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Self-Esteem: Your Fundamental Power

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What is self-esteem? A type of confidence? Or something far greater? On Self-Esteem, Caroline Myss casts a new light on this often misunderstood subject, redefining self-esteem as an actual core power that is essential to our evolutionary progress. In fact, Myss teaches, your potential for success in life is determined by how greatly you esteem or value who you truly are.

Beginning with a look at its roots in childhood, and branching into the real world of daily experience including finances, relationships, and spirituality, Myss illustrates the incredible changes that come when we nourish this life-giving force. Building on her revolutionary bestsellers Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred Contracts, Myss explores:

How your strong self-esteem threatens other people, and why you must strengthen it anyway
• How your intuition, spiritual guidance, self-healing capacity, and your self-esteem all depend on each other
• Plus special guided exercises for cultivating healthy, vibrant self-esteem, available only on this audio session, and much more
How would your life change if your self-esteem improved? Myss asks. Now you can find out, with this energetic template for radiating the quiet power of your own Self-Esteem.

Runtime: 4 hours, 43 minutes

5 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2002

6 people are currently reading
330 people want to read

About the author

Caroline Myss

159 books1,043 followers
Caroline Myss was born on December 2, 1952 in Chicago, and grew up with her parents, and two brothers, one elder and one younger, in the Melrose Park, Illinois neighbourhood near Chicago. Caroline was raised a Catholic, and attended the Mother Guerin High School, River Grove, Illinois, run by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in 1974, and started her career in journalism in Chicago.

In the course of her career, she interviewed Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D., the author of the famous book, On Death and Dying, which inspired her to pursue a Master's degree in theology from Mundelein College, Chicago, which she completed in 1979. She also claims to hold a Ph.D in "intuition and energy medicine", but the degree was granted by Greenwich University, a now-defunct correspondence school that was never accredited to deliver higher education awards by any recognized government accreditation authority.

She started giving medical intuitive readings in 1982 and co-founded a small New Age publishing company, Stillpoint Publishing in Walpole, New Hampshire, where she also worked as an editor in 1983, next she began consulting with holistic doctors, which in 1984, led to her extensive collaboration with Dr. Norman Shealy, an M.D. schooled at Harvard, and the founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, with whom she later co-authored, "Aids: Passageway to Transformation," in 1987, followed by "The Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses that Promote Health and Healing," in 1988. Deriving from her practice as a medical intuitive, she started writing books, in the field of energy medicine, and healing, all of which became New York Times Best Sellers.[18] Starting with Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (1996), which overlapped seven Christian sacraments with seven Hindu chakras and the Kabbalah's Tree of Life to create a map of the human "energy anatomy"; this was followed by Why People Don't Heal and How They Can (1998), which explored the reasons people do not heal through her concept of "woundology." Her next book, Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential (2002) dealt with the issue of finding "Life Purpose," while describing Sacred Contracts as "a set of assignments that our soul had formed around before incarnation". She has since appeared on the The Oprah Winfrey Show numerous times.

By 2000, she discontinued doing private medical intuitive readings, and instead started teaching it, through her workshops, seminars, radio shows and guided tours. She tours internationally as a speaker on spirituality and mysticism, and lives in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago. In 2003, she started the Caroline Myss Educational Institute, with Wisdom University in San Francisco.

Her 2007 book, "Entering the Castle" draws upon the writings of Saint Teresa of Ávila, a 16th century Carmelite nun, who wrote her most important work, The Interior Castle, towards the end of her life.

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5 stars
170 (47%)
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111 (31%)
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48 (13%)
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17 (4%)
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Ju Haghverdian.
858 reviews22 followers
February 24, 2020
The audiobook was a good experience, the author is talking to her audience and the reading feels light and to the point. Some of her remarks hit spot on on myself and how I feel about myself and where my self-steem is lacking.

I've been trying to read more about meditation but being completely ignorant in the subject I need more of a step-by-step guide as I always find my thoughts wondering into different subjects. However, during the exercise she did in this book I was able to concentrate on her words and stay focused on my breath and keep my mind in the exercise. Deep breaths do make a big difference.

"Life is about becoming conscious and consciousness is a full-time job"
Profile Image for Sofia Aluma.
20 reviews
June 21, 2019
Couldn’t finish this audio. For someone who has written so many books on healing and spirituality I was so surprised she sounded so patronizing and condescending in her presentations. The message was a good one, but I felt scolded/ridiculed the whole time. Wayne Dyer’s delivery is much more neutral/not judgmental.
39 reviews
January 17, 2023
It is Self respect.
So you don’t hear your intuition anymore because you don’t respect yourself anymore.
Not a psychological issue but a spiritual process of empowerment. Spiritual goal.
Self esteem is a verb, is action. It’snot visualization.
You should act on it. Others don’t want you to have it because the well-being of the group would be in danger. Self-esteem is in stomach and the lower back (stab in the back). Low self-eateem place low in the body.
Earning self esteem is also helping others develope theirs, not slaughtering other’s self-esteem.
Check this all the time: why did I say that? Why am I manipulating?
You believe, somewhere in your heart, the consequences of developing self-esteem is abandonment.
Come into the fullness of who you are. We have a deep archetypal image that fully empowered person would not be needy in relationship, and we are in relationship to need each other
Money and self-esteem go hand in hand. We have a to ic relationship between money and spirituality. That’s why we think the worst of wealthy people. It is also about charging money for your skills. 1- you don’t have any respect for your own art 2- your ego is so fragile and afraid of being judge. They can’t say what I do is worth that amount of financial energy. All their feeling about themselves is about how people see them. Don’t earn allowance. Earn income. The reason you earn allowance is because we are like children.
The highest goal of self-esteem is to become invisible. You don’t need to be seen.

I’m gonna dress as the reflection of how I feel, not how you feel.
Profile Image for Brenden.
35 reviews
February 5, 2019
The entire book was unfocused and filled with cliche’s that didn’t seem to emphasize anything that was just said leading to their utterance. It seemed as if she was just making up what she was saying as she went. I kept expecting some sort of conclusion, summary, or step by step recap to tie some things together, but it never came.
Profile Image for Erin Hearts.
425 reviews14 followers
October 12, 2019
I highly recommend this audobook, available on Audible. I will listen to it again to remember how to keep my self-esteem high. This is one of the more structured and organized things I have read/listened to by Caroline Myss. I like her, but sometimes she goes on a lot of tangents. This particular talk is straightforward and easy to follow/use.
135 reviews2 followers
July 28, 2024
This one is better than the "Anatomy of the Spirit" audiobook because Myss doesn't try to speak in 2 voices: one "mystical" and the other "normal". She provides practical tips but there's something very jarring when she berates the people unenlightened by her teaching, such as calling the staff at the cosmetic department a "wolf pack", among other examples --- not exactly a voice of compassion!
Profile Image for Ola.
42 reviews9 followers
December 27, 2018
Very compelling, that is if you’re a fan of the genre (new age’ey spirituality meets psychology).
Profile Image for Safa.
182 reviews8 followers
September 24, 2021
Unfocused and not especially memorable points. A couple parts made me smile, and many parts felt confusing and needed further exploration.
Profile Image for Carolyn Manlove.
484 reviews2 followers
December 18, 2019
Ms Myss has a soothing voice in this audiobook which is actually a seminar she gave. I used this book on my "spiritual constructs" quest this year. The focus was introspection. I couldn't have chosen a better book. Myss uses a spiritual, not just psychological, definition for self esteem. My notes on this book include:


Outwardly, our self esteem is hanging on a rack or is a tin can on wheels.

Truth:
You don't need recognition or applause for your actions.

DO I HAVE THE ESTEEM TO DO WHAT IS FOR MY HIGHEST GOOD?

Build self esteem by starting small with one physical act a day that you are wedded to do, such as walking a mile a day or writing. It is not the act or improved ability that is significant...it is building up the courage to act or do.
Just like you don't build up courage by reading about it, self esteem is an action.

Look at your behavior. Consider the why for each choice.

Stop thinking that a healthy self esteem means being empowered and abandoned or alone. It does not mean being alone. What does self esteem mean to you? Think!
Enter into a relationship and being close without manipulation is a great way to live.

Respect for yourself gets others to respect you.

Hold yourself accountable if you deny your self esteem. Own it! You have chosen consciously not to listen!

Fear is no excuse. Fear can bring out the worst in you and may cause you to sabotage yourself.

The ability to hear your intuition is dependent on your self esteem.


With healthy self esteem, fear no longer enters the equation in decision making. You may have to determine if you have the time or resources, but you aren't afraid of doing whatever. You can go ahead.

Consider how finances relate to your self esteem, how others present themselves, how you compare yourself to another.

Question all your behavior!

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Charmin.
1,075 reviews139 followers
January 16, 2021
HIGHLIGHTS:
1. To be personable without taking it personally (when dealing with negative feedback)

2. Give up going behind the scene. Go direct. “That doesn’t work for me.” Turn the mirror on yourself.

3. Empowerment ---will be alone (fear). Every thought has power. The “healthy you” is the greatest gift.
To be in a relationship you have to be “needy” (vulnerability). If you aren’t needy no relationship. To stay vulnerablelow self-esteem.

4. Invisible- do something nice without recognition. “goodwill bandit” Make a contribution, contribute a change. Liberation! A positive thought is all this person needs. Give most empowerment without a name attached.

5. Make one shift in a physical form. Ground one aspect of myself differently. Something that alters how you look at yourself (wear red/color).

6. Don’t break your word with yourself.

7. Fear brings out the worst in your sabotage. Fear is no excuse. I know better.

8. Healthy relationships aren’t that hard when you like yourself. You would be just fine without that relationship (healthy).

9. To be in love and not “ need” that person. Answer honestly when asked about deeply spiritual relationship, intimate, but impersonal to help them fulfill their contract.

10. My life is still and always will be, to my spiritual growth, my responsibility (primary).
Profile Image for Tori Montes.
158 reviews
May 10, 2016
I got out of this book the shadow of our personality. How empowering it can be to confront that part of yourself that you're ashamed of. I think Myss is sometimes too sure of what is true and not that she isn't always right. Ie... When she says that when anyone thinks of stabbing you in the back they think of the lower back which is not true for me. I think of between the shoulder blades. Those kind of statement made her less credible to me.
Profile Image for Holly Burger.
Author 5 books6 followers
April 7, 2008
A must 'hear' for lightworkers and all those wanting to feel confidence in the shoes!

I love the way CM calls out the ego and then takes you to the heart. Her get real attitude is refreshing and motivating.
31 reviews20 followers
December 21, 2009
audiobook. Excellent. Fresh insights into self esteem and why people act the way they do. Value of healthy self esteem to personal success and spiritual growth, and negative impact when damaged. Good info on attitudes.
10 reviews
April 28, 2012
Myss is a brillant speaker and not for everyone. She gives a no nonsense primer on what it really takes to have true self esteem. Listen to it if you dare! (It's an audio from one of her many workshops.)
Profile Image for Amanda.
3 reviews
January 29, 2016
This book was awful! The author was all over the place with her ideas and seemed to have a difficult time connecting her ideas together. It didn't makes sense to listen to and most of what she had to say was confusing. I would not recommend this audio book or any of her other works to anyone.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
482 reviews8 followers
February 21, 2019
I think I’d need a second listen for it all to sink in. I loved this new (to me) spiritual take on self esteem.
—————
Relistened before returning to the library and found it even more profound the second time.
40 reviews8 followers
October 12, 2008
I put this CD in every year or so, it wakes me up from my daze of the day to day.
12 reviews1 follower
October 28, 2009
I listen to this while on a ski trip I will re-listen to it as it was good.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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