You may already be familiar with the popular explanation of what constitutes good self-esteem - the feeling that I am ok and others are ok. And further, we evaluate what is happening around us, and with us, through the prism of our self-esteem. Everything we see is a reflection of our inner world. This is important knowledge because a lot of things that are far-fetched in our heads may have nothing to do with reality. And now, I want to show how a habitual mechanism of the psyche, such as projection, becomes something that prevents us from living a happier life. Projection itself is a part of our life and in 90% of cases it helps us. For example, I see clouds outside the window and assume that it will start raining soon. This assumption is based on previous experience and knowledge, which helps me plan future events. But sometimes projection also becomes a defense mechanism of the psyche, and then we tend to look at the world, somewhat distorting reality. If I had never seen clouds and did not know about their existence, then maybe I would have thought that night was coming)) So, what about self-esteem? We all have what we consider strengths and weaknesses. We consider them as such, thanks to the upbringing and culture in which we grew up. We were shamed for some behavior, rewarded for some, and we came to the conclusion that it is good to be one way and bad to be another. In the psyche, a split occurs into a certain light side, which is acceptable, and a dark side, which we try not to show it. This is one of the main roots of self-esteem. We either begin to attribute advantages to ourselves, and see shortcomings in others (inflated self-esteem), or see only shortcomings in ourselves, and advantages in others (low self-esteem). Again, we remember the very important knowledge that what is in us is often doesn't match reality. And psychotherapy becomes the tool that helps us understand very important things: a) there are no dark and light sides, but there is a whole me, which can be anything; b) others are not good or bad, but as I personally indicate them. Sign up for a consultation if you want to feel changes inside, and not just in the amount of knowledge gained =)