“Give yourself a break. Embrace and accept yourself for who YOU are. Love yourself and be kind to yourself. See the best in yourself! Be brave and have courage to be comfortable in your own skin. Knowing your self-worth is everything.”
― Stephanie Lahart
Sometimes we forget that we are human, and the result is that we judge ourselves harshly. We place each other in a box with a label that, unfortunately, most times sticks. How many times as children does this happen to us? We grow up hearing—you goin be just like your daddy, or something similar, and then we wonder why we are the way we are. Growing up and hearing the negative verbiage causes us to develop self-imposed limitations which show up in how we think and how we behave and, it is for this very reason why we must not judge each other harshly. Likewise, we must not be hard on ourselves, instead, let us treat ourselves and others with empathy and compassion, knowing that the way we think or act may not be entirely ours but are the result of someone else’s thoughts and sayings to us, which can become our thoughts over time. We have to remember we are humans with human tendencies that are less than ideal.
Thank goodness we have a Father who understands us and our human tendencies, and despite our failures, our poor choices while we ignore Him, He looks beyond them and still chooses us. He gives us a new way to see life. Wisdom to choose the right in life. The choice to be merciful to others because He is our example.
Reminds me of the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor, a story I read in the bible of the man who asked his master to forgive his debt, and yet he could not forgive the debt owed to him by others. (read Matthew 18:21-35)
We have to do onto others as we would like done to us. We must strive to be like Christ and look beyond each other’s shortcomings as well as our own. I am tough on myself, and I am my worst critic, and again, not in a positive way, but now I am changing all of that. I am learning to accept myself, understanding that I am perfect in my imperfections and perfect for wherever life finds me. I also understand and accept that I will never please everyone, and likewise, others will not always please me and that my sister is absolutely okay. I am learning not to be hard on myself.
We all need to appreciate the good in ourselves and others. We should celebrate the good so that it overshadows the bad, and life will become better not only for us but for everyone. Stop being hard on yourself, stop being hard on others, and instead, love, respect, and appreciate—look beyond the here and now. We are all in the same boat and on the same adventure/journey. If we learn to love, respect, and appreciate ourselves and others, our journey becomes a more exquisite, richer, and grander experience that makes our time here on earth so much more worth it.
Stop being hard on yourself and others. Love, respect, and appreciate!
