Originally Posted by
Tatsy 
Although I'd practiced meditation for years, until I really became aware of the ingrained, habituated thought patterns from which I suffered (to include the AV and also negative self-talk, fear and worry) I didn't realise what a hold they had over me, how I was being tossed around on a tumultuous sea of damaging thought.
All these negative thought patterns are a kind of miscalculation or misperception of reality in which we take all our good qualities for granted or don't even see them at all. And we can develop the habit of projecting onto others that they're OK and we aren't. I have a friend who does this. He's always praising people and I hate it when he does it to me.
Like you, I think that meditation can help heal low self-esteem by helping us discover that we have good qualities too, and it can help us move on from painful experiences like problem drinking that have made us forget that we have these qualities.