are you kind to yourself?

[Guest Lyn77]

I just wondered if this is a common thing. I am so very harsh on myself. Get very frustrated and angry with myself. I would go as far as saying i pretty much hate myself.

Since starting mindfulness I am slowly but surely learning to be kind and compassionate towards myself. I know it will take time but it makes sense.

I really want to learn to love myself - flaws and all

No-one is perfect.

I have been thinking - how would i treat one of my children if they told me they felt this way.

I would hug them and kiss them and show them more love than anything. I would tell them everything would be ok and that i would protect them always and i really would do everything in my power to help them to be happy. - I want to be able to do this for myself to...after all im worth it! xxxxxx

[gingerbreadgirl]

You definitely are worth it Being kind to yourself is so important. It's something that I hugely struggle with (I think more than anything else) and I think it is very common with OCD sufferers, and people with mental health problems in general.

I think your last sentence about what you would say to your children sums up exactly what we should say to ourselves xx

[jballan]

Interesting that you posted this. My psychiatrist is always telling me to be nice to myself. She asks how I would treat a child if I had one. She claims that I become way more nurturing when I think in this prospective, it seems you are the same. You are not alone. This is one of my biggest faults. I am extremely harsh on myself. Things that are okay for others, are not okay if I do them. In college I would tell my comfort my friends if they got a bad test score. I always told them they could still get an A in the course. I could never do the same thing for myself. Being nice to yourself is very hard when your entire life has been spent being harsh and judgmental. I think it takes time to change, but it's possible.

[Guest Stressedout]

I'm so harsh to myself in every single area of my life soo cruel to myself xx

[Guest heartplace]

I'm still harsh to myself...the problem is that I feel so convinced that I want these bad things that I think of, everything feels so real sometimes, that I end up chastising myself a lot. I know how I would feel toward someone who is going through the same thing I am, but it just feels so different when it's ME with the problem.

[jballan]

I hear you heartplace. It's like we have a superhuman expectation.