IN A WORLD WHERE YOU CAN BE ANYTHING...

There is a lot of talk these days about being kind to others, and rightly so.

We really need a bit of kindness in the world right now.

Many of us are struggling to fight our way through these strange times and come out the other side emotionally intact.

However, all too often we put our focus on displaying kindness to others and completely forget to extend ourselves the same courtesy.

Negative comments and an unkind attitude towards us can do a huge amount of damage to our self esteem, but for all the people who have criticised you in the past, the person who has treated you the worst is very probably you.

Nobody talks to you the way that you talk to ourself.

It’s a very simple truth that if we all woke up tomorrow morning unable to beat ourselves up or give ourselves any harsh criticism then people like me would be out of a job.

Yes, the negative self image may have started with the way you were treated by others, but it was then you that took that opinion as true and began to repeat it to yourself over and over.

Do yourself a favour today.

Decide to only talk to yourself with words of encouragement and positivity.

Decide to focus your attention on all those simple things you do right every single day. You know... the stuff you have taken for granted and long since stopped noticing.

And when you do something wrong (because we will all do that today) take a conscious decision to skip the part where you beat yourself up and go straight to the part where you learn something and move forward more knowledgeable and more resourceful.

This tiny upgrade in your thinking applied consistently and repeatedly might make a bigger change in the way you feel than you might expect.

You only have one mind for the rest of your life.

Treat it with kindness.