I think we all know the importance of high self-esteem these days. You simply have to have a comfortable sense of self to be happy and also to succeed in the things which you do. Without a pretty good sense of self-worth you tend to shrink into yourself and your comfort zone only ever covers a relatively small area.

The world over the last few decades seems to have got ever smaller as boundaries have changed. We are able to travel from one side of the world to the other in a matter of hours. We can speak and see each other with the use of video-cams in same time pretty much no matter where we live. Those who have high self-confidence and self-esteem enjoy the benefits which such easy accessibility brings. Those with a lower sense of self can however find the world to be an even more threatening place to be than ever before.

And so it is no wonder that we see a ballooning industry in self-esteem and self-confidence products. All will work for some and not for others. It is important to know how to choose what will work best for you. It is equally important to have the right mind set so as to allow yourself to grow in self-esteem.

I was extremely surprised and disappointed to read a report upon the tendency towards cosmetic surgery as a way to boost one's self image. The GoodSurgeonGuide.co.uk reported that almost 60 percent of a representative group of women in the UK said in a survey that they would be happy to have cosmetic surgery if it was government funded. In contrast, only 14% of these ladies said that they would never consider undergoing cosmetic surgery.

What I found most shocking in the results found was that 43% of the ladies surveyed said that they would request surgery (paid for by the NHS) for their children if they had been bullied because of how they looked. Surely there are less invasive ways in with to learn how to deal with bullies and bullying? Are there not ways in which a child could be helped to build their self-esteem and self-confidence so that they can stand up to bullies?

Cosmetic surgery should not be seen as a quick fix for ones self-confidence or self-esteem. In fact the greatest failing in plastic surgery lies in a person's potential inability to raise their self-image to match their new look. You have to build your self-esteem from within, irrespective of how you look. Cosmetic surgery alone will not do it for you. Perhaps it will stop a child from being bullied, but what are the side effects which that child has to deal with?

Self-esteem is based upon how you think about yourself. You cannot get away from this basic fact. To build your self-esteem you have to change the way in which you think. The tendency to look to superficial treatments such as cosmetic surgery merely reflects an unwillingness to look within. If you are considering plastic surgery as a one-stop cure for all of your self-esteem issues you are probably "barking up the wrong tree".

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis downloads to build confidence and self-esteem from within.

P.S. Grab a free hypnosis mp3 from my website and find out how easily you can boost your own self-image.