Deciding to relaunch my site was easy. The tricky part was choosing the best way to do it. Stop, start, stop, start. My inner critic (bully Cruella) was up to her old tactics. “That’s not good enough”, “people won’t care” she smirked and whispered as I jotted down my ideas. Yes, coaches have those inner critics too. But then I remembered that strange word … an uncommon word that I had written about in The Art of Falling: Lessons from a lifetime of trips, slips and faceplants! and I went to work banishing my Schadenfreude by starting with compassion! Bye Bye Cruella … Bye Bye!
“I am good enough, it is more than enough and people will come and help me build it.”
If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.
Dalai Lama
As I researched quotes for this topic, the wisdom of the Dalai Lama left a mark on my mind and heart. How many times have we heard comments about the lack of compassion, the air of agitation and intolerance, the division over the last couple of years (even within family units). It made me wonder whether the root cause was that we forgot how to be kind to ourselves first? Maybe for some of us we’ve always struggled with this and it was enhanced by the mind boggling state of the world? And so I decided to take the Dalai Lama’s advice and start with self kindness. My hope is you will too.
Pick a Mantra
Want to practice self-compassion? There is a ton of article’s and books out there that you can read that give you multiple techniques on how to work on self compassion. Go ahead, google it. You will not want for resources to work with and there is some really great material out there if you have time to go through it all. For me, I like to take things one step at a time, so I don’t go “all dog with a squirrel” and become completely distracted. My go to method is mantras that I tell myself to help refocus and treat myself with compassion. Here are a few of my favourites:
- You are strong enough
- You deserve success
- You are living your purpose
Now pick your mantra, and when that bully shows up in your head, repeat it and watch them fade away. Sounds easy right? Nope not always, it can be really hard depending on your situation. But it’s the first step forward, and when you keep repeating these words of compassion each day, eventually there won’t be room left for the bully. Once you start doing this more regularly, take note of your relationships around you. You just might start seeing kindness in the most unlikely places. Remember, it takes time, it takes one step at a time.
What does this have to do with my website relaunch?
Great question! One of the things I am not kind to myself about is the sound of my voice using a microphone or on video or tape. So, it’s time to let compassion in. I bought myself a microphone on amazon and over the summer I will be recording 3 of my favourite chapters in my book, starting with, you guessed it, “A strange word you’ve probably never heard”. It’s not perfect, but I learned a long time ago that nothing is ever perfect. I’ve given myself permission to let go and just publish it, warts and all, knowing “I’m good enough” and “I will get better at it.” Oh, I also have a confession! I may have indulged my inner rockstar and recorded a couple songs that NO I will not be publishing any time soon. I just couldn’t help myself! LOL
I will also be working on developing a podcast, digging deeper into my favourite topics, and on occasion will be joined on the podcast by fun, extremely talented and informative guests! I am terrified and very excited about this adventure. I hope that when I launch the podcast that you will subscribe and go on this adventure with me!
Yikes!!!! Here we go …….
Let me know what you think!
