Self-esteem: Self-validation by Activating Your Mirror Neurons

Another extremely important exercise to improve your self-worth and self-esteem is reading aloud your list of your 10 positive traits (see last week’s exercise) to yourself. In therapy, there are important healing phenomena such as mirroring and validation, when one is feeling understood and seen, e.g. by regard and affirmations from another human being.

You can yourself activate the mirror neurons in your brain which are important for learning and understanding – hence the development of identity and the foundation of empathy, in two ways: by reading your 10 positive traits aloud while looking yourself in the eyes, e.g. in your phone’s selfie-mode or in an ordinary mirror.

I suggest that you do this as a daily exercise until you do not feel awkward about it anymore.

Also, repeat your positive traits: I know I am X, I like that I am Y, every time you feel your self-esteem has taken a toll. This will have an impact even if you do not believe the words at that moment.

I will address next week how you can handle any negative self-talk that can arise in this exercise.

#selfesteem #selfcompassion #positivetraits #selfhelp #psychologicalwellbeing #selfidentity