Building and Keeping your Self Esteem

Building and Keeping your Self Esteem: There are various definitions of self esteem, but in essence it is the value we place on ourselves as individuals and in relation to others. Maurice Rosenberg in the 1960s said that self esteem can be self tested. This period of the development of social sciences saw the development of ‘testing’ and ‘measuring’ methods which enabled more empirical studies to be carried out. Previously most of the social scientists were known primarily for their theoretical work.
The other shift is that whereas previously the goal was to measure self esteem, it is now the goal to achieve the right level of self esteem.
If our self esteem is too low, we are seeing ourselves as less valuable than those around us. So we are encouraged to improve our self esteem in order to become more confident, happier, and better able to lead a full and rewarding life.
If our self esteem is too high, we are probably suffering from ‘unearned’ esteem, and see ourselves as better than those around us. This has been associated with bullying, violence and aggression to others.
So getting our self esteem level right, is to have a sense of self worth that is not reliant on individual events or achievements. It is not about being better than or superior to others. A healthy level of self esteem is linked to respect for ourselves but importantly, having respect for others.
Chapters of this book:
Introduction;
What is Self Esteem;
How do we assess our level of self esteem;
How do we begin to improve our self esteem;
How can we help others to develop their self esteem;
Conclusion