You may have heard of the best-selling book, Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, M.D., F.I.C.S. Today’s field of psychology considers the book to be one of the most important ever written. It’s a refreshing look at self-image and how you can change your life by re-programming the mechanism in your brain that controls your behaviour – and thoughts.
Maltz’s theory is that there is a vivid distinction between the brain and the mind – the brain being the ‘machine’ that causes you to function and the mind being a life force that compels you to use your brain and body to achieve goals and rise to success.
“Cybernetic” is taken from the Greek word for ‘steersman’ and today the term is usually used to refer to how machines and animals control and communicate. For example, a computer is a sophisticated machine that organizes itself to perform a function. Maltz maintains that you can’t reduce yourself to a machine because you have the ability to know yourself and what makes you tick.
It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
It’s a fact that those with low self-esteem rarely rise to the top rungs of success. Unless you recognise when you’re being overly critical with your thinking process, the low self-image will keep plaguing you throughout your life and keep you from the success you could have had.
Understanding how your low self-image developed will help you know how to rid yourself of the negative thoughts and actions so that you’ll feel more accepting of yourself.
Combating a lifetime of self-criticism isn’t easy, but with books such as Psycho-Cybernetics and other help available online and in other books and counselling today you can overcome low self-esteem by the method of alternative thoughts.
Negative thoughts about yourself and your abilities are habits that are self-defeating and need to be separated from who you really are. You can learn to replace them with a better and more uplifting image of yourself.
There are many methods that can help you with your quest to improve your self-image. One method doesn’t fit all, so take your time to look over the various ways that you can begin to enjoy a more vital self-image and perhaps combine several to see which works best for you.
It won’t happen overnight – like any bad habit, self-defeating thoughts must be dealt with every moment of every day until the bad habit is replaced with a good one – and one that will improve your self-image.
