The Bottom Line

Many people look in the mirror and see someone they don’t like very much. They see faults, flaws and failures. They feel shame, embarrassment and maybe even anger toward themselves. As we grow up we take the voices of people who were significant to us with us. We may criticize ourselves in their sharp tones, and make the same comparisons with other people that they did. Our experiences create a foundation for general conclusions about ourselves; judgements about ourselves as people. We can call these conclusions 'the Bottom Line'. The Bottom Line is the negative view of the self that lies at the heart of low self-esteem.