Self-Esteem Encyclopedia

We live in a world where depression and sadness have become rampant. We live in a world where everyday, people wake up and decide life is no longer worth living. Thoughts of suicide, worthlessness and emotional pain are things a lot of humans, today, especially the younger generation can identify with. According to several studies, the world is now sadder than it was decades ago. The question now is, what is the cause of all these? The answer lies, not in some mysterious phenomenon or particular concept, not in organizations or world structures, not in conspiracies or secret cults. No, it lies in humans, it is the responsibility of each and every individual that walks the earth. It is not a collective, it is simply a combination of individual efforts. Efforts that have done a lot to shape the atmosphere of threat and uncertainty in which many people find themselves in. Efforts that could be considered as failures. Do not misunderstand the implication of this, the world also has plenty of reasons to be happy. Everyday boundaries are broken, frontiers are made, developments are generated for the collective happiness of societies. But on a much personal level, a lot of people are not affected by these or are still on the ground, emotionally, inspite of these. To the contrary, a lot of people are going through sad experiences: personality crises, self-esteem issues and depression. This traces back to the level of personal failure I mentioned earlier because as an individual, no matter how much your society or organization provides for you, if you don't have personal achievements, you can never be truly happy. Consequentially it's the actions we take that truly determine our happiness. And it is the actions that we take that determine our self-worth. Life is like a ping-pong ball, what goes around comes around. What we do, either good or bad, comes back to meet us. Imagine a man who has spent his lifetime setting goals and achieving them and one who has spent his whole life doing nothing, who do you think ends up happy? Or imagine someone who has spent a life being active and helping people to one who has been doing the opposite, who do you think will receive more positive opportunities? You know the answers. So why was this book written? The way we humans view or perceive ourselves is very essential to the actions we take and their consequences. In other words, our thoughts about ourselves, our limitations or strengths determine our future, our happiness or otherwise. Put very simply, our self-esteem does a lot to determine what we become in this life, failures or enigmas. I probably then, don't need to stress how important individual self esteem is. It affects the way we talk, think, act, understand and most importantly, relate with other people. The question now then, is what is self-esteem? A lot of people generally are familiar with this term, I'm sure you probably are. A lot of people use it. However the use of this word is quite different from people's association with it. A lot of people do not understand the depth of the importance of this term. Your level of self esteem is what equalizes your confidence and determines if you will express your full potential or not. Having a good self esteem means you're not only fearless but also introspective and progressive, because you'll work more on yourself, recognize your flaws and successfully turn them to strengths. Also it is easier for you to understand the world around you and turn things for your advantage. In essence you'll live a very happy and mind healthy life. This, is what this book is all about, helping you maximise your level of perception of yourself so that you can be the best you were meant to be. Happiness is meant for those who deserve it, they say. But how do you make yourself deserve it? To understand how to build one's self esteem, one needs to be aware of all the factors and characteristics that are associated with the term.