It’s February and it is the month to celebrate love. And because I find my clients are so amazing at sharing the love with everyone else but themselves, I thought it might be a great time to talk about Self-Love.
Self-love is the place that healing starts.
And it is amazing how hard that can be, especially for women. Do we celebrate each other well? Sometimes. I think women can be caddy and critical with other women. There is a tendency to size each other up when we meet new women. Silly right. But beyond that we are more critical of ourselves than any other woman could ever be of us.
Isn’t that the truth?
If you were to track how many shitty things you thought about yourself every day, how long do you think that list would be? I have to fight every morning not to beat myself up. Let me see, how does that go.
Tracy, look at the wrinkles under your eyes and why have they been so puffy lately. They make you look old. Do you think you can get to the gym today? I mean how do you ever expect to get rid of the cellulite on your ass. And when did you pack that 10 pounds on your ass and thighs. I mean really. I’m not sure I like my hair gray. Maybe It makes me look too old. And don’t wear that shirt. I mean honestly, if you sit the wrong way, everyone can see that inner tube you are trying to hide. When are you just going to accept that you are old now?
Shall I go on?
It may not be the exact same language that you use but you can relate can’t you.
I didn’t learn self-love as a child. And mom, I know you read my blogs. I think we learn what our mothers learned growing up. And I know my mom didn’t learn self-love as a child either. I’m not sure that I was successful with my daughter in teaching her that. I suspect not, but if my kids ever have kids, we are stopping the cycle. Guaranteed.
And once we have spent our life beating ourselves up, it is hard turning that around. Isn’t it?
But, if we are talking to ourselves worse than our worst enemy would talk to us, why isn’t that breaking our hearts. Seriously!!!! We should be telling ourselves, shame on you. We wouldn’t allow others to speak to us that way. Why do we allow ourselves to do that?
Sad, isn’t it? Yes.
Let me ask you a question? How do you promote others? Think about that. What do you say to others when you are supporting them in general? In difficult times? How do you help your girlfriends when they need support?
That is how you should be talking to yourself. This is how you should be loving yourself.
Health really is about mind, body, spirit. Mind your mind and your body will follow.
So, what next?
I highly encourage you to stop next time you catch yourself criticizing yourself. Turn that criticism around and send yourself some loving thoughts. If you can’t love yourself, who else can?
