Learning To Love Yourself
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard a woman pull herself apart, I’ve done it myself. Whether you feel not thin enough, not tall enough, not clever enough, not successful enough, you’re just not enough. As children we’re conditioned to learn and think in a certain way. Our parents, teachers, peers, friends, they all have an opinion - and our innocent mind believes them. But remember, you weren’t born thinking this way, you’ve been programmed, and with help and determination, you can re-programme the way your brain sees things.
The Buddhists have a saying “Some people wouldn’t have it any other way”, which essentially means that some people are actually happy being unhappy. But this state of mind is unhealthy and if this is you, be careful what you wish for.
It’s not easy learning to love yourself. I think to some extent for most of us, it‘ll be work in progress throughout our lives. But there are simple steps you can take to begin to re-programme yourself to think differently.
As with any significant task, it always helps to break it down; start by making a list of all the things you don’t like about yourself, and then try to find something positive about each one. It might seem like a cliché, but when we see things from a different perspective, we have a new starting point. For example, being older is a privilege many will never experience - and so we should embrace that.
Beautiful Thinking was created to guide and help women stay on the positive path as they travel through mid life. This time of life is challenging and tough but when you learn to find ways to love and respect yourself, I can promise you it gets a little easier every day. If you’re unable to seek out a therapist like myself, you could try meditation, or just simply repeating a positive sentence in your mind as often as you can. Perhaps something like “I am enough” or “I accept myself as I am”. You will be slowly re-programming your brain to think afresh.
Over the weeks, I’ll be posting other tips to help you feel better about yourself, and if you’d like more help, feel free to contact me, I ‘d be delighted to help.