Self-compassion is a skill most of us women lack.
Every day, we beat ourselves up for little things, big things, unimportant things and critical things. No matter what we do, we feel we never quite measure up, right?
You are late for work because of a big traffic jam – it’s your fault because you should’ve known and headed out 15 minutes earlier.
The barista at your favorite coffee shop gets your order totally wrong – it’s your fault because you could’ve been more concise.
Your baby girl comes home from school crying because of a silly kid’s mistake in her homework – it’s your fault because you could’ve double checked.
Or even more drastic than that: Your husband has an affair with a younger women – it’s your fault because you don’t have the perfect body and aren’t as attractive as you once were.
Whatever your daily challenges are, you beat yourself up constantly and you believe that you are simply never ever EVER good enough.
Well, I call BS to that and I say that you are good enough. You are perfect just the way you are.
However, this isn’t easy to believe, right?
It isn’t easy to believe because all we truly want is to feel at peace and to belong. And being “human”, “failing”, messing up, all that threatens to get in the way of us being whole, accepted and at peace.
But that’s not true.
We are human and therefor, we are going to mess up at times. Everyone does. And while we don’t have any problems accepting this fact in others, we are having the worst time trying to appreciate it in ourselves.
“If your compassion does not include yourself it is incomplete.” ~ Jack Kornfield {Click to Tweet}
This brings us to today’s challenge: Do One Act of Self-Compassion
Step #1:
In order for you to make the first few steps towards a more complete picture of compassion, practice self-compassion.
Acts of self-compassion can include:
- becoming aware of the critical monologue in your head
- responding with kindness to a silly comment you’ve made
- saying a few nice words about your body instead of telling yourself how fat you are
- taking it slower today
- saying NO to something that you don’t want to do without feeling oh so guilty about it
- laughing about a mistake you’ve made
- breathing slowly and deeply when an unexpected problem arises and giving yourself the time you need to figure out your next steps
Self-compassion can take many forms. There’s no wrong or right way to do it – as long as you actually do what is good for you.
Step #2:
SHARE YOUR MAKEOVER SUCCESS!
I want you to report your actions in the comments or on social media…tag it on facebook, twitter and instagram (use the #10BCM).
What are you going to do today to practice self-compassion? How do you feel now that you’ve become aware of how critical you are of yourself?
Have fun today and stay tuned for tomorrow’s 10-Day Body Confidence Makeover challenge!
Big hugs and love,
Anne-Sophie
