Great Self Confidence

...to live the life you want

That Dove Photo Thing

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I’ve mentioned the Dove Self Esteem Campaign before, I think in Self Esteem Exercises.  Its easy to be cynical about their motives – at the end of the day they are still marketing soap!

But as various surveys always seem to conclude that the majority of teenage girls want to change the way they look, then their campaign has merit. Dove say they are:-

"very commited to freeing the next generation from self-limiting beauty stereotypes"

That might be rather optimistic, as those stereotypes are deep seated and constantly being reinforced. Its been around for a while, but I only saw this video the other day. Personally I think its quite powerful, and says a lot in 75 seconds. What do you think? Have Dove helped women improve their self esteem?

And the Self Esteem is Awarded to…

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Self Esteem is Flowing in South America?

self esteem in brazil

Congratulations to Rio de Janeiro on being selected to host the 2016 Olympics. it sounds as if the whole of Brazil, indeed the whole of South America has benefited. Asked what he thought the legacy of the Rio Games would be, the Governor of Rio State, Segio Cabral, said:-

“That they would have self-esteem. Self-esteem for the people of Brazil and the whole continent of South America.”

Wow!   So the International Olympic Committee has the power to bestow self esteem on a whole continent! I’m sure that will inflate their already huge egos even more.

Whilst there may have been a bit of British smugness and pleasure (we did beat  Paris after all!) when London was chosen to host 2012, I’m sure there was no collective rise in national self esteem. And, inevitably, there is now a great deal of  negativity about the impending Olympics.

"Self esteem is what I think and feel about myself and not what someone else thinks or feels about me."  ~ Nathaniel Branden  [Read more…]

Dealing with Negative Thinking

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We all get negative automatic thoughts. Its how we deal with them that affects our feelings and mood, and what we perceive to be our self esteem. If we can look rationally at a situation and effectively challenge negative thoughts (or problem solve if they are the reality), then we are on track to have healthy self esteem.

DesiderataUnfortunately, if we leave negative automatic thoughts to take root, they become a constant negative self talk. We end up seeing every situation from a negative perspective.

Catch Them!

The first step, though, is to catch yourself doing it. You may spend time in the company of people who are very negative – not necessarily about themselves, but on everything they comment on. [Read more…]

Michael Jackson, the Curse of Talent?

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michael-jackson"Being confident is not always the same as being good at something"? That interesting statement appeared recently on another blog, My Life with Angels, which in turn was responding to a post by Maggie Stiefvater. On several occasions I have touched on the issue of whether being good at something is a key way to develop self confidence or healthy self esteem.  My favourite, How to Build Self Confidence Through Activity, looks at examples of children being taught karate, ballet and magic tricks.  I expressed doubt at the choices of ballet or karate,  as many fall by the wayside.  Unless you reach a certain level of competence neither activity will develop self confidence. Whilst success at an activity can help with self confidence, the argument from the other bloggers was you don’t have to first attain success or accomplishment to feel self confident. 

[Read more…]

Toxic People and Spots

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I’ve started receiving feedback from my newsletter, Self Esteem Review. Since that only appears in my inbox, I feel I need a some way of posting the more significant letters on this blog, so anyone can respond with comments.

So, whilst I’m not too sure how best to work this, I’ve decided to go ahead and post the latest and see what anyone thinks about this.

In This Issue:-

* 8 Toxic Personalities to Avoid
* Do My Spots Look Good on This?
* Quotes of the Day  [Read more…]