I will try to explain the most complex and most interesting concept in the ACT philosophy and expand your view on the issue of self-esteem What levels does self-perception consist of? The first level is “I-as-a-product” or I as the content of my thoughts about myself (false self). Simply put, a rigid, monolithic and unambiguous image of oneself, expressed in categorical concepts. For example: “I am a BPD”, “I can’t do anything because of an anxiety disorder”, “I don’t know how to do anything differently”, and so on. Through this image we look at ourselves and at the world around us, at what we can and cannot do. The second level is “me-as-context”. Or the noticing Self. This is the idea of ​​the “I” as something that notices thoughts, feelings, sensations and their changes over time. As an example, try stopping now for 30 seconds and noticing your bodily sensations and then your thoughts. Here, what notices is the I-context! The self-context makes it possible to look at oneself from a different point of view, not identifying with ideas and experiences, but simply observing them. The third level is the “observing self.” It is the Self that is noticed by the noticing Self. It sounds difficult, but try to stop again for a second and imagine yourself in the space you are in, reading this text and noticing how you notice all those feelings and thoughts that are present within you. Try to remember one spring day when you were about 10 years old. What did you do then, what did you feel and feel? What did you see around? Now remember some spring day when you were a teenager of about fifteen. How did you feel then? Look inside this memory. And that part of you that is aware of what you are aware of is here now and was there then. This is the Self that is able to look at itself from a temporal and spatial perspective. And now an example that should clarify everything: Here you are swimming in a lake. And you think: “I’m some kind of inept swimmer, I need to train more often” - this is me-as-content, thoughts about myself. And you notice that you feel the coolness of the water with your body, you notice the thought that you are a bad quicksand, and then , how happy you are about going out into nature. This is self-as-context. And now you can step back and look from the side how you swim in this lake, how you realize the thought that you are a bad swimmer, realize the notice of the coolness of the water and your joy. This is the observing Self. You can very clearly notice this part of yourself in meditation or in various mindfulness exercises. No self-esteem is good or bad. Depending on the time and situation, it is either a useful or useless assistant. The main thing is to understand when to listen to it. This is how the ability to separate the idea of ​​oneself from oneself develops. ✨