How you see yourself upon the inside, i.e. yourself image, will affect your self-esteem of the degree that this self-image differs from your ideals. The way in which you image yourself involves thinking and believing and is sometimes termed the self concept. Exactly how you communicate to your nervous system how you would look, how you would feel, the kind of self talk that will go on between your ears, doing this with consistent vivid detail, and you’ll find that your self-esteem raises with or without your desire for higher self-esteem. That means you also get the advantages. Here is a very simple way to raise your self-esteem effectively: using the power of affirmations. You can do this verbally and you can also use a mirror to make it more effective. You can even use a pen and paper to do affirmations in writing and you can also use more than just the “I” pronoun, i.e. you can also use “(s)he” and “you” whilst saying affirmations. “I am getting more and more healthy” “He is getting more and more healthy” “You are getting more and more healthy” The author Brian Tracy cites that one particular affirmation is especially effective in raising self-esteem and also another one of the same authors affirmations will also be used as an example. These will be discussed below. If you use a multitude of repetitions when saying your self-esteem affirmations and you attach strong feeling to the affirmations, they will have a more profound effect in allowing you to produce excellent results in your life quickly Speaking your affirmations or recording them onto a tape and then listening to them throughout the day, or doing affirmations in writing will allow you to program your unconscious so that you end up with a new revised self concept — that is to say you refresh the things that you believe about you by consciously choosing new, positive, empowering beliefs. It is not a pre-requisite that you strongly believe that using self esteem affirmations is going to have benefits for you. But if you have the willpower to carry on saying your affirmations even if it’s just for one single time, to the extent that you press on further than the plateau of time where you stop wanting to say your affirmations, because it gets uncomfortable invariably — you are challenging your beliefs after all — then this is the way to get fast, effective and powerful results. Just keep on and on at your unconscious and eventually you are guaranteed to get it. An example of this is if you are using the affirmation “I am joyous” in order to give yourself a lift in the amount of joy that you are experiencing, or simply to become more available to the feeling of joy. And for this example, you would continually say as you’re affirmation, “I am joyous” over and over, like a mantra. You can say your affirmations anywhere you like, even when driving a car, unless for example you’re using the affirmation, “relax…get comfortable…close your eyes and go to sleep” to cure your insomnia. Here’s a tip that can make you affirmations even more effective. I learned this from a very successful stock market investor. Say your affirmations to yourself using a piece of reflective glass — i.e. a mirror. Look deeply into your own eyes and say your affirmations with utmost sincerity. Try this and you will be surprised at the speed at which you begin to get results with affirmations. The onus is on you remember, when you start tell yourself it’s not working, to push on through and reach the breakthrough part. Getting past this skepticism that we all have at first is a challenge. But, if you’ve got this far in this article, I know you’re the kind of person who’s got the commitment level to do this and do it well. I found when using affirmations, I get the same sort of pleasure chemical release that I also get after a 30 minute or one hour job. My body seems to reward me with endorphins when I carry on saying my affirmations right through to the time where I’m going to break through no matter what. In fact the last part of that sentence is a good affirmation. “I’m going to breakthrough no matter what.” that one will bring up courage, persistence and determination. But let’s not get sidetracked from self-esteem. What are the number one and number two affirmations for raising self-esteem?