Building Self-Esteem


What is self-esteem? A type of confidence? Or something far greater? The manner in which I address self-esteem is very personalized. My approach casts a new light on this often misunderstood subject, redefining self-esteem as an actual "core power" that is essential to our evolutionary progress.

I believe that our potential for success in life is determined by how greatly we "esteem" or value who you truly are. In therapy, we can look at its roots in childhood, and branching into the real world of daily experience - including finances, relationships, and spirituality.

Often self-esteem is often negatively effected by life changes, such as divorce and medical problems. In order to maintain and rebuild your self-esteem. our work together will address the following;
  • How your strong self-esteem threatens other people - and why you must strengthen it anyway
  • How your intuition, spiritual guidance, self-healing capacity, and your self-esteem all depend on each other
  • Special guided exercises for cultivating healthy, vibrant self-esteem
How Our Self-Esteem Changes As We Age

After decades of debate, a consensus is emerging about the way self-esteem develops across the lifespan. On average, self-esteem is relatively high in childhood, drops during adolescence (particularly for girls), rises gradually throughout adulthood, and then declines sharply in old age. Despite these general age differences, individuals tend to maintain their ordering relative to one another: Individuals who have relatively high self-esteem at one point in time tend to have relatively high self-esteem years later. This type of stability (i.e., rank-order stability) is somewhat lower during childhood and old age than during adulthood, but the overall level of stability is comparable to that found for other personality characteristics. In psychotherapy, understanding these patterns of self-esteem development is important when working with issues involving self-esteem with children and adults.

Changing Low Self-Esteem and Insecurity

Low self-esteem and insecurity are often a fear of negative evaluation - a fear that someone will think badly of you. If you have low self-esteem, this fear will be perpetuated. It is of paramount importance to develop a sense of self worth, to like yourself and acknowledge the many important aspects and qualities you have. Then you won't worry so much about what others think of you.

Everyone has wonderful special qualities that are unique to them. In order to maintain or build our self-esteem, it's important to recognize them and nurture these qualities within ourselves. There are many ways to develop a sense of self worth and self-esteem. You can read books on self development, you can do courses on self-esteem or talk to a therapist, you can treat yourself kindly and acknowledge your accomplishments and special qualities as well as being aware of what is important to you.

Below Are some helpful ways to start developing self-esteem.
  • Take full responsibility for your life, stop blaming others.
  • Consciously generate rational thoughts and feelings of approval for yourself and acceptance in place of old thoughts of inferiority and inadequacy. Be in charge of your thoughts.
  • Be willing to create a lifestyle that generates, nourishes and maintains sound self-esteem (associate with others who have high self-esteem).
  • Participate in life at the highest level you can and do things you like to do.
  • Watch what you say, avoid excessively negative criticism of yourself, and stop being critical of others.
  • Keep your awareness (thoughts) focused in the present time instead of living in the past or future.
  • See yourself as being self sufficient and don’t come from a needy place in your relationships.
  • Stop feeling guilty. See mistakes as valuable lessons. See the cause and effect in your behavior (what produces desirable results and what does not) in place of moral judgments of right/wrong, good/bad, better/worse.
  • Treat yourself lovingly every chance you get.
  • Give yourself the simple pleasures in life.
  • Positively acknowledge yourself frequently and keep a diary of all your strengths, qualities and accomplishments.
  • Invest money in yourself Go to seminars, workshops, start a self-enhancement account to keep track of what you do for yourself.
  • Give yourself permission to do nothing, periodically. Schedule time by yourself.
Building self esteem is some of the most important work we can do together.

For more information, please call me at (408)315-0645 or contact me online.




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Fortune favors
the bold.
~ Virgil

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains
to be done.
~ Buddha
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
~ John F. Kennedy
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and
leave a trail.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The time for action is now. It's never
too late to do something.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Rise above yourself.
~ Thomas Leonard
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
~ Dale Carnegie
san jose self esteem counseling, san jose self esteem therapy

Randi Fredricks, LMFT, CHT, RAS, CCN, CCH    ♦     1711 Hamilton Ave Suite A, San Jose, California, 95125     ♦     408-315-0645

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This site does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and is intended for informational purposes only. No therapeutic relationship is established
by the use of this site. Randi Fredricks is a Psychotherapist and Licensed as a Marriage Family Therapist MFC 47803 and not licensed with the California
Medical Board or the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine. © 2001-2010 Randi Fredricks. All rights reserved. Medical Disclaimer and Copyright