Developing a healthy relationship with ourselves, has an important and direct effect on our self-esteem. As self-esteem entails self-acceptance and self-respect, there is an implied acceptance of our value and worth as individuals.
Acknowledging who we are, in our entirety, with all our wishes, needs, wants and thoughts, and treating ourselves with compassion and acceptance, we open up the space for the development of a strong sense of self-esteem. This state then creates a good basis on which we can rely and fall back into, when things get tough.
Self-compassion means seeing all the aspects of ourselves, the parts we like and the ones we don’t, without judgment, having the understanding that all of these parts helped us arrive at this moment in our lives as we are. No aspect of ourselves or behavior is “useless”. It can be unhelpful and not supporting us anymore, but at some point it was necessary to keep us going.
With self-compassion we can critically but without judgment, look at ourselves and examine what needs to change and what can stay the same. With this in mind, our self-esteem grows, as the sense of stability, inner strength and trust in the self, develops.
So perhaps take a moment to notice your internal dialogue and see what effect self-compassion may have on your sense of self.