Everything that you allow in your mind greatly affects who you are. Every thought that you perceive has a corresponding effect on your mental health, relationships, goal achievement, and even in your physical health.

All because your thoughts are energies that govern your emotions and reactions. It’s a powerful tool that can either break you down or build you up.

The good thing is, your thoughts are not who you are. Negative thoughts form a pattern in your mind and have come to operate on autopilot.

Just recently, science proves that our thoughts and feelings allow us to manifest our desires.

Within this context, the greatest challenge lies in harnessing your shifting perspectives to help you focus more on the thoughts that can make a positive difference and help you build a healthy self esteem.

The key is change. You can change the patterns of your thoughts by changing your actions. When you open your mind for change, taking inspired actions are easier. And it usually starts with creating new habits even for 15 minutes each day.

5 Habits That Will BOOM Your Self Esteem:

1. Become mindful daily.

Mindfulness means being in an active state of consciousness and awareness. It helps you focus on your thoughts and observe them like a detached observer while trying not to identify with them.

Mindfulness is a powerful tool in working with your self esteem because it brings into awareness your inner dialogue, how you talk to yourself, and what are the words you use in talking to yourself.

By being mindful, you will realize the kind of stories you are telling yourself and the self judgments you may have. It also brings you to the present moment, giving you the needed break from fixing your thoughts on the future, or in the past that no longer serve you.

By being aware of your thought patterns, you will gain clarity of the past mistakes that can be prevented from happening again.

Mindfulness also changes your self concept as you slowly accept the reality that your self worth isn’t dependent on the external factors, rather on the way you see and accept yourself as you are.

There are a lot of options on the mindfulness menu, such as meditation, yoga, qigong, breathing exercises, alpha wave music, and walking, to name a few.

Just start with the one that’s easier for you to do and commit to doing it every single day. You may not get instant results, but when you stick to the routine, eventually, you will.

2. Eliminate your negative self talk.

If you find that you are your worst critic, you may have indulged in destructive self talk. Changing this habit is not easy if you’re doing these for years.

Positive affirmations directed at yourself is ideal but may only backfire on you since every part of you clings to the negative idea you have of yourself.

The first thing you need to do is acknowledge that you’ve hurt yourself deeply. Tell yourself that you’re now awakened and want to establish a loving relationship.

Ask for forgiveness. Then slowly replace the negative with positive and uplifting words. Be compassionate with yourself as if you’re talking heart to heart to a person dearest to you.

Be patient if your progress is slow. What matters is the thought that one day yourself could be your own best friend.

3. Be always thankful.

Cultivating a grateful heart encourages you to focus on the good things life has given you. You might have overlooked these things while you were still hurting yourself.

Once you open up to the blessings that surround you, everything starts to become alive. Simply opening up your arms wide and be grateful for the moment is a good place to start.

Having a gratitude journal is also a big help.

You can list all the things you are grateful for during the day even if it’s as small as eating your favorite food or having a butterfly pass you by.

As you become more and more thankful each day, you attract more things to be thankful for.

4. Plan your day ahead.

While you could not really expect everything to happen as planned, planning your day ahead is helpful to feel motivated and do the things that are on your priority list.

Having set your goals but not doing anything about them contributes to lower self esteem because you will then see yourself as incompetent.

On the other hand, if you have written your checklist and checked all of it at the end of the day, you’ll feel efficient. Achieving success even on small things is the foundation to achieving bigger goals.

The more goals you achieve, the stronger the confidence you will have for yourself. A healthy confidence in oneself begets a healthy self esteem.

If you have big goals, divide them into small chunks and work on it daily.

5. Do simple acts that count.

Your smile is the most valuable investment that when given you will immediately reap the reward. Doing simple act like this raises your self esteem and elevates your mood.

You will improve your self esteem more when you constantly do the things that are aligned with your values.

It only takes a little effort, like calling a sick friend, sending a thank you note, showing appreciation for others, giving kind words, or even pampering yourself with a gentle massage.

It only takes less than an hour each day to focus your thoughts and put a conscious effort on improving your self esteem. It’s only hard when you think it is.

But once you develop these habits, your self esteem will not only improve but also the quality of your life.