WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?

Well, as you may know as you’ve grown up you’ve picked up certain limiting habits from your parents, teachers and other caretakers. Also, you’ve internalized the opinions, judgements of assumptions of other towards you. By the time you turned seven, your mind was programmed to respond with self-criticism instead of self-soothing behaviours For some, this causes psychological disorders such as: mood disorder, social anxiety, alcoholism, eating disorders and various other cognitive illnesses.

Symptoms of such disorders are:

• Feelings of guilt and shame
• Perfectionist tendencies
• Feeling unworthy and inadequate
• Self isolating behaviours
• Rumination and worry based thinking

THE INSIDE-OUT

It’s likely that society has conditioned you to feel that you don’t have enough; that in order to feel adequate you must strive at building a ‘good’ outer image, to buy the newest gadgets and technologies and to go after a career that will make you a lot of money rather than to get a career that will fulfill you.

Therefore, you’ve grown up believing that happiness

is a product of what you have rather than who you become. You are externally motivated rather than internally motivated. As you grow older, you self-criticism becomes the norm for you and you don’t realize that it’s the very cause of your uneasiness and dissatisfaction with your life. 

The way to get out of this mindset is approach your life from the inside-out and it starts with being more self-aware.

BECOMING SELF-AWARE

The way to get out of a critical mindset is to approach your life from the inside-out and it starts with being more self-aware.

• Become aware of your surroundings; how does your environment influence your behaviours?
• Pay attention to aches and pains -how did the pain arise? What were you doing? What types of thoughts were you thinking? Did your muscles tense up?
• How are you spending ‘free time?’ when you have some alone moments, how are you choosing the spend them? Thinking? Scrolling social media? Exercising?
• Eating habits – when are you likely to crave or eat foods that may be a little too high in sugar? High in fat? Drink alcohol?
• Is your social circle positive and supportive? – what types of conversations are you having with your family and friends? Are they uplifting and motivating? Or are they filled with complaining and worrying?
• How much time are you spending on yourself? – spend some time on your image. You don’t have to dress up in designer clothing or put on tons of make-up or get body obsessed with your workouts. However, when you take time on sprucing up your appearance, you will feel better and attract the types of people and opportunities that you’ve always wanted.

RE-PROGRAMMING YOUR MIND WITH SELF-COMPASSION

The more you become aware of your actions, behaviours and thoughts, the easier it will be for you to practice self-compassion.

Many studies have revealed that self-compassion is connected to better life satisfaction and more happiness. Self-compassion involves: forgiveness, mindfulness, growth mindset and being kind to yourself. Again, your mind can distinguish reality from imagination; so even at first you have to imagine that you are on top of the world, that you are crushing your goals, and that you are living each day to its fullest – do it, because you will eventually become your reality.

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The post Overcoming Self-Criticism and Building Self-Awareness: A Guide to Practicing Self-Compassion and Living from the Inside-Out appeared first on Sherina Chandra.