves that we are certainly someone worth respecting.

The Secret to Having High Self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:47:27 +0000

Achieving a high self-esteem is more than just having a healthy mind and body. Before people can directly tackle self-esteem issues, it is imperative that they satisfy their basic needs first. Abraham Maslow, a developmental psychologist, introduced the Theory of Human Motivation, which is more commonly known in the Hierarchy of Needs. In his Theory, he said that for people to be self-actualized, one must satisfy the development needs in one’s life – that is, physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs must all be satisfied first before proceeding to self-actualization. Since this is a hierarchy, tackling these issues proceeds in a step-like manner; that is, physiologic needs are the most basic needs which self-actualization are the highest form of needs.

In the Hierarchy of Needs, which Maslow proposed, esteem needs fall on the second highest level. Thus, in order for one to achieve high self-esteem, one must first satisfy his physiological, safety, as well as love/belonging needs before he can deal with esteem issues. After satisfying the basic needs, esteem issues that come in the form of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-achievement, self-respect, respect of others and respect by others can already be dealt with. Handling these issues in a positive way and having an adaptive coping mechanism in dealing with these issues can help an individual maximize his self-worth.

Self-actualization or becoming everything one is capable of becoming is everyone’s dream. However, there are needs thathave to be satisfied and issues that have to be dealt with before a person becomes self-actualized. Self-esteem issues are one of them.

Appraising One’s Self Worth: Increasing one’s self-esteem

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:46:57 +0000

Too much of everything can be unhealthy. Although self-esteem is very important in appraising one’s self-worth, too much self-esteem can also bring down one’s destruction. When people define self-esteem, concepts of self-confidence, self-worth, self-love, and self-acceptance among others are usually the concepts to arise. While these may define self-esteem, people should understand that these are only factors that may affect one’s self-esteem.

One of the most popular notions is that self-esteem is the health of mind. Self-esteem can be viewed as an individual’s perception of his own self-worth; that is, the value he gives to his overall personality. However, to increase one’s self-esteem, people should work on things that indirectly affect it. These are one’s mindset, overall health, and environment. Having a positive outlook is our key to having a high self-esteem. Stress from the environment can surely affect our state of mind when coupled with poor coping mechanisms. Thus, it is important that despite having problems, people should maintain a positive outlook and try to solve these problems in an adaptive way.

With a weak self-esteem, people become vulnerable to the stresses of life. Problems may be easily handled by a person with a high self-esteem and a positive outlook in life. Moreover, to reach self-actualization, one of the steps people must satisfy is having a high self-esteem. Without it, we would not have the motivation to reach our dreams and be satisfied with our personal growth. However, we must always remember to not have too much of it. Otherwise, having too much self-esteem will hinder us from grabbing the opportunities that are presented to us.