Be Kind to Yourself

Have you ever wondered when the prophets and apostles tell us that we need to be a kinder and more gentle people that they may not only mean with others but also with ourselves? For the past month, I have not been kind or gentle with myself. A matter of fact I believe many people would tell me that I was being just the opposite – cruel and harsh. Kind words were not coming from my mouth when I looked at myself in the mirror. All I saw was someone who had gained so much weight back, someone who had failed at almost every calling in the church she had been given in the past few years, and someone who just didn’t mean much to herself any more. Kirk Duncan I believe would call those flaxen cords that are holding me back. I have been letting my mind become dark as to who I really am. I have been letting those flaxen cords not only hold me back but tangle up around my feet so I have been falling flat on my face so it seems. I have not been able to see myself the way that the Lord sees me or even the way others see me. However, I have a feeling that I am not the only one that does this to themselves. Too many of us allow Satan, the devil, to put dark thoughts about ourselves into our minds. Every time that I berate myself over my weight, my lack of energy, and my inability to even keep my kitchen clean for only one; I can hear Satan say in my ear – “see you are a failure as a person, as a daughter, and as a friend”. This week, I have been trying to shutdown that negative voice and I have been trying to hear the call from my Father in Heaven that tells me that I am His daughter and that He loves me. I saw a post in Facebook that said “Do you realize how deeply the Lord loves and cherishes you?” or if He was saying those words directly to me; “Do I realize how deeply the Lord loves and cherishes me?” Well, do I??

Quite a question to confront one’s self with, don’t you think? Our Prophet has told us that the Lord loves us, the scriptures tell us that He loves us, even Priesthood blessings we receive can tell us that He loves us, and He has even told us that himself. How many times do we have to be told that our Father in Heaven loves us in order for us to start believing that statement is true? For some of us it seems that it will take a millennia for us to believe it. What can I do to move from just hearing it to internalizing it and believing HIM.

First and foremost, the answer is to shutdown those flaxen cords or those negative words that are overwhelming at times. Kirk Duncan says that you need to write them down and then write down a positive statement to counterattack those negative flaxen cords. Once you have done this and you can see what you are doing, you take those negative list and tear them up, burn them but you have to get rid of them. Then you have to teach your brain to accept those positive accolades from people who love you and look at ideas given to strengthen you as exactly that – ideas that will help your life improve at work as well as at home. You have to let your brain see those accolades and those positive experiences so that it can get rid of the negative ideas that have been part of your life. Is this an easy exercise? I don’t know but today I am beginning to get rid of those flaxen cords – how about you?