SELF ESTEEM

Harness the Dragon � PR & Communications Africa

Meet Herman Draakster. He's the Dragon that sits inside our heads. He has the strength of a giant, a pea-sized brain and the intelligence of a young child. He is our subconscious mind.

Einstein, our conscious mind, keeps Herman in check.

Without one, the other cannot exist. Amongst others, they are responsible for our self-image - or lack thereof.

Herman receives almost 500 negative inputs a day through external sources (parents, teachers, friends, work colleagues) and the more insidious self-talk (the internal conversations we have with ourselves).

By the time Herman is six years old, he has received just over a million don'ts, cant's, buts, be carefuls and other self-limiting words and actions. It is estimated that in South Africa, the average father spends 12 minutes per child per week. Seven of those minutes are filled with negative inputs. Frightening, isn't it?

Einstein gives all the instructions and controls Herman. Herman just follows orders. At face value, Einstein is more powerful than Herman. This is true, initially. However, Herman is absorbing everything that Einstein is telling him. Herman literally stores all he has ever heard and seen in a 'computer' programme.

Before you know it, Herman is controlling Einstein. Therefore if you have been programming Herman with negative, self-defeating thoughts and words, it will start manifesting these thoughts in your reality.

Imagine that you see someone at a party that you feel you could really connect with. At a conscious, Einstein level, this task seems easy. Stand up, make eye contact, walk towards your goal and speak. Easy! Nah, not so easy. Because you have been programming yourself negatively for many years, Herman starts coaching you: You're ugly, you're no good, you're poor, and you�re too fat/thin, you're stupid, blah, blah, blah �

Guess what happens? You stay in your seat without making a connection with that person. The bottom line is that your self-image is in tatters. If our self-image is not up to scratch we miss out on many exciting adventures because we feel that it is too risky. Perhaps that is why some of us haven't started that new business, changed our careers, asked for a raise, made that big sale, asked the guy/girl of our dreams out for a date, tried a new sport etc.

The Good news is that Herman is re-programmable. Through a sustained programme of visualization, affirmations, goal-setting and positive expectation, we can develop a shining self-image. Once that is achieved we will be able to claim the abundance that is rightfully ours.

Copyright 1999 by Jacques de Villiers 

This article may be copied or republished with the following credit:
"By Jacques de Villiers, Inspirational Speaker, Johannesburg, South Africa.
+27 (0) 11 884 2319 www.jacquesdevilliers.com "