Building Self-Image

Building Self-Image

Here is another post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle — well it is Wednesday — to get you thinking. This time Lou talks about the self-image that we each have, and how we come to have it, and, more importantly for me, what we might be able to do to improve it.

Everyone has a self-image, but how does a self-image get built? And what does your self-image have to do with who you are, and how you react in strange or unusual situations?

Your self-image, or your idea of who you are, is a package you put together from how others have seen and treated you, and from your conclusions as you compare yourself to others. Primitive people built homes from available materials – blocks of ice, animal skins, adobe, and logs. In this same way, when you were a child, you built your self-image from what was available.

Your construction materials were the reactions of significant others toward you. So, your self-image is simply a belief system you created. It is manifested in how to respond to the world around you – the people and situations that fill your days. However, these beliefs may or may not be accurate.

Now, your essential nature, the real you that exists apart from your behavior, your opinion, your habits, etc., is really quite wonderful because it is a storehouse of energy and potential that can do and be great things.

But, if people, who didn’t have much self-esteem themselves, raised you around constant put-downs, you will not be able to use much of this amazing potential. You see, your behavior always matches your inner picture of yourself, so it makes sense to look at your beliefs, get rid of those that hold you back, and learn how to affirm and tap into your potential.

This is not an impossible dream, but a real possibility for each and every human being on the planet.

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute

I have something of a problem when it comes to my own self-image; it isn’t a good one. When I think logically about things I think I can even see when I started to think less of myself, and know that I shouldn’t be so down on myself. But that’s only when I think logically. The trouble is, there isn’t a great deal I can do about the underlying cause of my self-image problems: my health is as it is, and it prevents me from working. I grew up judging my worth as a person by being able to support myself and my family; it didn’t matter what the work was, it was just being a working man. So, as I can’t do much about the cause, I need to do something about the way I think — if only (adding a touch of last week’s syndrome) I could always think with the logical bit of my brain.

I hope this post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle has got you thinking about things as much as it has me. If you think you might benefit from daily emails of a similar nature, do please consider subscribing yourself to the Winners Circle — it’s well worth it.