Off the mat, perhaps for many of us, it\u2019s easy to practice non-violence and compassion to others\u2014 be it in thoughts or physical acts\u2014 but when it comes to ourselves…that’s where the real test lies. Most often, the lack of compassion for ourselves comes through our thoughts\u2014 in a little voice that shouts “you’re not good enough”.\u00a0Of course, self-criticism is good to a certain extent\u00a0(in fact it motivates us to do better!) but when it goes beyond that, it just feeds our feelings of anxiety, stress, and self-loathe.<\/p>\n
If I could earn a dollar for each time I had a negative internal dialogue with myself,\u00a0I’d\u00a0be so rich by now. (e.g..\u201cI’ll never be able to get this right..\u201d, \u201cI shouldn\u2019t even have tried..\u201d “How could I make such a dumb mistake?”) I’m guilty of critiquing myself in my mind really harshly way too often, and\u00a0most times it reflects physically in the way I present myself, the things I do, and the choices I make.<\/p>\n
Incorporating the practice of Ahimsa more in my daily life has made me change the way I speak to myself \u2014 instead of simply critiquing myself for doing something badly and being all negative about it, I now make an effort to change the delivery <\/em>of words to myself, into asking and assessing \u201cwhat went wrong?\u201d \u201cHow can I make it better? , “How can I improve?\u201d. What Jess said about the difference in the delivery<\/em> of words, to others and to ourselves, kinda flicked a switch in me. The way we deliver our words makes such a huge difference and it\u2019s always a whole lot\u00a0more constructive and healthy for the mind if we show compassion to ourselves the way we show it to others.<\/p>\n As a note to myself and to everyone, don’t negate all the things that you’ve done well just because of a little aspect which you (maybe in your head) think that you’ve done badly; celebrate the little wins! \ud83d\ude42 & As hard as it may be, let\u2019s work towards being kinder and more forgiving to ourselves because after all compassion isn\u2019t complete if we don\u2019t put ourselves in the picture.<\/p>\n Pei Xuan 200HR Weekend YTT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Off the mat, perhaps for many of us, it\u2019s easy to practice non-violence and compassion to others\u2014 be it in thoughts or physical acts\u2014 but when it comes to ourselves…that’s where the real test lies. Most often, the lack of compassion for ourselves comes through our thoughts\u2014 in a little voice that shouts “you’re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n