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Be Kind to Yourself

11

Your inner voice. Your interior monologue. Talking to oneself. Whatever you want to call it, the internal chatter we all have going on in our minds is both perfectly normal and hugely important. It can be your biggest supporter or biggest critic and when you think about it, it’s one of the most important relationships we will ever have. However, many of us can have an unhealthy relationship with our inner voice and at times the environment can become toxic and hard to escape.

We often talk about how we need to ‘be kind’ to others and yet often we don’t extend the same courtesy to ourselves. So how do you go about healing your connection to your inner voice, what exactly is it and why is it so important?

What is Your Inner Voice ?

Simply put, our inner voice is us thinking; it’s our brains working cognitively, it’s our feelings, our thoughts, our plans, our worries, our excitement. It’s everything we are doing now, have done and will do. It’s not always a voice, and sometimes it is. It’s us processing the world on a daily basis. It’s always with us and as such it can be both a critic and a supporter and often, we could do with working on ways to quieten that voice and at times make it kinder.

Why is it Important?

According to studies, we talk to ourselves at a rate of 4,000 per minute, so it’s no wonder that many of us can find it overwhelming when that voice turns critical. Our inner voice is all about communication with ourselves and the better we get at it, the more efficiently we function and the better we will feel within ourselves. It can be hard to get anything done when you find your inner voice second guessing or being over critical of yourself at every turn. Simply put, when we are too hard on ourselves, we fail to thrive.

Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Your Inner Voice

  1. Journaling- Using a daily guided journal like ours at mojo&co has been shown to improve your mental health, communication skills and sense of wellbeing. Practising writing down those things that are on your mind on a regular basis, can help you to gain much needed perspective and help you to move on, rather than keep dwelling on something.
  2. Gratitude – Practicing gratitude, stopping and seeing the positives about yourself, appreciating the things you like about yourself & those things you achieve on a daily basis is another crucial way to begin changing the way in which you see yourself and in turn the way in which your inner voice frames your day.
  3. Be Kind– Simply being kinder to oneself can be lifechanging. Often, we are hardwired to be tough on ourselves, to criticise, to tell ourselves we are not trying hard enough, to see self-praise as a negative. Imposter syndrome is very real. We tell ourselves we didn’t do a good job, we self-sabotage our own success or dwell on the negatives. I think we’ve all had the experiences of being awake at night, our minds running over every mistake or ‘bad thing’ we’ve ever done instead of letting ourselves rest. However, we’ve got to get away from this myth that we need to be all self-depreciating, all the time. Instead, we need to shift our mindset to be kinder, positive and crucially be our own biggest supporter, talk to yourself like you would talk to someone you love is a great rule to go by. There is nothing wrong in doing so, in fact, it’s a hugely positive step.
  4. Mindfulness – Practicing mindfulness, being in the present and learning when to quieten your inner voice and when to amplify it are all important techniques in repairing our relationship with ourselves.  Try to become aware of when your mind is slipping away to negative self talk, once you catch it bring your mind to a more positive space by changing your thought. These things can take time to master, but don’t lose heart. Take it slowly and realise that these things take time to manifest results. Set aside regular time to practise these techniques and keep at it.

If you’d like to know more about our collection of beautiful, guided journals and letter writing sets, then why not head over to our online store www.mojoandco.ie or feel free to contact us info@mojoandco.ie.

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