to Feel Better

If you think negative thoughts, chances are they will become your beliefs. We all beat ourselves up for doing something wrong or regret from time to time. Sometimes this is healthy as it stops us from making bad choices.

But often we can be negative towards ourselves.

We can avoid negativity by practicing self-compassion. Self-compassion involves accepting our flaws, forgiving ourselves for our mistakes, and showing kindness. Research shows that practicing self-compassion improves your psychological wellbeing.

Self-compassion increases your happiness and optimism levels. It also boosts emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, and increases your social connectedness.

How Can You Practice Self-Compassion?

Use the following techniques to practice self-compassion and create a habit of it.

1. Practice Mindfulness

Negative storylines that play out in your head can cause self-criticism and rumination. Mindfulness, which is a non-judgmental state of awareness, is the antidote.

As a core part of self-compassion, mindfulness helps you focus on accepting situations. It leads you to question your experiences. What’s more, mindfulness encourages you to feel your suffering through spacious awareness.

2. Have a Growth Mindset

The essence of the psychologist, research, is how mindset impacts wellbeing. Discovered that happiness is the result of a growth mindset.

For instance, you will be happier if you see challenges as growth opportunities. Instead of seeing them as insurmountable obstacles, you can overcome them.

Embrace challenges, find meaning in them, and always believe in yourself. If you are critical of yourself and compare yourself to others, try to look for motivation. By looking at others’ successes, you may discover inspiration towards your goals.

3. Accept Your Flaws

Accepting something does not mean you have to like it. We all have things we don’t like about ourselves. By accepting the flaws you cannot change, you will be happier. Often, we have flaws that are strengths. Because someone saw our personality traits as a flaw doesn’t mean we should listen to them.

If anyone called you a name or said one of your personality traits is negative, find a way to turn it into a positive. For example, if someone says you are bossy, it may mean that you are diligent and proactive.

Acceptance also means striving to view yourself as being only human. As a result, stop putting yourself down or losing your faith in your potential. Even if you make a one-off mistake or a supposed flaw, that could be a strength.

4. Change Your Perspective

Having a bigger view of life could open your eyes to how much emphasis you could place on irrelevant things. For instance, will what upset you today matter one year from now?

A way to look at it is to take an eagle eye’s view into the problem you are facing now. Try to imagine yourself perched upon a mountain top and look down at your problem. See how small it is from up there.

While you are looking at it from this outside perspective, see the areas you could offer yourself. What would you tell yourself to do? Looking at problems from this way helps in figuring out how to solve them, or, at least, the next step you can take.

5. Treat Yourself as a Friend

One of the easiest strategies to drop negative self-talk is to imagine you are a friend who needs advice. Imagine your friend sitting at the table with you and telling you the same problem you have right now.

Think about what you would do or say to a close friend who came to you after a failure or rejection. You’ll come up with ways to be compassionate to yourself.

How would you treat your friend?

What would you say to them if they told you about their problems and struggles? If they were in your situation and criticising themselves, what would you tell them? You deserve the same compassion, tenderness, and empathy that you would give a friend in need.

Remember, I believe in you much love xx