Following Mental Health Awareness week this month I wanted to focus this blog on how you can be kinder to yourself and practice more self-care.
Being kind to yourself isn’t just about what you do, it’s also about your thoughts. Did you know we have over 50,000 thoughts each day and most of these are negative and on repeat day in day out.
So, let me ask you this, how often do you beat yourself up with negative thoughts and internal stories? What persistent negative thoughts do you have going around your head?
It’s circumstances, people and events that influence our beliefs. We then go out into the world and look for evidence to support these beliefs. It maybe that someone came up with an answer in a meeting and you didn’t. You then internally criticised yourself for not having the information, calling yourself useless, stupid or even worse. It’s what you make an event mean to you that will determine the internal dialogue you create in your head.
It’s time to stop beating yourself up. You wouldn’t speak to your child or your best friend like that so it’s time that you treated yourself with more kindness.
Instead practice self-compassion and kindfulness:
Mindfulness (Noun)
The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something: a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present movement, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Kindness (Noun)
The quality of being friendly, generous and considerate; a kind act
Definition of Kindfulness
Being conscious, aware and accepting of one’s feelings while demonstrating kindness and consideration towards oneself. The quality of being mindfully kind towards oneself and generous with self-compassion.
If you can be kind and compassionate to others you can do the same for yourself.
There is an amazing self-love technique by the dearly departed Louise Hay of Hay House. Stand in front of the mirror every day, look into your eyes and say, ‘I love you’. For some this will be extremely uncomfortable, because ultimately not all of us love ourselves or accept ourselves for who we are.
There was a time in my life where I wouldn’t have been able do this mirror exercise. Now, I absolutely love this exercise and I truly and completely love myself.
Other ways to be kind to yourself include…
Meditating
Exercise
Laughing and smiling
Power naps
Establishing a good sleep routine
❤️ Eating healthily
Self-praise
Relaxing bath
Give yourself some slack
Celebrate your wins
Congratulate yourself
❤️ Be proud of your achievements
Take lunch breaks
Watch films, read books and listen podcasts
Schedule fun activities with your family
Not all of these approaches will resonate with you so pick your top 3 and start applying them in your life today.
I want to leave you with a powerful quote I heard on a podcast hosted by Emily Williams of I Heart My Life.
The quote is from Dr James Rouse…
“So many words of kindness go unsaid”
Wow, what a powerful quote!
Of course, this doesn’t just apply to words of kindness to other people but of course words of kindness for yourself. So get into the habit of being more mindful and conscious with your words and flipping your negative language to the positive.
I look forward to hearing what valuable insights you took away from this blog. You can reach me at suzie@suzieflynn.com, or connect with me on LinkedIn or on my Facebook business page Suzie Flynn Coaching.
Suzie
x
P.S. As an ex Personal and Executive Assistant, I now spend my time working as a Mindset Coach & Business mentor. I typically support Executive Assistants build a successful Virtual Assistant business. Book HERE to schedule a free 30 minute discovery call with me or sign up to my weekly mindset newsletter.
