Each of us has flaws, but we must learn to focus on our strengths. So, shhh! Don’t tell anyone and learn to shut down that bad voice in your own mind.
You can’t control what other people say about you, but you can control your own words. So many times we’re our own worst labeler, and we trap ourselves by saying things like:

• "I don’t like myself." The trap: If you don’t like yourself, you begin to think other people must not like you either.
• "I can’t do anything right" The trap: If you think you do everything wrong, you lose confidence in yourself.
• "I’m not a beautiful person." The trap: If you think you’re unattractive to other people, you begin to act like it and believe it and create false illusions of what is beautiful.

Such negative words and thinking will push you down into a spiral of darkness. The more negative things you say about yourself, the more you draw attention to yourself and your weaknesses. Before long, what you say becomes true and others begin to see you as weak, which you live up to—or down.

Each of us has flaws, but we must learn to focus on our strengths. So, shhh! Don’t tell anyone and learn to shut down that bad voice in your own mind.

What weaknesses, inabilities, and insecurities of yours do you talk about—to yourself or others?

If you can’t speak anything positive over your own life, then speak what the Bible says about you. Did you know it speaks of you? It does! Look at this. The Bible says, “Let the weak say I am strong.”

That means: Don’t say what you feel and see on your own. Instead, say what God says about you:

            "I am God’s child and I am blessed."
            "I am gifted, talented, and smart."
            "My beauty comes from the inside—from the hidden person of the heart."
            "God loves me and values me. He has accepted me and I’m going to accept myself."

You encourage or discourage yourself by what you say. You can raise or lower your self-esteem by your own words. So listen to what you are saying about yourself.