If you're anything like me, your self esteem at times can be up and down all over the place.  It's no fun, is it.

What is self esteem anyway?  I've marked it as a category topic for this blog, because it's something I know matters a lot and I want to explore it.  Is it just our mood?  Is it habits of thought?  Is it our underlying beliefs about ourselves?

Yes, it's all these things and more, I think.

Mood must be involved, because it changes with our mood.  I know when I'm feeling positive generally I have much more confidence.  Feeling emotionally low seems to bring out all our negative assumptions and judgements about ourselves. 

It can also bring out our negative assumptions and judgements about other people, but even if our negativity is directed at others and not ourselves directly, it's still an indication of low self esteem. 

Having good self esteem makes us forgiving, understanding, tolerant and have empathy for others.

So, if we all improve our self esteem, we can make the world a better place.  Sounds simple enough, but I'm still working on it.  Many people out there don't even think about it, let alone work on it.  They just continue on, blaming, feeling bad, judging and so on.  Those of us in the know just have to make allowances for this.

To have good self esteem means we value ourselves.  We think we're deserving of happiness.  We think we have something to offer.  We trust ourselves.  We follow our own decisions.  We look after ourselves, both physically, our environment, our inner self, our mind, and in every way we can.  We don't automatically assume everybody else knows better than we do ourselves.  (That last point is a big one for me and where I need to do some serious work).

There are many different ways we can act to improve our self esteem, and I'll enjoy writing about it.  The main idea I am beginning with though, is how it is connected with other things.  It is a necessary part of finding inner peace, and it affects all our relationships. 

Just an awareness of it's importance and how much it affect us is a huge beginning.