When stressful days arise, it can be difficult to remember the positive things about your life, especially your SELF. It can be easy to slip right into a negative mode of operation and quite difficult to climb back out. One exercise that I find helpful is working on focusing on the positives.. Let's call it a:
DAILY SELF LOVE EXERCISE
This is something that can be done silently in reflection, as a journal entry, or aloud with family, friends, in the classroom, what have you.
Start by asking yourself -
*WHAT DO I WANT OUT OF TODAY---
*What 3-5 things am I grateful for?
*What are 3-5 things I love about myself? (try to avoid superficial compliments)
*What 2 things have I learned recently? Or- What do I want to learn?
*What are 2 feelings I can practice more often? How do I accomplish that?
*What favor can I do for myself?
Most importantly, *compliment yourself. Even if it is just once a day, say something nice about yourself.
The more you practice making positive statements, regardless of whom they are directed to, the easier it will become to make positive thinking more of a routine & habit rather than a therapeutic exercise that you try to make stick.
When you are thinking about these things, remember to stay in the present moment, and try to identify the feelings and thoughts you are experiencing and why. If this exercise is difficult to complete, it would be important to look for reasons why. It could be that discussing emotions is hard, maybe it is difficult to know exactly what a specific feeling FEELS like therefore hard to practice them, whatever it is, try to over come the barrier and move forward. Add to the list through out the day if you are stumped.
Activities like this are meant to be a challenge. I bet if the task was to list the positive qualities and traits about a person you admire, it would have seemed much easier. Looking into yourself takes work, and practice, and let's face it, sometimes we are less than thrilled with ourselves, and it takes some time to accept that there mayyyy be some things to work on.
Share your thoughts below, what are you working on this week?
*WHAT DO I WANT OUT OF TODAY---
*What 3-5 things am I grateful for?
*What are 3-5 things I love about myself? (try to avoid superficial compliments)
*What 2 things have I learned recently? Or- What do I want to learn?
*What are 2 feelings I can practice more often? How do I accomplish that?
*What favor can I do for myself?
Most importantly, *compliment yourself. Even if it is just once a day, say something nice about yourself.
The more you practice making positive statements, regardless of whom they are directed to, the easier it will become to make positive thinking more of a routine & habit rather than a therapeutic exercise that you try to make stick.
When you are thinking about these things, remember to stay in the present moment, and try to identify the feelings and thoughts you are experiencing and why. If this exercise is difficult to complete, it would be important to look for reasons why. It could be that discussing emotions is hard, maybe it is difficult to know exactly what a specific feeling FEELS like therefore hard to practice them, whatever it is, try to over come the barrier and move forward. Add to the list through out the day if you are stumped.
Activities like this are meant to be a challenge. I bet if the task was to list the positive qualities and traits about a person you admire, it would have seemed much easier. Looking into yourself takes work, and practice, and let's face it, sometimes we are less than thrilled with ourselves, and it takes some time to accept that there mayyyy be some things to work on.
Share your thoughts below, what are you working on this week?
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