How many times have we started our mornings with negative thoughts that mostly set our mood for the day? Our aching backs as we get up, our snoring partners (humans or dogs) beside us that keep us awake most of the night, or the sounds of the neighbour’s revving engines that start earlier than our alarm clocks. The list can go on.
How often do we hear our co-workers complain about the weather or that is it is Monday and they can’t wait for the weekend? Don’t you simply want to reply, “Uhm, didn’t we just have the weekend?” But you don’t want to sound like the cheery Mary Poppins prancing along the sidewalk singing I’m Practically Perfect. So you’d reply, “I hear ya!”. Sigh. Eye-roll.
Or, yes, we can choose to reply, “Oh, I love Mondays!” or “I don’t mind the cold”. Some may call it “positivity” and others may refer to it as “delusional” but I call it “being kind to myself attitude”. It is not easy but I try to Possess Inner Niceness and Kindness. It’s PINK. I embrace PINK because I figure, I cannot be kind to others if I am not kind to myself. We cannot give what do we do not possess after all.
My PINK starts with an inner dialogue. I am grateful. I am blessed. I embrace my imperfections. I am thankful for the new life and the new gifts and challenges of the day. I am blessed to have the people I hold dear in my heart. Family, friends, friends who became family. I am blessed to have a functioning body. Sure it’s not perfect. My muffin top didn’t vanish overnight; my blackheads didn’t disappear; and I am still five foot nothing. On the good side, I breathe. And my feet will take me to where I want to be; my hands will create things that will cure world hunger feed my family; and my mind hasn’t left me, at least not yet. So it’s all good.
So please, when you post that selfie of yours on your wall or when your friends obsess about weight loss and weight gain, shush away the impulses to speak unkindly about yourself. Shake it off. You are you. You are enough.
We can strive for the better, but for now, we are enough.
Speak to yourself like you would speak to the one you love.
Be your own best friend
(Today, November 22, is Pink Shirt Day which raises awareness regarding bullying. http://www.pinkshirtday.ca )
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