Here's a helpful exercise:
Picture yourself when you were five. In fact dig out a photo of little you at the time and tape it to your mirror.
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| Little me on my 5th Birthday (awww how cute!) |
How would you treat her, love her, feed her? How would you nurture her if you were the mother of little you? I bet you would protect her fiercely while giving her space to spread her itty-bitty wings.
She'd get naps, healthy food, imagination time, and adventures into the wild. If playground bullies hurt her feelings, you'd hug her tears away and give her perspective. When tantrums or meltdowns turned her into a poltergeist, you'd demand a loving time-out in the naughty chair.
From this day forward I want you to extend the same compassion to your adult self.
"If not you, then who? If not now, then when?"
the next time your inner nag has something bad to say, stop and think about that kid. Then rewrite your script accordingly. you're worth it angel wing. The world needs you to stand in your holy shazzam glory!
(From Kris Carr, 'Crazy sexy diet')
I have an eating disorder and it is NOT my fault. there. I said it. Loud and proud. I can not carry on with all these self-destructive behaviours. It has to stop and it has to stop soon.
Instead of belittling and beating myself up for eating 'too much' or doing something 'wrong' I need to take a kinder more gentle approach.
I force myself to throw up after eating, tell myself I'm fat/worthless/ugly, drag myself to the gym when I'm sick and tired and should be resting.
I'd never treat a 5 year old that way!
So often so many of us struggle to show ourselves the same compassion we would show to others.
- Do you find it hard to 'accept' that you are worth loving and treating right? how do you deal with these feelings?
