Today’s Inspiration Broadcast is brought to you by Karen Salmansohn‘s Happiness Rockstar contest. (Similar to her Kindness Rockstar contest).
Practicing positive and loving self talk has been the cornerstone of my health and wellbeing for a while now.
Back in the day, I had a very harsh, depressing critical voice that was particularly nasty whenever I failed at something. I now call this voice my Inner Bully.
Even if the failure was small (like missing a bus) or a perceived failure (like having to quit a toxic job) – my Inner Bully would have a field day. All manner of horrible statements like “I told you so”, “Not again?! You never get anything right!”, and “You are such a *******” would spew forth and cloud my consciousness.
For many, many years I just assumed this bitchy voice was right. I believed I was a loser, a failure, a fattie fat fat fat. I believed nothing would ever change.
This debilitating self talk resulted in panic attacks, social anxiety, an eating disorder and at one particularly difficult time in my life – self harm.
But here’s the thing.
I was a compassionate and loving person. I was committed to helping others. Whenever a friend was sick or sad, I’d rush to their aid. I’d write encouraging letters, listen quietly as they poured their hearts out, make cups of tea, or drive them to hospital – anything and everything to ease their suffering.
It didn’t occur to me that I not only deserved this kind of love, but that I could give it to myself.
And this journey began with transforming my Inner Bully to my Inner Bestie.
Recognising that my Inner Bully is just a scared little girl took a lot of the power out of her words. Learning to quiet the nasty voice and beginning to talk to myself exactly like I would talk to my best friend helped me do a 180 towards better health, more resilience, greater authenticity, and a whole lot more fun.
So my Inner Bestie is my Instant Happy tool.
What’s yours?
You can find more of Karen Salmansohn’s gorgeously designed inspirational posters in her latest book “Instant Happy: 10 second attitude makeovers“. Check out my review of it here.
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