Self-compassion is more important than serving others

This is a summary of my latest video.  If you’d rather watch that, you can do it here.

You’ve heard me say self-care isn’t selfish.  And, you’ve heard me say that we serve others out of our overflow.  Do you agree that we need to care for ourselves first?  If so, do you give yourself the same compassion you give others?  If you don’t, why not?

I was raised -- and I’m sure a lot of you were raised -- that serving others is one of the greatest responsibilities we have in life, and I agree.  We are all in this together, and if we can serve others, we will get a LOT out of it.  So, no, I’m not saying we shouldn’t serve others.  However, I want you to seriously think about that compassion that leads you to serve other beings.  Don’t YOU deserve the same level of compassion?  So many of us have a super loud inner critic.  I know for me it’s a daily challenge to be kind to myself.  I tend to hold myself to a higher standard than I hold other people to.  How about you?  Why do we do that?

There is no one who deserves more compassion than you!  Quit being so hard on yourself.  You are a beautiful, amazing, unique being who is exactly who, how, and when you are supposed to be.  Be kind to yourself.  If this is a new concept for you, it does take practice.  Simply start paying attention to how you talk to yourself internally.  Do you say “I love you”?  Do you thank your body for keeping on every day?  Do you celebrate how well you handled that challenging situation this morning?  Or, do you spend the entire internal conversation going over a list of complaints and things that you could do better?

Next time your inner critic starts berating you for some imaginary list of things you need to fix, say out loud “I do not need to fix anything.  I love me.”  Think about what a different world we would live in, if everyone did this.  Like the saying goes, be the change you want in the world.  It will make all the difference for you AND those others who you will serve.