How To Build Self Esteem Using Self Hypnosis Techniques

This Lens is about how to build self esteem and self confidence by using self hypnosis and the power of the mind.

A positive level of self esteem and self belief - or the lack thereof - comes about as a result of your inner, core beliefs about yourself, and if these deep rooted beliefs about yourself are negative then they can only be replaced with positive, life enhancing core beliefs by using the power of your subconscious mind.

Is it the case that you often feel that learning how to build self esteem in an effective way is somehow beyond your ability, that in some way or other it's just not in your emotional or psychological make-up to be a relaxed, self assured and confident person? Do you sometimes get an "instinctive" feeling that overcoming low self esteem is something that you just could not or should not do, that living with a poor sense of self worth and low self esteem is "just the way you are"?

The true benefit of any information about how to build self esteem and self confidence should be valued by its effectiveness in showing how to reach and reprogram this negative and damaging core belief. It is this deeply ingrained tendency to negative self belief which is behind all manifestations and symptoms of low self esteem.

By way of an example let's imagine that you see some person that you consider to be attractive and you feel that you'd like to go and say something and introduce yourself, but more or less immediately your consciousness becomes full of images of possible humiliation and rejection and the fear and self doubt which comes with them, so then in your mind you create some seemingly rational reason as to why you shouldn't, and so allow the potentially life-changing opportunity to pass you by.

Or maybe you hear of a potential business opportunity that you know is sound and might be suitable for you, or the possibility of a better job somewhere, and in one part of your mind you're aware that you'd like to investigate further, but some subtle voice deep down tells you that you don't possess the know-how, or the right skills, or the contacts, resources, ability or whatever and that you'd most likely fail anyway so you follow your "instinct" and don't take it any further.

Perhaps you're in some kind of relationship in which you're basically being used in some way, or maybe even suffering abuse of some sort, and feel that it must be you that's somehow at fault, that you must for some reason deserve it.

These are often generally among the predominant traits of a personality which is being weighed down by a tendency to feelings of low self worth and negative self image. If your thoughts and feelings about yourself tend to be habitually negative and self deprecating, then the implication of these thoughts, feelings and impressions will become ingrained into the subconscious with the result that you eventually find yourself "instinctively" convinced that no one could find you attractive, or that you could never succeed in any business or occupation, or that you're not worthy of any real respect or love, and this damaging core attitude then becomes the seemingly inbuilt foundation which all of your thoughts and subsequent actions spring from.

The damaging results of living with low self esteem are of more significance than whatever may have originally brought it about, however taking a broad overview of the general causes of it can be worthwhile.

No personality is "naturally" burdened with a poor sense of self worth and self esteem. Your view or image of yourself and so as a result your view of or attitude to the world around you can often be ultimately traced to experiences and impressions absorbed in childhood and early youth from peers and significant adults such as parents, teachers and so on.

Young children and adolescents are more often than not fairly suggestible, and if some particular impression or statement - positive or negative - is continually related to them then this can easily lead to the implication of the statement or impression becoming ingrained subconsciously and so then going on to become established as a major part of the core belief system.

Children who are frequently and habitually criticized at home and/or school, who are regularly told that they will be unlikely to succeed or amount to anything will in many - though of course not all - cases come to unconsciously accept and absorb this belief as being real and true and then find that later in life they have a consistent tendency to self doubt and negative self belief, always doubting their ability to deal with challenges as they appear.

A disruptive, dysfunctional and chaotic home environment and upbringing can also be equally damaging, irrespective of the level of affluence involved. Children and young adults who have been shaped by and are a product of these situations will often accumulate a lot of negative psychological and emotional baggage which if left unaddressed will hamper them throughout their lives.

Being confident and feeling relaxed about yourself relates almost entirely to how you perceive yourself, and not about how anyone else may or may not perceive you. This is actually the first and most important thing to understand about how to build self esteem. It may seem banal to say it, but it really is just "all in the mind", and where self esteem and self confidence building are concerned you and you only are the only person or thing in the world who can genuinely and permanently remove self doubt and low self esteem and its consequences from your mind and life.

If "at heart" you feel that you somehow don't quite come up to the mark in comparison to other people, if you feel deep down that you don't really "like" yourself, then all of the status symbols and false bravado in the world couldn't and wouldn't change that. If you feel that you need to or want to change or improve yourself, then there are no material things or pretended attitudes that can really positively change the real you.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with acquiring "status" symbols if using them relates to something that you genuinely enjoy doing, or with making a point of highlighting your good points, but if you're using material possessions or false bravado as a means of garnering the envy or approval of others then all that you're really doing is attempting to conceal your "real" self behind them.

The first step involves facing yourself as you really are, with or without status symbols. Learn to accept yourself as you currently are, while bearing in mind that positive change is always possible. Secondly, appreciate that for now you are who and where you are in life because despite external influences it's ultimately you who has conditioned yourself to be who and what you presently are. Your subconscious mind is the originator of every thought or feeling that you have and so by definition every action that you take, and so issues with self belief and self esteem can only be overcome in and by your mind.

So what is it that's required to do this? Learning about how to build self esteem is mostly about training the subconscious to absorb a different and more positive belief system about yourself. The subconscious is very powerful and is not only about Freud's dreams and symbols and so on but is also linked to power and ability - your power and ability - which you can tap into and harness in order to create any change in yourself or your life that you desire.

However for all of its latent powers the subconscious is also ultimately guided by whatever positive or negative thought energy it habitually receives from your other mind, your conscious mind.

It's widely accepted that people who are inclined to think positively about things are more likely to get more positive outcomes in their day to day lives, and that people who are more negative minded get more of the opposite. This doesn't happen randomly or through some hit or miss chance, it happens because the subconscious minds of the positive and negative thinkers respond accordingly to the positive or negative thoughts coming from their conscious minds, with the result that their subconscious minds then both guide them to and attract to them people, situations and "coincidences" which have the effect of confirming and making "real" their positive or negative outlook and reality.

So if you want to build your self esteem and be more confident, self assured and relaxed then it's necessary to modify your conscious thought processes in such a way so as to continually focus positive thought energy to your subconscious, which will sooner or later respond by both attracting to you and prompting you to situations and people which will heighten your confidence and ultimately boost your self esteem.

The subconscious could be thought of as an unimaginably powerful computer which is nevertheless controlled by the user, which could be thought of as the conscious mind. The subconscious "contains" the power, but it's the conscious mind that ultimately directs that power. If you consistently impress into your subconscious mind whatever it is that you want then the subconscious will in due course react by manifesting it as a reality in your life.

Learning how to build self esteem involves letting your subconscious "know" specifically that you have a deep desire to get more out of life by positively boosting your self image and core beliefs about yourself, and self hypnosis represents one of the best and most effective ways of doing this.

This is in no way difficult however a degree of commitment is required. Once or twice every day spend 10 or 15 minutes getting physically and mentally relaxed then visualizing in your mind an image of yourself as you'd like to be. Close your eyes and see yourself among friends, acquaintances and others being self assured, relaxed and confident, mutually enjoying the company and conversation.

Picture yourself relaxing and enjoying yourself in social and/or professional circumstances that might otherwise cause you to feel anxious or self conscious. Mentally input as much detail as you can into these mental images and also make yourself actually feel comfortable, confident and relaxed. Also see and feel these visualizations as happening right now, already, and not as something that you hope is maybe going to happen at some point in the future.

While you're visualizing the achievement of your goal, mentally or verbally affirm to yourself around 20 times "I'm relaxed, confident and successful" or "I'm relaxed, confident and attractive". However some people find that repeating an affirmation while visualizing can cause distraction, so if you find that this is the case then at various separate times apart from your visualization repeat the affirmation to yourself for around 5 minutes at a time. With self hypnosis in the form of daily relaxation, repetition of the affirmation and visualization of your new self image, before long the subconscious will start to accept the new belief system as being real, and you'll soon become aware of the positive results.

Add to this by making a conscious mental effort all day and every day to dismiss or otherwise block negative thoughts about yourself. Easier said than done you might think, and initially it might feel as if you're thinking nothing but negatively about yourself, however if you persevere you can mentally learn the habit of consciously dismissing these thoughts as they appear in your mind and then changing them into positive ones. Perseverance with this definitely helps to bring good results.

What's been widely referred to as the mirror technique can be an effective way of strengthening this process. Every morning take a few minutes to gaze into your face and eyes in the mirror and repeat some positive statement about yourself clearly and deliberately a half dozen or so times.

In relation to the above mentioned possible problem with simultaneous affirmation and visualization, a popular method of dealing with this involves the use of self hypnosis downloads. Using pc/mp3 hypnosis downloads, created by experienced and professional hypnotherapists and specifically themed and worded to address and resolve any one of a wide range of different problems and issues - including of course self esteem and confidence building - it becomes unnecessary to maintain repetition of an affirmation while you're visualizing something.

You can simply lie or sit back and relax, close your eyes, visualize and allow the positive suggestions emanating from your pc or mp3 to gently and gradually sink into your subconscious, thereby easily and effectively aiding the process of creating a powerfully positive transformation of the self image and personality.

Click on the following link to find out more about how to build self esteem and using self hypnosis for confidence building, overcoming psychosexual problems, shyness and more.