Be kind, gentle and loving in your thoughts. For some reason we have been taught that it is okay to beat ourselves up and to treat ourselves in ways that we were never tolerate others be treated. It is time to turn that around.
Self-doubt plagues many of us. We don’t feel good enough, smart enough, talented enough, you-fill-in-the-blank enough, and of course, we don’t feel thin enough. These thoughts don’t serve us well and only keep us from enjoying our lives to the fullest. They keep us in a constant need of receiving approval from others.
To achieve our best selves, including a healthy, slender body that we can truly appreciate we must change our thinking, our behavior and the messages we tell ourselves. If we do not, then no matter what we look like we will not be happy with our body, even if we do achieve a healthy weight.
A healthy body starts with a healthy mind. This month practice supporting yourself rather than tearing yourself down. If you make a mistake, whether it is that you ate something you “shouldn’t” –boy is that a concept we deserve to get rid of, too—or said something unkind to yourself or others, you don’t fix it by berating yourself later. Accept responsibility for your misdeeds. Apologize to those you have hurt—including yourself! And work on how you can be better, one small step at a time.
Make these steps tiny, baby steps, rather than attempting huge leaps for mankind. Make promises you can absolutely keep. Make them so ridiculously easy that there is no way you cannot fail. Then keep it. And every time you keep a promise to yourself, celebrate it. Practice giving yourself praise for the good things you do.
This month, every day, make one tiny promise to yourself about your health that you will keep. Perhaps it is that you will drink one additional glass of water, or that you will take the stairs one time instead of the elevator, or that you will say a positive affirmation 10 times today.
Then at the end of the day, review your day and how you kept your promise about your health. It doesn’t matter if it was small—you moved yourself TOWARDS your goal today and that is HUGE! Congratulate yourself for keeping that promise and commit to making another simple promise tomorrow.
Now go to sleep with thoughts of your success in your mind.
