578. Expert Interview: Loving Me Is the Key–Finding Happiness Is an Inside Job

Sandy Slovack

Sandy Slovack, M.A., has been working as a clinical counselor since 1995 and has been in the helping profession for more than 35 years as a trainer and speaker. Working with people dealing with the effects of trauma has been her specialty within the mental health and addictions fields. In June, 2016, after publishing her first book, “Hello, You’re Fabulous!: Build Your Self-Esteem for Life,” and seeing it rise to a #1 international bestseller, she learned she had to have a second brain tumor surgery.

Loving Me Is the Key–Finding Happiness Is an Inside Job

“Most people who have ever come into my office have this deep-rooted belief: ‘There’s something wrong with ME.’ Once people can clear this idea, not just in a therapy couch kind of way, but genuinely believe instead, ‘I’m really worthy,’ the world is a different place. I know this from the ground up for myself, having come from a suicidal place at one point in my life. If I can change my beliefs, so can you!”

Why Is This Important?

Clinical psychologists tell us our beliefs are solidified in us by the time we’re eight years old. Our beliefs about men, women, money, relationships, the idea that we have to work hard, our religion—everything in the world—is formed by that early time in our lives. I help people, from the ground up, deconstruct those beliefs and attitudes. Even though most of those beliefs are unconscious, they control our lives.

What Are the Key Lessons Learned Here?

“Scientific research affirms that what we think about ourselves is what creates our world—biologically, physiologically, chemically. Our thoughts and beliefs create health and everything about us. If you are struggling with low self-esteem, start by bringing to mind a sentence about yourself you would like to believe, even if you can’t believe it right now. Find a statement that you can resonate with and believe in wholeheartedly, something like, ‘I’m OK the way I am right now.’ Get your head around that, and vibrate with that at an energetic level where you start to feel good. That’s a great place to start!”