I can find myself in conflict.
I make a mistake, and an inner critic in me becomes very irritated. He fires away punches of frustrations left and right, even dishing out an uppercut. “Why do you always do this….? You aren’t efficient enough…! You suck at adulting!
I’m sure you can relate.
Then another part of me seeks to come to the rescue. “Don’t beat yourself up! You need to love yourself unconditionally! You need to treat yourself with the same respect you would treat others!
To which the critic responds: “Yeah, yeah. Would you shut up and not be so over-the-top? This self-love talk is not productive!
The part that seeks self-love has sound advice. But he’s commanding love, not demonstrating it. The critical part then become rebellious because he doesn’t want to be over-ridden.
Overriding that critic part is actually antithetical to unconditional-self love.
So what’s the key?
Breathe deeply, notice the noise, and love every single part of you in every single circumstance. Love your inner critics. Love your insecurities. Love your imperfections, your shortcomings, your worries.
Love the part of you that doesn’t believe you need self-love.
Love even the part of you that resists believing this message is valid.
That’s self-awareness.
