It is little wonder people have such a negative self image these days. People are completely disconnected from the lives they evolved to live, in small bands or tribes, in rich biodiversity and abundant plenty at most locations. Today, relationships to our very planet are almost entirely negative. Instead of hope for better selves and lives, scare tactics predominate.
The way to improve a negative self image is to realize that internally and externally, you are supported and supportive, of a much larger world. Improving a sense of belonging is crucial in improving a negative self image.
Having some self doubt is healthy. It implies that a person is in tune with reality. Yet it is also realistic and important to know that the world can be destructively negative. How people feel about the world, is it a supportive, or cruel and indifferent place, also affects self image. To really improve self esteem then requires for people to take an honest inventory of their place in their relationships to body, career, roles and other organisms and persons.
Your environment is important. If you feel that you are exploited, or exploiting, your self esteem will suffer. Those who view themselves as victims are robbed of their own personal power. Psychologists call this a loss of personal locus of control. If a person feels a victim of what ever happens around them, or controlled by other people, they will suffer low self esteem.
With the negativity in the world today, people feel very real affects of racism, sexism, ageism and more. The best way to avoid these esteem busting traps is to know all those things DO exist, and none of them have much to do with WHO a person actually is. Who a person actually is results from their love and compassion to self and others, including their own body, community, and wider realm.
With an attitude of being open to being supported and supporting, appreciative and giving, that person will gain a comfortable sense of belonging. All organisms live in relationships and inter-connected systems. Wise and educated individuals realize that nothing exists independent of anything else. Everyone is all matter, energy and space. The collection of bits that comprise a person will be affected by internal and external health, so the more control a person realizes about their influence on and from other organisms, the better.
A higher sense of awareness and belonging requires people to realize the earth is created to support and sustain life. To optimize life requires give and take. To be grateful for the beauty and plenty of the world requires relationships that honor and revere diversity and beauty itself. A great beginning, if one has low self esteem is to take a walk outdoors and open the senses.
Nature is not as judgmental as most people, and will not even judge one as harshly as they judge themselves. Nature also is not a destroyer without simultaneously creating life from death, such as when a land mass is formed by a volcano. Accepting the positive in life means also that one realizes there is no joy without pain, no flowers without rain. Death is a part of life, as is occasional sadness.
If the nature walk proves to you life offers air to breathe due to plants and trees, clouds and sun so food can grow, beauty and abundance so life can thrive, know that you are a part of nature and that nature is a part of you. This is the start of knowing you belong and deserve optimum self esteem.
