Last night I lay in bed pondering the ways in which we make life so much harder for ourselves than necessary by maintaining and believing negative beliefs and thought-processes about ourselves.
I'm a financially responsible person, own a house, have a job, I have a few dear friends, I'm healthy and still, despite having built a life for myself that's far from terrible, there's this tendency to dismiss all of that because of.. what exactly?
Sometimes I'm lonely, sometimes I'm too passive and sometimes I wish I was able to socialize more, but true as that may be why then do I allow myself to be brought down by this if by any standard I lead a good life?
Why am I harder on myself than I'd be on someone else in a similar situation?
The answer eluded me. Perhaps it's to do with the nature of negativity, that this nature seems to draw attention to itself away from positivity. If that's all it is; just because water flows downstream, then it's should be quite "easy" to stay aware of this mechanism and, instead of floating along in a downward spiral, I'd talk to myself like I'd talk to someone else with similar issues; with understanding and compassion.
And so I did. And it worked. All it takes to break away from a negative self image is to be excellent to yourself.
Ofcourse I realise that there are people with issues that aren't that easily resolved, but to be excellent to yourself ís a first step to accepting yourself as you are, and if you still have a lot of ground to cover in that area, why not start here?
Start being excellent to yourself.
I'm a financially responsible person, own a house, have a job, I have a few dear friends, I'm healthy and still, despite having built a life for myself that's far from terrible, there's this tendency to dismiss all of that because of.. what exactly?
Sometimes I'm lonely, sometimes I'm too passive and sometimes I wish I was able to socialize more, but true as that may be why then do I allow myself to be brought down by this if by any standard I lead a good life?
Why am I harder on myself than I'd be on someone else in a similar situation?
The answer eluded me. Perhaps it's to do with the nature of negativity, that this nature seems to draw attention to itself away from positivity. If that's all it is; just because water flows downstream, then it's should be quite "easy" to stay aware of this mechanism and, instead of floating along in a downward spiral, I'd talk to myself like I'd talk to someone else with similar issues; with understanding and compassion.
And so I did. And it worked. All it takes to break away from a negative self image is to be excellent to yourself.
Ofcourse I realise that there are people with issues that aren't that easily resolved, but to be excellent to yourself ís a first step to accepting yourself as you are, and if you still have a lot of ground to cover in that area, why not start here?
Start being excellent to yourself.
