Theresa Francis-Cheung

You need to feel relaxed and happy in all aspects of your life to function optimally.

when self-esteem is low you are not in the driving seat. Other people or events are steering the wheel, while you crouch in the back wondering where they will take you next.

It’s about being yourself, and knowing that within you lies the power to create all that you want in life.

it is time to take a deep breath and deal with the present.

It’s easy to look back and blame the past, your parents, your siblings, your teachers, your partner for leaving you, and so on, but at the end of the day the way you feel about yourself now is your responsibility. You can choose now to respond to life without your old self-doubt, hesitation and confusion.

The problem with self-esteem based on temporary externals is that you only feel good about yourself when things are going well, but when things don’t go so well, you lose your self-esteem.

It’s about being yourself, and knowing that within you lies the power to create all that you want in life.

Becoming aware of how your thoughts are affecting the way you feel about yourself is a big step forward.

The second secret to self-esteem is understanding that you are in charge of what you think about. Once you start to recognise how negative thought patterns affect the way you feel about yourself, you can start to replace them with other thoughts.

When negative thoughts start to appear, evaluate them carefully. Don’t treat them automatically as facts because you are thinking them. The trick is to recognise when you have a negative thought and to ask yourself, ‘Am I being realistic?’ If you aren’t being realistic you need to replace it with something more constructive.