Does this ring true for you? We are so often our own worst critic. We can often be so hard on ourselves that we end up being our own worst enemy. Has this ever happened to you? That voice between our ears can be a harsh one. Where does that get us? It can leave us feeling less than, depressed and like a failure. I do not know of one good thing that will come out of any of those feelings.
Let us begin to develop a healthier and more positive self-talk. Let us try being a little more compassionate and encouraging in our inner dialogue. Let us give ourselves a little more grace. In doing so, we will also develop more compassion for others. What would happen if we turned our inner voice to one of encouragement and approval? We would develop a more positive self-image. We would have the courage to try something new. We would be more forgiving to ourself and to others. That would eliminate a lot of stress in our life. That would leave us in a healthier state both mentally and physically.
Start this transformation today. You could write down a list of things that are pretty amazing about you. List compliments that people have given you. You may not be perfect. You may make mistakes. If your intentions are true and you are working to become the best version of yourself, these are just lessons. You are amazing and deserver to be treating as such. Especially from yourself.
Today is world compliment day! Leaving whether you live in Greenland, Zimbabwe or any wonderful country that follows us, we invite you to join in celebrating with us today? How are we going to do that? By doing 2 very simple and fun things.
First one should seem rather obvious. Compliment someone. We are talking about genuine, heartfelt compliment. Not some fake flattery. Bonus points if you do it somewhere public. Like if you post a random compliment on someone’s social media page, or even in the comments below. Mine would be for the love of my life. Even when she thinksthat she is not having her best day, I think she outshines everyone else in the room. Her natural beauty is better than most women could hope to achieve with anyone amount of makeup orhairstyle.
That part is not only fun, but rather easy as well. Feel free to do more than one. It is world compliment day after all. The second thing? Give yourself one genuine compliment. Positive self-talkcan be very difficult for many of us. Especially if we were raised to be humble. That doesn’t mean thereis not greatness inside each and every one of you. At the very least, you have great choice in what you are reading online! In all seriousness, Positive self-talkcan empower us to push on when we may feel like quitting.
That brings me to my compliment for myself. I am proud of the way I show up. Last night I got only 3.5 hours of sleep. Yet, I was up at 4am on my off day to come in and work. This is also the 972nd day in the row we have a post here. That is almost 3 years straight. Despite sickness, vacation and a crazy busy life, we have had something for you everyday.
How about you? What is something wonderful about someone in your life? What is awesome about you? Feel free to let us know in the comments below, but just make sure you let the world know!
We are all like this bar of iron. We have so much potential inside of us. What we do with that potential goes a long way to determine our worth. This is why it is so important to do what feeds your soul. You may not be lucky enough to do it for a living, but you can even pursue it on the side as a hobby. What you create and bring to the world will be amazing. When people live with passion, everyone in the world benefits.
Perhaps, like myself, you are in a job that does not make the best use of your talents. What you should do is find a way to put those talents on display. It may cost you some recreation time, and maybe even a little sleep. Let me assure you that the sleep you will get will be far better knowing that you allowed the gift inside you to see the light. It will not only bring you more inner peace, but may also lead to a new, more fulfilling career.
Another thing to be careful of is letting others determine your worth. Some may look at you and believe that you are that bar of iron. Not worth much. Try to limit your exposure to these people. Some can see the horse shoes or even the watch springs inside of you. Meaning, they can see how amazing you are even if you are not there yet. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and see the best in you. That belief may help you push yourself to be the best version of you that you can be.
As the holidays get into full swing, our calendar becomes full. We are running around shopping for others. Perhaps we are at home cooking for others. There are still the usual commitments on top of that. What gets lost in the shuffle is time for ourselves. This doesn’t only happen during the holidays either. Life moves at such a rapid pace we can wear ourselves out trying to keep up. One job that we cannot slack on is loving ourselves. It is of the utmost importance.
Loving yourself does not involve arrogance. What it does involve is self-care. We need to take care of our health so we can show up for life and for those we care about as the best version of ourselves. It involves making ourselves a priority. Knowing that we may not be able to attend every holiday party we are invited to. We may not have the finances to buy gifts for everyone we would want to. That’s ok. By taking care of ourselves, we allow others to do the same. By loving ourselves, we demonstrate that we feel we deserve that love. We also learn what makes us feel loved. This is important when others wish to make us feel loved. In fact, if we do not love ourselves, we can make it impossible to feel that we deserve love from others.
Loving ourselves allows us to really appreciate and fully receive the love that others share with us. When your spouse tells you that you look attractive, but you are used to putting yourself down, it can be hard to believe much less appreciate. When you know that you have beautiful qualities, that compliment from your loved one is much easier to believe. When you can fully receive a compliment, it not only makes you feel better, but the one giving you the compliment as well. Think of it. If you tell someone they look nice and they always respond, “No I do not!” How likely are you to continue to compliment them? If they respond, “Thank you so much for saying so. That really means a lot.” How much better would you feel knowing that they appreciated your compliment.
It is your duty to love yourself. This does not mean you have to be perfect. It means that you are doing the best you can and showing up for others the best you can. You might have things about yourself that you don’t like, that is fine. Those things might be what someone else loves. You are an amazing soul and realizing that will not only benefit you but everyone else that you share life with. Don’t they deserve that? Don’t you?
It is almost the end of the year. Upon reflection, no doubt many of us are feeling a twinge of disappointment for resolutions we set at the beginning of the year that we failed to reach. You wanted to eat healthier but you are reading this blog while having a bowl of ice cream…after a large pizza. It is easy to do. Life can get pretty crazy over a 365 day span. Giving ourselves that little dose of pain and disappointment can be a healthy thing. It can spur us to action, even if that action comes at a significantly later time than we intended it to.
That brings us to today’s point. You can start a new beginning at any time. Not only can you, but you should be proud when you do. If you ate like complete garbage for the first 10 months of the year, give yourself a little feeling of guilt and disappointment. That is ok. It will help motivate you not to do so any longer. Following 10 months of supporting local fast food chains, if you have a healthy week of eating, give yourself some love for that. A week of healthy eating is still something to be proud of. It doesn’t matter if it comes in January or November. The more positive associations you attach to a healthy behavior, the more likely you are to maintain it.
You may not have accomplished the goal of being in better shape by the end of the year. You can still be proud of not having any soda this week. Perhaps you haven’t stuck to your gym 3 days a week plan. You can still be proud for taking walks after dinner. Build on the momentum. Your goal will get closer each and every day.
In a world full of Instagram models, social media filters and AI photos, far too many of us are chasing unrealistic and unhealthy goals. That model you are aspiring to look like may spend all day in the gym, have a professional chef and maybe even cosmetic surgery. The picture of a fitness guru may be airbrushed or altered in some way. What may be healthy for them, may not be healthy for us. Speaking of health, is that what you are chasing, or just an appearance? Have you given any thought to the inner beauty you have and how you can improve that?
One of the things that can drive us crazy is picking some arbitrary goal. “I would love to get down to my weight when I was ____.” someone will say. Forgetting that our bone density, hormonal profile, level of activity and many other factors have changed. Even picking one factor, such as weight, is a mistake. With the new smart scales, it can give you a much clearer picture of what your weight actually means. How much is fat? How much is water? How much is muscle? You may be healthier at a slightly higher weight depending on these factors.
Next time you are tempted to chase some arbitrary goal, think of this silly picture. You should not worry about going back to some version of you that you used to be, and focus on being the best and healthiest version of who you currently are.
The week is starting to wind down and we might be already looking forward to the weekend. There is one thing we can do to finish the week off right and start the weekend in a positive note. What is that one thing? Following the recommendationof the loveable bear above, we should love ourselves first.
When we develop a positive self-image, not only are we able to conduct our lives better, but we can help others do the same. Loving ourselves first can be one of the healthiest actions we take. I’m asking you, the reader, what ways do you loveyourself first?Let us share with each other and develop a healthy action plan.
Here is a word that I would like to put in all of our vocabularies. The ability to embrace things about us that are not perfect, especially in today’s world, can be quite difficult. To do so and still be able to understand that we are still beautiful, wonderful and amazing people can be next to impossible. One thing that may make that easier is having a word to describe just that. “Flawsome” is something we should all be. We all have flaws, yet we are all rock stars at something too.
Flaws are not always the curse we see them as. When viewed by others, flaws can make us relatable. Often, having flaws gives us credibility. How much would you trust someone who tells you they are perfect at everything? I know I wouldn’t. When you own your flaws, and understand they do not make you less of a person, you make it more difficult for others to use them against you.
If there are two things I know about the people I love in my life, it is the fact they have flaws, and they are still totally awesome! Those two facts hold true about you as well. Do not let things about you that need improvement convince you that you are anything less than the beautiful soul you are. You, me, and the rest of the world are all “Flawsome”.
Have you ever had a day where you felt a little down on yourself? Maybe you looked in the mirror and didn’t like what you saw? Too many wrinkles? Too much…umm…You? Maybe you said something you regret and are now kicking yourself for it? Maybe you didn’t get a promotion or achieve a goal in the time you had set for yourself? Whatever the reason may be, you are just not feeling the best about yourself. It happens to the best of us. I once had a book signing and only 4 people showed up. Never mind months earlier I had one where 50+ people showed up, I left feeling like a failure. There are all times where we could use a boost in the self-esteem category.
One group of people who gave the perception they never suffered this problem were old-school hip-hop artists. Before the music involved drugs, violence or demeaning women, it was mostly a “Look how cool I am” lyrical affair. There is actually something to be gained by this type of thinking. You do not have to put out an image that you are better than anyone else, but that you are an awesome person just the way you are. This is true. In every one of us, there is an amazing person. There are certain skills and things we do amazingly. I suggest we start to make a list of them. I do not advocate resting on your laurels and past victories, but visiting them to remind yourself the great stuff you are capable of is not a bad idea at all.
In reference to the music mentioned earlier as well as the picture of ‘The Rock’ that started this post, it would be beneficial to have such reminders placed around for you to see. The music can just be a playlist of songs that make you feel empowered. It can be rock, country, hip-hop or any other genre you enjoy. When you are feeling a little down on yourself or you act in a way that doesn’t exactly make you feel proud to be you, then look at these reminders, push play on your playlist and get out there to kick some butt!
The reason you want to keep your self-esteem high should be obvious. Are you more productive when you feel good about yourself or when you feel defeated? Are you better able to handle challenges when you feel empowered or disempowered? Guess when your health and immune system are more powerful? Any idea which time you are more likely to act in a kind and forgiving manner? Again, I must stress this should not be an attempt to be arrogant or ‘better than’. To be honest, those folks are usually covering up for a poor self-esteem. No, the idea is to get in touch with your inner bad ass, as the author Jen Sincero would say. You are awesome and you have a lot to bring to the world. It is important to have reminders of that. If you wait until you are feeling down to try to think of such things, you will find it near impossible. If you find gathering this list difficult, ask some friends and family why you are amazing. If it makes it easier, share why you think they are amazing in return.
