Go gently, be kind to yourself, be kind to your body

Go gently,

Be kind to yourself,

Be kind to your body.

I was recently reading through some old newsletters to see what I'd written about in previous years, and I came across this little message that I wrote a few years ago - "Go gently, be kind to yourself, be kind to your body". At the time, it was a message I'd heard about 3 times within a few days and figured that it was the Universe sending me a message. So I suppose coming across it again was the Universe reminding me of said message. It made me stop what I was doing (admittedly multitasking with my diary open to my right trying to schedule an appointment, my mobile phone to my left with a message I needed to reply to, the home phone next to that after a phone call I'd just made, and exactly 11 different tabs open on my laptop in front of me). At first, I thought it seemed a little ironic that I'd ask you to go gently and be kind with yourself while I was sitting here trying to multitask what felt like 50 different things and not practising gentleness or kindness with myself. But then I realised, the reason I wrote those words in that newsletter back in 2015 was because I needed to hear it myself just as much as I wanted you to hear it. You see, I think that we can all be very good at giving advice to our loved ones, but we're not so good at taking that advice and applying it to ourselves. How often do you tell a friend to speak kindly to herself and stop berating herself for the parts of her body that she doesn't love? How often do you tell your child that they've done a magnificent job and that you're so proud of them regardless of whether they came first or last in a sports race? How often to you tell your partner that they're worthy of some time to rest and recuperate? And then how often do you speak these words to yourself...or is it more a case of "my bum's too big, my arms are too flabby" / "I should've done better" / "I can't stop or I won't be successful"? It's strange when you think about it, isn't it? If we so easily say it to our loved ones (and genuinely mean it too), then why is it so hard to say it to ourselves? I'm not sure of the answer. It's probably complex and different for all of us. Perhaps we should all get a little more curious though. But for now, I'd love us all to do one thing - take on the advice that we give to others and apply it to ourselves. It may take a conscious effort and it may feel a little uncomfortable...but we are ALL worth it (myself...and YOURSELF included!).