As we begin to come out of lockdown from this pandemic, and our emotional upheaval is subsiding, we may be having thoughts of guilt and shame in our inner monologue that say things like, How did I put on X pounds? I should have been more productive. I look disgraceful!
While we may feel better now, we have to remind ourselves of everything that we just went through; the thick darkness of being buried in emotional distress, the paralyzing uncertainty, and the suffocating isolation.
And without having the supportive outlets that we would normally rely on meant we had to scramble to suddenly create new coping skills with very limited options.
We may begin to feel embarrassed about what we resorted to when we see how others faired. Yet just like in the yoga studio, no one’s capabilities in developing survival tactics are the same and we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others or have an expectation that what worked for them would have been effective for us as well.
There’s been enough conflict in our everyday lives for months now. Scolding ourselves in any form is inflicting an unnecessary punishment.
We may not remember every choice we made to try to soothe our nerves at the height of our anxiety but we owe it to ourselves to see that in coming out the other side of intense and extensive states of stress means we are now in our own, individual, recovery phase.
It’s a necessary part of rehabilitation to practice loving kindness and give ourselves time and patience to heal and get our strength back as we still face quite a bit of uncertainty.
Only we have the power to free ourselves and shift our thinking towards forgiveness and compassion for getting through these unprecedented circumstances.
Louise Hay offers some better alternatives for positive affirmations here. These are some of my favorites:
“I am in the process of positive change.”
“I forgive myself for not being perfect.”
“I welcome miracles into my life.”
“Filling my mind with pleasant thoughts is the quickest road to health.”
evolvingyogi.com 