Being kind to yourself is not always easy. We tend to tell ourself so many negative things like we have a trol inside us, and we are the troll. Are you being cruel to yourself? I know I have been awful to myself in the past. I recently took about 3 months off during a bought of severe depression and realized I was treating myself just like my abusers did. I added their awful hurtful untrue things that they said to me to my own internal dialogue. I believed it too!
I realize now that those mean things I kept repeating to myself was not true and not how I see myself when I really took a hard look at who I was and what I stood for. Those introjections are not me and I don’t have to accept them or repeat them. I can discard them if I wish, I just need to get out of the habit of repeating it and accepting. This sounds easier than it really is. First I had to listen, really listen to myself and hear what what was being said to myself in any given situation or when I was just sitting quietly. Then I had to question those hurtful things I was repeating to myself. I then asked myself if what was being said was true or not. I have to repeat this many many times and I still do it today.
This greatly helped me and sometime I give myself pep-talks like the one in the video above. Sometimes I need to hear(even from my own self) that I’m doing ok. The video and the process above may aid in feeling some compassion for oneself. It has certainly been a powerful tool for me.
Abuse Survivor Blog 