When you’re feeling down, try to examine your thoughts. If they’re negative or critical, challenge them. Once you get into the habit of disputing negative self-talk you’ll find it easier to handle difficult situations, and as a result you’ll feel less stressed and more confident and in control.
Sometimes you might confuse your thoughts or feelings with reality, or assume that your perceptions are correct. Ask yourself: Am I thinking this way just because I’m feeling bad right now? Just because I’m feeling this way, does that mean my perceptions are correct?
The phrase “Hurt people hurt people” means that people who are hurting lash out at others, causing them pain, whether intentionally or not. You can choose to take in that anger and lash out in return, or you can choose to rise above and react to that person with compassion and understanding.
“Those who hurt us are usually hurting themselves, and their pain may be so strong that they are not even aware they are hurting us.” – Joyce Meyers
When we acknowledge our weaknesses, there’s often an implied sense of judgment, as if we should never make any mistakes. The alternative is to accept that everyone makes mistakes and then focus on what we can do differently going forward.
Instead of letting past disappointments paralyse your actions, choose a moment of strength and empowerment to motivate you to do something now.
At any moment you can let go of the weight of who you used to be and allow yourself a better chance of becoming who you want to be.
When we feel like reacting negatively to someone, they are helping to bring out what we haven’t healed in ourselves. How can there be blame and anger towards those that bring up our shadows? Instead, we could replace our resentment with compassion for ourselves and those who hurt us.
We all have invisible wounds and we’ll do anything to avoid them being touched. If someone else accidentally touches our wounds, we act as if they caused them. But, they didn’t cause them, and they cannot heal them. They are our wounds and we have the power to heal them.
It takes strength and courage to take a step back and remind ourselves: Other people’s reactions are not about us, they are about them.