Self-esteem is how we perceive ourselves and how we perceive others perceive us. If we have low self-esteem we will then think lowly of ourselves. We may then have self doubt and strong feeling of being inferio This can be caused by many things from being bullied at a young age to being constantly put down and being unable to achieve those expectations others may have put on us. The list could be very long.
We may become very unhappy about our appearance, may feel that other people don't find us very interesting and believe that we have trouble communicating with other people. We may well feel that other people don't like us and that we are unworthy of other people's attention.
It is a case of how we perceive others to perceive us; this has no bearing on how other people see us but just what we believe other people think of us. It can make us feel very negative about ourselves and because we feel negative we act in a negative way and therefore get a negative response of other people making us feel even more negative. The cycle then develops of low self-esteem making the person feel negative, giving them a negative response and therefore feeling even more negative reducing self-esteem even more.
With good counselling, deep relaxation and positive suggestion we can help to change those negative thoughts and feelings to positive ones. Improving self-esteem and gaining self-worth the client can start to feel better about them self and be able to see things in a different way. As they feel more positive they will go out with a more positive attitude and act in a more positive way, receiving a more positive response and therefore feeling even more positive. In this way, the self-esteem and confidence can grow daily. They can see themselves in a different way, start to feel the same as other people and feel other people see them as an interesting, likeable person.