Earlier today I read some thing in one of my daily meditation books that spoke volumes to me. You see, I definitely need to give myself a break. I push myself too hard and do not take the time to celebrate my success’s. In the event that you too struggle with being hard on yourself and have a difficult time celebrating your success, I would encourage you to meditate on the below entry.
The entry comes from Melody Beattie’s book, Journey to the Heart – Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul — HarperSanFrancisco An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers Copyright © 1996 by Melody Beattie. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America — April 23rd’s entry on page 117. Melody’s book, Journey to the Heart – Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul provides daily meditations for each of the 365 days of the year. Her reflections help to remind me of things that I have forgotten when I get off-center.
In my experience, I have found that this too is an ongoing process for me.
Give Yourself a Break
Learn to appreciate yourself and others.
Knowing we desire growth and improvement is one thing. Constantly driving ourselves and others is another. Maybe the answer isn’t that we need to do better, try harder, push more. Maybe the answer is recognizing and appreciating how well we already do things. How hard we try. How much we have done. How well other’s are doing too.
Pushing ourselves can become so habitual that we deny ourselves any feelings of satisfaction. No matter how well or how much we do, the urge to try harder, do better, do more keeps us pushing us on. It doesn’t let us rest. We still feel it isn’t quite good enough.
If you’ve been pushing yourself that hard, you may need more than a coffee break. Take a break. Give yourself permission to put that drive aside. Quite the part of yourself that wants to do more, be more, accomplish more. Learn to value how well you do things, even if no one else sees or appreciates your efforts. Applaud your own efforts and the efforts of those you love. For today and for one week, instead of demanding more from yourself, tell yourself how well you’ve done. For today and for one week, instead of demanding more from those around you, tell them that they are doing well, too.
Tell yourself how well you do. You may discover you’re doing better than you thought.
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