There is no way around it. In order to truly live our healthiest lives, we need to address our whole self: our minds, our bodies and our beings (or spirit). In order to improve our self-esteem, we must work on improving our relationships with ourselves. First, we have to deal with the mind and make sure we think and talk about ourselves in affirming ways. If we want a healthy self-esteem, we also need to treat our bodies well by eating healthy foods and getting exercise. Finally, a healthy self-esteem requires time spent on nurturing our spirits through time engaging in healthy self-care, time spent with loved ones, and time alone to reflect on how we how we want to live our lives.

Self Esteem for the Mind

The best way to improve your self-esteem is to refuse to talk to yourself negatively. No negative self-talk! Make a pact with yourself that you will not allow yourself to say (or think) unkind thoughts about yourself. Even though you can’t simply stop yourself from thinking something unpleasant about yourself, you CAN change the negative thought.

How to Change Your Negative Thoughts

You think: “Why did I eat fast food? I know I’m not supposed to eat fast food if I want to stay healthy. I’m such a loser!”
You change: the “loser” part here. It’s good to hold yourself accountable and take note that eating fast food isn’t a very healthy option. However, it’s not a good thing to refer to yourself as a “loser.”

When you catch yourself engaging in negative self-talk, then immediately change that thought! When you call yourself a “loser,” then say to yourself, “I’m not a ‘loser’ because I ate fast food. I’m upset that I ate it, but I can make better choices –starting right now.”

Benefits of Positive Thoughts

This is so important. I’m sure you’re aware of the reasons talking kindly to yourself helps to improve self-esteem: positive thoughts lead to positive feelings and positive behavior.

When you tell yourself you can do better, you have a sense of hope. Feeling hopeful lifts your spirits. When you feel better, your behavior improves. The reverse is also true.

When you call yourself a “loser,” you are likely to feel sad, frustrated and discouraged. These feelings often lead to negative behaviors, including eating more.

Thoughts lead to feelings and behavior. Positive thoughts lead to positive feelings and positive behavior. Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings and negative behavior.

So why isn’t everyone running around engaging in positive self-talk? Because we have learned bad habits of regularly talking badly about ourselves. It’s difficult to change habits. In other words,“It’s hard.” Changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk requires effort. You have to put forth the effort to change those negative thoughts time after time after time after time after time…

TRY THIS for the next 30 days, even if you don’t believe the positive thoughts. You will in time!

Learn to finally give up negative self-talk and self-esteem by signing up for our Weight Loss Webinar, GAIN While You LOSE.