Clarity Shot #22
How often do you take a moment to think about what a great person you are?
Or just pause through your day, randomly, only to appreciate how caring, thoughtful, friendly, creative or funny you are?
Not that often?
You’re in good company… I think that’s the vast majority of us 😉
So how about we do something different today?
Like switching off the brain’s negativity bias, for 5 minutes, to allow ourselves to see the good qualities that we already have?
I’m not talking about arrogance, inflated ego, or thinking we’re better than others.
I’m not talking about toxic positivity and forcing ourselves to ignore what’s not working, while pretending all is great in the world.
I am proposing a break from the draining habit of only looking at those occasions when we messed up, when we weren’t that effective or skillful, or when things went wrong and we concluded it must have been our fault.
While there are bad moments and bad days in life… most of the times, moments & days are also filled with goodness.
That sort of everyday goodness that stays under the radar, because our radar is fine-tuned to alert ourselves of danger and threats. Biologically, we needed that radar for survival… but with no tigers chasing us each day in our modern, busy & stressful days, maybe we’re better off choosing something else, once in a while.
So how about taking just 5 minutes out of your day, right now, to list the qualities that you already have?
Be realistic and look for moments when you demonstrated kindness, humour, empathy, intuition, care, calm, patience… as imperfect as they may have been in certain situations, you can acknowledge that you displayed them, to some degree, in various moments in your life.
Yes, even if it wasn’t perfect.
Especially when it wasn’t perfect…
Enjoy the feeling of appreciation for yourself, and allow yourself to relax into knowing that, fundamentally, you’re a good person inside, and you are worth taking a moment to appreciate that.
And if it sounds weird to simply stop and do that… how about doing it next time you feel like scrolling on social media?
Before opening up whatever app you use to scroll through perfectly curated lives of others, how about taking just 5 minutes to write down everything that’s ok about you, in real life?
Might be just the antidote you need, to grow some spark inside, walk taller, with a brighter smile and an extra boost of confidence coming from inside.
Set a reminder, every day.
Just for 5 minutes, enjoy the warm feelings inside, and write down what you appreciate about yourself.
It won’t make you lazy or unmotivated.
Quite the opposite…
Whenever hard moments will come… rainy days when everything will look dark & gloomy, this little exercise might bring some extra clarity and perspective, reminding you that… despite whatever might be going wrong in your life, you’re fundamentally a good person inside & you can count on that 🤗
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