This concept is widely misunderstood. It is not about self-cheerleading or superficial attempts to think you are wonderful. It is about really examining the negative beliefs you have about yourself and seeing if perhaps some of them are the result of programming while you were growing up. Self-esteem is the self-appreciation that comes from seeing how much sense you actually make when you finally get an unprejudiced look at yourself. Self-esteem comes from separating out who you are from what happened to you.