27 jULY 2020 — TRUSTING OURSELVES

Are we quietly confident? Are we happy to say and do what we think? Are we able to take others’ criticism on board whilst happily examining ourselves to see if it maybe truly helpful? If we are able to shrug our shoulders and do this without sending our rational minds reacting as though they have been caught in a whirlwind, then we are most certainly in a good space and able to trust ourselves.

If the criticism upsets us then it is helpful to consider the person who has made the comment with compassion and understanding as it is reasonable to assume that it says more about their state of mind and lack of inner peace than it does about ourselves.

However, should criticism from people who know us, or rudeness from shop assistants or people we meet in the course of the day upset us, then it is helpful to consider that their problem with us is simply their problem with themselves which they are off loading or projecting on to us. And if we refuse to let ourselves get upset then we are able to have compassion for them as well as for ourselves.

It helps also to consider our belief system. Do we believe ourselves to be SPECIAL? IMPORTANT? ALWAYS RIGHT?

OR perhaps the opposite scenario is true. Deep down we feel that we are totally unimportant and are constantly fighting mentally to establish a sense of importance. Many of us subconsciously categorise our friends and acquaintances into people who are: ‘Greater than us, lesser than us, equal to us’. I would suggest that should we find ourselves doing this we simply need to take a deep breath and a moment to consider why we are so lacking in compassion for ourselves and others and so low in self worth that we need to do this calculation.

It is hard sometimes to see the good in people such as someone in authority over us who treats us badly or neighbours who disturb our peace etc etc but if we can stay calm emotionally within ourselves and not get angry, our calmness is likely to affect them positively and the fact that they fail to get a rise out of us may cause them to give up baiting us.

So, back to where we started: ‘Trusting Ourselves’ to be who we truly are aware of the fact that our thoughts, words and deeds create our reality and if we are aware of NOT TRUSTING OURSELVES, and NOT FEELING GOOD ABOUT OURSELVES without having to rationally DEFEND our actions then we need to consider WHY THIS IS SO.