The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

Use sentence completions to gain deeper self-understanding

Instructions

Write down a sentence stem and complete it.
First thing in the morning, sit down and complete this sentence: “Living consciously to me means.....” Without thinking too hard, write down 6-10 endings to this sentence within three minutes. Your endings don’t have to be true or profound. Just fill in the gap with whatever comes to mind.
Complete a series of sentence stems before proceeding with your day.
Once you’re done with the first sentence stem, write down and complete four more. For example: “If I bring 5% more awareness to my activities today.....” “If I pay more attention to how I deal with people today.....” “If I bring 5% more awareness to my most important relationships.....” “If I bring 5% more awareness to my emotions.....” Like what you did in the previous step, provide 6 to 10 endings per sentence stem within three minutes. Once done, continue with your day’s work.
Reflect on your sentence stems at the end of your day.
Before having dinner, reflect on your day by completing the following sentences: “When I reflect on how I would feel if I lived more consciously.....” “When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5% more awareness to my activities.....” “When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5% more awareness to my most important relationships.....” “When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5% more awareness to my emotions.....”
Repeat the above steps daily.
For the next two weeks, do this exercise from Monday through Friday. When you sit down to write every morning, avoid reading what you wrote the day before.
Review your sentence endings on weekends.
On the weekend, review what you’ve written for the entire week. Once you’ve done so, write down 6 to 10 endings to this sentence: “If any of what I wrote this week is true, it would be helpful if I.....”
After two weeks, use other stems that target specific issues in your life.
Once you understand this procedure, identify particular issues of concern and use them to create new stems. For example: “If I bring 5% more awareness to my insecurities/depression/needs/values/goals/job/managerial skills/sales skills/fears/relationship with person X.....” Remember to reflect on your sentence endings every evening.