Origination of Healthy Self Esteem - 8

Healthy self-esteem originates in the environment found in the: family, school, peer group, work place, and community.
For healthy self-esteem, individuals need to receive nurturing from the people in their environment, to include:
$ Unconditional warmth, love, and caring
$ Acceptance for who they are;
$ Good communication; being listened to and responded to in a healthy way so that healthy problem solving is possible

$ For the environment to support the development of healthy self-esteem it must contain:
$ Recognition and acceptance of people for who they are
$ Clearly defined and enforced limits
$ Respect and latitude for individual action
$ Established freedom within the structure
$ Bonding

What is bonding? Bonding is...
$ Forming a mutual emotional attachment between an individual and a "significant other" (parent, child, friend, lover).
$ The significant other giving unconditional love to the individual.
$ Developing an emotional link between the individual and the significant other.
$ Developing a sense of security for the individual.
$ Establishing an emotional intimacy and sense of closeness between the individual and the significant other.
$ Helping the individual feel a healthy sense of identity.
$ Transmitting links between the individual and the significant other through which nonverbal communication and understanding takes place.
$ Providing the individual with a sense of belonging or being connected.
$ Bringing the individual into the larger network of caring and love present in the extended environment.
$ Concern and love of the individual by the significant other, exhibited in all aspects of the individual's life.

Mone on bonding tomorrow.