“Every person is the creation of himself, the image of his own thinking and believing.”

– Claude M. Bristol

As it is said, your thoughts shape your actions and hence direct your whole life! But the problem arises when you continuously think negatively about yourself; you develop a low self-esteem, perform poorly at numerous tasks, lose hope and ultimately become a failure. Experiencing all these? It’s time to stop now and start afresh!

On the face of it, you might think that developing a high self-esteem is impossible. But guess what? Pukaar has some easy steps for you. Try these out and see your self-esteem scale the pinnacle!

• Halt the Internal Critic! No doubt a person’s worst enemy is his own thoughts. So you need to stop these destructive thoughts from crushing you. Do you hear your mind telling you ‘You are very lazy’ or ‘Look at her, she looks gorgeous but you yourself look so ugly?’ These thoughts may seem very casual but they are gradually crippling your self esteem. So next time if your mind tells you such a thing, shout ‘Stop’ instantly and try to think of something else spontaneously like ‘What will you have for dinner tonight?’
• Spread Kindness. Seems unrelated to self-esteem, right? Well, the point is that when you have low self-esteem, you ruminate about yourself only. This chain of continuous self-thoughts could only be broken if you shift your focus outside of your own self and see other people’s misery. Helping others would not only improve the condition of your society, but it will also help you to think more positively about yourself, increasing your self-esteem.
• Keep a track of your achievements. Come on, take out a piece of paper and a pen. Start writing all of your accomplishments. As the list gets longer and longer, you will realize that you have achieved more than you think! And not only this, you will realize that you possess the capability to achieve more. And alas, your self-esteem is soaring high now!
• Play the blame game. You may have a low self-esteem because you must be unrealistically blaming yourself for all your problems. ‘She behaved rudely, well that’s my fault!’ Remember it isn’t! You as a human cannot always control other people’s behaviour. So take a deep breath and don’t give undue blame to yourself.
• Cultivate self-belief. Low self-esteem always makes you doubt your own self. Using the magic phrases repeatedly like ‘I can do it!’ or ‘I am perfect in my own way!’ can go a long way.

Practice these easy steps and let the magic begin!

Written by: Rida Irfan