Nurture the child inside yourself
IF you were to sit a child down and start screaming at him telling him how stupid he is, how he should or shouldn’t do this and that and so on, you would end up with a very scared child whose full potential may never be realized.
On the other hand if you were to take the same child and tell him how much he is loved and how clever he is and how okay it is for him to make mistakes as he learns, it is most likely that the potential that comes out of that child will most likely astound you.
We are no different than this child, for each of us has that child within ourselves. Yet we often spend much of our time criticizing ourselves, obsessed about how we may not measure up, choosing to notice flaws in place of our achievements and then wonder why our lives don’t work.
Trust yourself and create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life!
Today take a few minutes to acknowledge that you are in fact ‘work in progress’. Not only are you not perfect now, but you never will be; no one is. If you are in the habit of comparing yourself to others or forcing yourself to measure up to some impossible standard, simply let it go. It is time for you to see yourself as a child with so much potential waiting to be unleashed. By developing a gentler attitude of patience and self - love you will begin to flourish.
Learn to forgive yourself: Realize that you cannot change the past and the future is unwritten. You can only change how you respond in the present moment. What you think of now will affect how you feel now, which will directly affect how you behave now. Refusal to forgive yourself for something you can’t change will keep you paralyzed from ever moving forward into a better future that you can not only control but design. You do have a choice!
Praise yourself: Praise comes from within. Get very clear about your good qualities – what you like about yourself, your positive traits. Recognise your strengths, talents and abilities. Spend time honouring your accomplishments. Compliment yourself and accept the compliments of others. Avoid shrugging them off or dismissing them, as this will only serve to support any negative thoughts and beliefs that you have about yourself. Say ‘’ thank you’’ and soak in these compliments fully. Learn to feel the positive energy they create within. This may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but believe me it will be worth it. As you begin to come across much more confident, attractive and self-assured others will begin to see you in a different light! Try it and see how tall you feel!
Examine your thoughts: You are what you think. How you feel about yourself and the relationship you have with yourself is all part of the inner beliefs and thoughts you hold about yourself. Whatever we believe becomes true for us. The easiest way to change negative thoughts of self- concept is to change and uplift the beliefs and thoughts you have of yourself and of your abilities. How? By literally ‘reprogramming’ your mind with new, more self-empowering beliefs that support you rather than those that hurt you.