If you're like many people the answer to that question is - you. Why is it so easy to be so hard on ourselves? There are lots of reasons, but one thing is for sure; it's a learned habit. We're not born that way. Which is good news. If we learned it, we can unlearn it. Today's post is shared from Daily Om.
One of the key components of human consciousness that most of us need to address and change is our tendency to be hard on ourselves. We do this in ways that are both overt and subtle, and half the work sometimes is recognizing that we are doing it at all. For example, if we find it difficult to graciously accept compliments, this is probably a sign that we tend to be hard on ourselves. Other ways in which we express this tendency include never feeling satisfied with a job well done, always wanting to be and do better, and getting mad at ourselves for getting sick. Getting mad at ourselves at all indicates that we need to rescue ourselves from our learned ability to be unkind to ourselves. In essence, when we are hard on ourselves, we send our bodies the message that we are not good enough. Whenever we do this, we do damage that will need to be addressed later, and we sap our systems of much-needed energy. Being hard on ourselves is a waste of precious time and energy that we could use in positive ways. To begin to understand how this works, we can think about times when someone made us feel that we weren't good enough. Even just thinking about it will create an effect in our bodies that doesn't feel good. We may be used to the feeling, but when we really tune into it, we instinctively know that it is not good for us on any level. Like any bad habit, being hard on ourselves can be a challenging one to release, but the more we feel the burden it places on us, the more motivated we will be to change. At first, just noticing when we are doing it and how it makes us feel is enough. As our awareness increases, our innate impulse toward health and well-being will be activated, moving us out of danger and into a more positive and more natural relationship with ourselves.
If this post resonated with you, please consider sharing it to spread the word. It might be of use to someone you know.
If you’d like to learn more about this topic, click HERE to book a session with me.
Comments