Be Kind to Yourself!

Sometimes when I’m walking in the bush or a park I can see reeds, bushes, shrubs bending in the wind and I’m reminded to be kind to myself. The reason why I think this is because often when people see a bruised reed when they are bushwalking they will snap it and throw it away …

You see, on this planet there are many of us that are bruised. Our mental health is a bit tender, our voice is sometimes not heard, our heart is sometimes a bit sore. And sometimes I’ve seen people get angry at that, they can snap, or take advantage of that, or be that guy who is “aggressive” and trample on us like straw.

Let’s not be that to ourselves. Too often I see in sessions people who are too harsh on themselves. They can sit in judgement of themselves and are often their own harshest critics.

So how can we take better care of ourselves?

The first is to be kind to yourself. I remember going through college and one of our deans said “Remember everyone has a sign over their head ‘work in progress’”. All of us need some days to rest, recuperate, and time to be restored.

Secondly, be kind to others. I often find that what goes around comes around. What we sow we do reap, karma is real! When we extend love and kindness to others it often comes back (usually never the way we expect either).

Thirdly is to forgive yourself. This doesn’t always make a lot of sense, I mean how do you forgive yourself? It's not even really logical to do this? Well this is a good point. Now the psychology behind this is that where our emotions, judgement and bitterness all reside is the midbrain which is the brain's centre for anxiety. This part of the brain is illogical (I tend to think its like the Alice in Wonderland part of our brain or as Paul Hogan terms it … “the wombat”). So when we forgive ourselves we are essentially letting go of judging ourselves, letting go of bitterness and receiving that kindness for ourselves. Go on , give it a go … it can do wonders.

Lastly is to treat or reward yourself. When you hit that milestone (whatever it might be) give yourself a reward. Don’t hold back, be generous with yourself. Buy that bike, get that dress, grab that freezer (? Christmas is coming, we might need it!). Whatever it might be. Be kind to yourself.

Hope this helps you today.

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