Seeing yourself: how do you look at yourself?
Seeing yourself, or your self-image, has an important role in your life. How you see yourself often determines how you think and act in certain situations. It can make you feel more or less confident. Scientists even indicate that it can be helpful to have programs that help people improve their self-image[1].
In fact, research shows that if how you see yourself can be briefly changed, this can change your purchases to "straighten out" your image of yourself again[2]
So a solid picture of yourself can also help you with your finances 😉.
Seeing yourself: what do you see?
Of course, you look at yourself with your own experiences from your life. This means that someone else may have a very different view when they see you than what you have when you see yourself.
What you see says something not only about your self-confidence, but also about whether or not you’re a bit narcissistic (everyone has a bit of that in them). Narcissists often see themselves as people who are open to new experiences and as extroverts. Meanwhile, people with high self-confidence say they are extroverted, easygoing, and emotionally stable, but are actually less open to new experiences.
In addition, narcissists often consider themselves more intelligent than the average person, but not more moral. People with high self-esteem often consider themselves more intelligent as well as more moral than the average person[3].
Narcissists often consider themselves superior to their romantic partner, whereas someone with high self-confidence does not feel that way. If you see yourself in constantly changing ways and therefore have a somewhat inconsistent self-image, this can lead you to want to control your romantic partner more[4].
This doesn’t mean that a positive self-image is bad for you. In fact, research also shows that if you have low self-confidence, you’re more likely to want to verify your self-image, and that often makes you more vulnerable to criticism and negative feedback. Especially in those situations, seeing yourself can help you think a little more positively about yourself[5].
How you see yourself can even influence your work. For example, men and women are often equally good at science-related subjects, yet women often choose different careers because they didn’t think they were good at reasoning. Changing these kinds of perceptions can even improve your performance at work[6].
How you see yourself also influences what you think after, for example, a failure. Your self-confidence, in turn, influences your emotional response after such a moment[7].
Seeing yourself more neutral: exercise
So as a whole, it can be helpful to think of yourself as neutral.
Much of how you see yourself depends on your ego, and this exercise will help you let go of that a bit more and see yourself as more neutral.
The idea of the exercise is:
"My mind is part of God's. I am very holy."
This does not describe the way you see yourself, but it does describe what a vision will show you. It is hard for any who think they are in this world to believe this of themselves.
You often believe you are part of where you think you are. This is because you surround yourself with the image you desire. You also do this to protect your image of yourself. It is part of that environment.
What you see while believing you are in it, you see through the eyes of the image. The idea above offers a very different view of yourself. By establishing your source, it establishes your identity. It describes you as you must be in reality.
The emphasis is on the observer and not on what he perceives.
You can perform this exercise three times a day for five minutes.
Repeat today’s idea. Close your eyes and examine your mind for the various descriptive terms through which you see yourself. Discard all ego-based attributes. They are all equally unreal, because you are not looking at yourself through the eyes of holiness.
At the beginning of your thought exploration, you will probably put more emphasis on how negatively you see yourself, but by the end, you may actually gain more positive views.
Try to recognize that the direction of fantasies about yourself are unimportant. Illusions are simply not true.
A suitable list of today's idea might look like the following:
- I consider myself troubled.
- I consider myself threatened.
- I consider myself a failure.
- I see myself as a winner.
- I consider myself a sweetheart.
- I consider myself virtuous.
It's not all abstract. They will strike you as different situations and people come to mind. Then choose the description(s) that you feel best fit your reactions to that situation and use it when applying the idea.
When you have listed them add, "But my mind is part of God's. I am very holy."
Sometimes the exercise can also reveal nothing. In that case, don't force it. Let it come up and don't force anything. Don't discriminate.
Take one of the traits you give yourself and add today's idea to it.
Also listen to this podcast:
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Seeing yourself as negative
Sometimes an exercise like the one above can't do much if you have a negative view of yourself. It could be that you have then heard too many times in your past that you are not good enough or bad or something similar.
Appalled.
If that’s the case, you’re likely dealing with a limiting belief. In that situation, regression can help you see yourself differently. With the help of a hypnotherapist, you’ll explore your past in your mind to determine where that limiting belief originated.
Then you revisit that moment, but with the knowledge of now. Because usually that moment is a moment from your childhood, and of course you didn't have the knowledge then that you have now. If you then look at what happened then with your current knowledge you can get a completely different view of that situation and that can quickly change your self-image.
You can see yourself from a whole new angle.
There are multiple ways you can deal with that moment. Often it is enough to empathize with other people who were with you in that situation. To see that the motivations you thought they had at the time are wrong.
Sometimes it takes more than that, and in that case, for example, you can have your adult self talk to your young self about how now everything has come right. That it is no longer necessary to look at yourself negatively.
Seeing yourself as positive
Then, of course, you want to continue living with seeing yourself as positive. In that case, a hypnotherapist can give you affirmations that you can repeat at home.
You can repeat these after you have applied self-hypnosis, for example. For example, you are often given a guided visualization and at the end of that visualization you are given the affirmations that you can repeat out loud or in your head.
These can include affirmations such as:
- I am good enough.
- People love me.
- Love me.
- I'm always looking for opportunities.
These are just examples. Depending on how you see yourself and how you want to see yourself, you may be given very different affirmations or suggestions that you can repeat at home.
Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis works and how it can help you view yourself and your problems differently? Then join the free online masterclass on hypnosis.
Or sign up for one of our courses. These are taught online from a professional studio, with ample opportunity for one-on-one interaction.
Sources:
[1] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-01685-002
[2] https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/36/1/29/1844557
[3] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167202286007
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049089X84710106
[5] https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2002-08440-016
[6] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2002-08440-003
[7] https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.73.1.139