Friday, June 3, 2011

Question of the Day #949

My friend, K, posted this quote on Facebook yesterday, "I praise myself for big and little things. I am a wonderful being. I used to scold and criticize myself because I believed it would help me improve my life, yet criticism has not improved me over the years." - Louise L. Hay

I'll admit, I sometimes call myself names. Or I catch myself creating negative inner dialogue. Asking myself how I could have been so stupid or punishing myself by thinking over and over what I should have done.

When I catch myself, I stop. I know negative inner dialogue does nothing but reinforce negative beliefs and behaviors.

But the idea of praising myself, well, this is new. And I think I like it! Maybe I'll close out a day's work by saying, "Suzanne, that training you worked on today is great. You are AWESOME!" Why not, when I look in the mirror, think, "Wow! I look good!" instead of something negative like my hair looks too frizzy or my butt looks big in those jeans? Or what about giving myself props when I do something nice for someone else? How about telling myself, "That was a nice thing to do. Good job!"

I'm going to try it. Who wants to join me in praising yourself?

xoxo,
Suzanne

9 comments:

  1. A few days ago, my husband sent me a text message from work, thanking me for everything I do for him. I actually said to myself "Yeah, I take good care of him". That's when I feel like I'm doing something important.

    Can I praise you now? You come up with interesting questions here every day. Good Job!

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  2. I'm in! I've been doing something similar for years, though. Have you ever seen the movie Constantine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360486/)? For the past few years I've been looking at life like Keanu Reeves character. I did enough crap growing up that I feel like I've got to pay it back to have any chance at salvation. So whenever I do something good or something that I'm proud of, I say to myself, "Ding! That's one more."

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  3. I'll try but I'm really bad at it!! Thanks for the reminder to be kinder! ;-)

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  4. Are you kidding me - HELL NO - self praise???? what????? Suz, we need to talk about this one....I am very nervous

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  5. You are a great cook and writer! Thats praise for you. Not me......

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  6. Most of the time I have a lot of fun in my head. Nice job brain!

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  7. You're talking old dog new tricks. The Bitch has been talking trash to me so long we're old friends. Hmmm. Praise? I'll have to start at pre-K and work up.

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  8. I'll join the praise game. I guess now that I think about it, I don't often actually engage in that positive self-talk. My mental dialogue responds to my inner critic by helping convince myself I'm not "that bad," and I think of that as being positive. Our minds are crazy.

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  9. I have no problem with a little positive self-talk, and do it frequently. I also think it's an important thing to model for my daughters. Today I'm proud of myself for running the 48 Hour Book Challenge again. So, there you have it.

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