Have you ever noticed these feelings in yourself: uncertainty, fear, insecurity, guilt, weakness, doubt, negativity, inadequacy or inferiority?
If so, you’re in the right place.
Let’s look at how these relate to our level of self-esteem—or lack of it. This will give us a key for addressing our problems more directly.
A riddle of opposites
We may already be aware of a voice inside saying, “I do not like and respect myself.” In duality, this creates a split. On one side is a half-truth that says: How can I like and accept myself without indulging and justifying all my destructive traits—even those I work so hard to cover up?
On the opposite side is: How can I admit to my petty, destructive ways—to my cruelties and vanities that make me vindictive and unloving—and still maintain my self-respect? How can I be honest but not feel guilt, self-rejection and self-contempt?
In this riddle, we pit admitting an unpleasant truth against self-acceptance.
These seem mutually exclusive—perfect opposites.
We’ll get to the key for unifying this split in a moment. First, let’s explore the conflict a little more.
Some have already uncovered this battle within. Others have not yet. In that case, we can begin by noticing our shyness, our insecurity, and our apprehension about being rejected or criticized.
Maybe we have feelings of uncertainty, inferiority and inadequacy. Perhaps we feel some guilt that makes no sense.
If we aren’t open to this idea of untold bliss, we may be settling for far less than we could experience. Or we stand back in life, feeling vaguely undeserving.
If any of these show up, they point to self-rejection and self-dislike.
When this is going on, we don’t think much of ourselves.
Listen and learn more.
Finding Gold, Chapter 11: Self-Esteem
