High Self Esteem Carries You Through The Down Times: Techniques to Raise Your Self Esteem

Self esteem defines the way you feel about yourself – who you are and how you are in life. Your opinion of you shows up in your demeanor, your posture, your voice tonality and volume, your wardrobe… the list goes on and on.

High self esteem powers you through anything that comes up in life. Low self esteem causes you to confirm why your life continues to look crummy.

Choose to build your self esteem higher than its current level. Even the happiest people on the planet sometimes experience low self esteem in some areas of their lives, at least now and then.

Okay, so how do you raise your self esteem?

You want to take action, do something that changes how you feel about yourself. Maybe when you exercise you get high so you want to finish your workout. The end result? You boosted your endorphins, your feel good hormones.

You also fed your spirit by creating a natural high,

Do not sit around thinking about what to do. Don’t go look for a book or magazine to get and idea of what to do. Just put on your shoes and get moving.

Why get into action?

When you sit around what happens in your mind? You focus on your low opinion of you.

What you focus on expands. How can you expect to feel better and move through challenging times if you have no idea how to raise your self esteem?

Put new ideas in your mind. You do that by creating new habits. You create new habits by taking actions you never did before.

Oh yes – before you can do anything mentioned above, you first must choose to be someone who does those things that you never did before. Until you make that choice you will not take the new and different actions required to move yourself from the low self esteem place to the high self esteem place.

Another habit you want to create is doing something nice for someone else. When you do something that helps another person feel good you cannot help but feel good too. You will feel better yourself as you see that other person light up.

Make a commitment to help others on a regular schedule so you have something to look forward to – and so does that other person or organization. The physic income you will receive will do more than elevate your good feelings about yourself, it will also motivate you to continue that new activity so it will become a habit.

Happiness: Feeling Self-Confident Being You

I often hear stories about how kids were told they were worthless and would never amount to anything in life. Or maybe they were called clumsy or awkward or dumb.

I never got any put-down labels when I was growing up. In fact I experienced the opposite. I was left on my own to figure it all out and pretty much did so. Yeah, I had some funny ideas like thinking people somehow detached their garages from their houses then they had garage sales!

You see, my mom thought I knew everything and could do everything. So I grew up feeling totally confident in myself. I knew I could do anything, absolutely anything I set m mind to. And I pretty much did.

Looking back I wonder how I figured out how to do al the things I did. Now I know we are never alone. Now I know we always have guides and angels with us showing us the way. Yeah. I know all that now but hey – I never knew it all those years.

When people talk about being afraid of change I wonder why. I live spontaneously. I jump in and do. I leave the figuring out how for later.

Did that ever leave me floundering? You better believe it! I recall the first (and only time) I went off the high dive. Land sakes alive I thought I would never hit the water! And when I did I thought I was going to hit the bottom of the pool and wondered if I would have enough air to get back up to the surface. Yikes!

That never stopped me from going for what I wanted. I always felt confident I cold do anything – including the things people told me I could not possibly accomplish – especially when people told me I could not possibly do something.

So when my dean told me not to apply for the music scholarship in college because “freshman never got that one” I ignored her and – you guessed it – I won it. (Can you imagine the dean of a university telling a student not to bother trying? How the heck did she get to be the dean?)

Here is the knowledge I want you to get from my sharing my life experience…

Your self-confidence comes from inside you. No one out there makes you feel good about being you. No one and nothing outside yourself can make you feel great about being you exactly as you are, imperfections and all. Hey, if you were perfect you wouldn’t be human!

Happiness: Love Where You Live To Feel Happy

To feel happy in life love where you live. Your views, home, neighbors all contribute to your daily mood and well-being – or the lack thereof.

I live in farm country. I am blessed with views of fields of grain, alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat and hay. Today I got to see something you hear about, and talk about and even sing about yet most of us never actually experience it.

I live on a ridge and the wind blows almost non-stop. The farmer’s fields, across the street, are level but open. So the wind that bows across the area sweeps across his fields.

The joyful, peaceful and fun view I now see is waving hay. The grass is waist high on the man who maintains the fields which means when the wind sweeps across the fields it moves in waves.

I fee like I am watching a ballet choreographed by Nature. Hmm. I am actually watching Nature dance o’er the land. It looks rather like what you see in sports stadiums when people “do the wave.” Funny. This is far prettier to see, in my opinion.

I guess I never looked out at the tall grass before. Now I see the sage-covered hills doing the same dance – well the grass in the non-sage areas, that is.

How lucky am I that I get to live here? This, for me, is close to paradise.

Do you live where you want to live? Do you get to see views that inspire – or excite – you?

I grew up with a beautiful yard that was enclosed with evergreen bushes. I always had a beautiful view of Nature – until I got married and found our house flanked by houses, very close-by houses.

Thank goodness I got to leave that environment and find places with huge backyards. Only none had the view I find now.

What made the difference for me? I learned to consciously request what I want in life. I learned to request how I want my house to look and what I want to see when I look out the windows. I even asked for the neighbors I want.

Interestingly, when I consciously request how I want my life to look I get about 90% of what I ask for and then some. You see there is a trick to asking for what you want. Come closer and I will reveal that secret to you.

When you ask for something, consciously allow it to enter your life. In other words, do not build walls that keep it out. AND finish your request with the words, “This or something better.” Without those extra words you limit what the Universe can deliver.

Happiness is Reaping the Rewards of Persistence

I read a lot – books and online material. I always loved to read.

One of the things I continually read, no matter where I turn, is the fact that if you never give up, you will reach your goals in life. You only lose out is when you stop working toward your dreams.

I feel very heartened when I read about how many unsuccessful businesses so many hugely successful people started before finally finding what worked for them.

Do you know that the Kentucky Fried chicken Colonel spent five years on the road cooking up his Secret Recipe Fried chicken for restaurant owners before someone bought it? What if he had given up? How long might it have taken for the fast food industry to introduce chicken as an alternative to hamburgers and roast beef?

Look at the entertainment industry. Do you know how very many years it takes for someone to become an “overnight sensation” on stage or screen?

Look in Nature. Have you ever seen tree roots break up a sidewalk or weeds sprout in the middle of he road? Those results took time and persistence – on the part of the plants seeking to thrive.

I recall a family event from twenty years ago. My daughter needed dresses for her Bat Mitzvah. We looked in stores all up and down the East Coast from Virginia to New York City and points in-between.

After months of exasperation and a deadline closing in, we walked into yet another shop and there it was! We finally found the dress.

What do you seek to manifest in your life right now? Can you clearly define what you want so the Universe knows how to deliver what you want? Are you open to receiving or accomplishing that result in a way you may not be aware exists?

If you answered in the affirmative then remember to end your request with the words, “This or something better.”

Right now one of my goals involves returning to my very organized life in terms of having a place for everything that makes sense and putting everything in that place – so I easily find whatever I want when I want it.

My progress may be slow in that arena AND it is forward progress. I don’t mind if it takes a while because it is a worthy important goal for me. What I know is even tiny steps will get me there IF I continue to put one foot in front of the other and never ever even consider throwing in the towel.

Happiness: Cooperation Creates A Bond And Lessens The Worry And Work Load, Leading To More Happiness

People commonly put aside their differences to rally for a common cause. That happens in the case of emergencies and times when everyone’s well being is threatened. It also happens for major sporting events.

And teamwork also happens to create common dreams.

One of my fun activities is working in the media. I have been on stage, back stage, on screen and behind the scenes. I find making stories real a fun activity filled with many learning experiences. I love to learn about everything!

Last week I had the privilege of making a movie in 48 hours, from start to finish, with a group of new friends. This my third time being part of the team of women, some professional and some amateurs, who just know all aspects of movie making.

And yes, you read that right. Each year, here in Idaho, we enter the I 48 movie contest which means on Friday at 6 PM we get a sealed envelope telling us the character’s name and occupation, a line of dialogue and we get to choose from among 3 props which to use.

We have 48 hours to write, film, edit, put in all the special effects and music and hand in a movie that runs 3 ½ -6 ½ minutes.

Sound impossible? It would be if you didn’t have cooperation among all team members – cooperation and putting aside egos.

I love doing this project, not just because I want to learn how to write movie scripts (I write in many genres but not movies or plays) but also because I love being part of a team that I don’t have to run! I just get to so whatever they ask me to do.

So I have operated the boom (mike), been assistant director and this year I got to be on screen.

Something so amazing happens when you join others who share your passion. Any task that comes up, any unexpected need that appears – someone just does it. While the key players (lead actress, director, camera and sound crew, and editors) are specified (as people volunteer to do what they are good at doing) everybody else pretty much offers to do whatever is needed throughout the production.

One of the most astounding times for me is Friday night when we sit around the table (this year there were fifteen of us) and come up with a story line so the writers can take that detail and write the script.

Can you imagine fifteen people working together with such a time crunch – honoring every person and every idea that comes up?

You see, today’s new world is about cooperation not competition. Look around. The businesses going under, the huge corporations—all run on greed and competition. They are all about crushing the competition. And the new businesses are all about joining forces knowing there is enough business for everyone to have their share.

We consistently produce award-winning movies because that is how we work – together with a common goal of doing our best as a team. That teamwork often leads to awards. This year we won Best Picture in the professional category!

Makes for lots of smiling faces and happy people.