Bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmⁱ (بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيم)

Take a look at yourself.

• Rather, by this word, what I mean to ask you is, do you look like a happy person, full of energy and radiating a glow of happiness and love? Or is it a depressed, gloomy face that you are looking at? A face drained of all energy and hope? Messed up hair that hasn’t been taken care of in ages?
• What do you see when you look into your own eyes in that mirror? Do you see eyes shining with hope and love, or with a faint glimmer of hope flickering on and off? Or is it dreary, sleep deprived depressed eyes that you see?

Observe yourself truthfully and carefully, and answer these questions to yourself.

• You might have been wondering why I’m asking you to observe this yourself. You might be clueless on what I’m trying to talk about here. It’s all about us. Not being selfish, but our own ‘self’ is a crucial part of our lives. It is the one thing we have to change if we want to change those around you. The one thing you have to understand if you want to understand concept such as self-concept, self-esteem and self-love. Let us first have a look at what these concepts are.

Self-concept

• self-concept is “the individual’s belief about himself or herself, including the person’s attributes and who and what the self is.” Put simply, self-concept is the way you think about yourself, whether positive or negative. It is what you see in yourself, how you believe yourself to be.