I think my kids find this hard to believe, but I was a little girl once.
And I was a dang treat.
I was a weirdo who wrote stories, who’d go on quests through the forest with imaginary comrades, who made dragon costumes out of toilet paper, adored Halloween and Christmas, monsters, mermaids, unicorns, dinosaurs, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Catwoman and the X-Men. And Gremlins. And I was totally going to be a paleontologist one day.
I look back on that little girl, and I just smile. You know? I smile at that cheerful, little weirdo.
Now, I was recently watching a video by psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula. She said to take a picture of yourself as a child, with your little baby face and bright, big eyes, and imagine dishing out your typical self-talk to that child.
My eyes popped open and I wanted to cry.
Because the thing is, you still are that child. Your limbs might be longer, you might be taller, thinner, wider, and have a lot of things to do, but you are still that little kid deep down. You really, truly are.
Look at a picture of yourself as a child. I want you—YOU—to know that this child, no matter how big they’ve gotten, deserves all the love the world was too cruel to give. And you need to be the one to give that love to yourself. Picture yourself as the little boy or girl in that photograph and shower them with love.
I’ve been practicing this change of thinking on myself, really accelerating my efforts these last few months. It really takes a lot of consistent effort to rewire your brain, but it can be done! And I’ve noticed a change… when my husband, children and others say something nice about me, I… I actually believe them sometimes. I actually, am starting to accept *love.*
Because the thing is, when we believe ourselves unworthy of love, we won’t allow ourselves to truly accept it from others.
I’ve also noticed that I’m more patient with my kids. More tolerant. A little less stressed. And all of this is continually improving as I continue to change the way I think and feel about myself.
Self-talk is a truly *powerful* thing. Change this, and you will have changed—and have begun to heal—your whole world.
Where Rose Writes Very True Stories 