FW: DailyOM: A Bad Habit - Being Hard on Ourselves

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March

10, 2011

A Bad Habit

Being

Hard On Ourselves

When we are hard on ourselves

for any reason, we send our bodies the message that we are not good enough.

One of the

key components of human consciousness that most of us need to address and

change is our tendency to be hard on ourselves. We do this in ways that are

both overt and subtle, and half the work sometimes is recognizing that we are

doing it at all.

For

example, if we find it difficult to graciously accept compliments, this is

probably a sign that we tend to be hard on ourselves. Other ways in which we

express this tendency include never feeling satisfied with a job well done,

always wanting to be and do better, and getting mad at ourselves for getting

sick. Getting mad at ourselves at all indicates that we need to rescue

ourselves from our learned ability to be unkind to ourselves.

In essence, when we are hard on ourselves, we send our bodies the message that

we are not good enough. Whenever we do this, we do damage that will need to be

addressed later, and we sap our systems of much-needed energy. Being hard on

ourselves is a waste of precious time and energy that we could use in positive

ways.

To

begin to understand how this works, we can think about times when someone made

us feel that we weren’t good enough. Even just thinking about it will create an

effect in our bodies that doesn’t feel good. We may be used to the feeling, but

when we really tune into it, we instinctively know that it is not good for us

on any level.

Like any bad habit, being hard on ourselves can be a challenging one to

release, but the more we feel the burden it places on us, the more motivated we

will be to change. At first, just noticing when we are doing it and how it

makes us feel is enough. As our awareness increases, our innate impulse toward

health and well-being will be activated, moving us out of danger and into a

more positive and more natural relationship with ourselves.