We all know that familiarity breeds… well not always contempt but a kind of boredom in relationships, be those relationships with friends, family, work colleagues or a lover. After a while we stop seeing each other accurately (does that guy have a beard or glasses? Ummmm, not sure any more) and that often includes seeing each other’s personality as it really is.
However before we move on to look at how we see others and how they see us, let’s start with the man in the mirror. When was the last time you took notice of yourself? When was the last time you checked in with how, and who, you really are?
Here’s a little exercise for you: if you were looking at yourself through the eyes of somebody who loves you, what would you appreciate? What would you think were your most attractive characteristics? Your greatest strengths? What makes you a great friend, family member, work colleague or romantic partner?
Focussing on our strengths is fantastic for our self-esteem, which is fragile at the best of times for so many people: especially as most of us are our own worst critics. Thinking about the best aspects of our personalities also puts us into a resourceful mindset which enables us to play to our strengths: to think our way out of problems and around challenges by using the skills that we already have, and therefore to move into a better space and happier times.
So give yourself some space to think by logging into Soul Nutrition. Go into the SHIFT section and start adding some of those things that you appreciate about yourself into your Strengths cloud – you can go back and edit them at any time. Play around with the words, making them larger or smaller depending upon how important that strength is to you. Each time you log back into the Soul Nutrition site, your dashboard will remind you at random of one of those Strengths… and if your inner talk ever tells you how rubbish you are, step away from that voice, give it a reassuring hug and remind it of one of those words from your Strengths cloud so that it gets used to the idea of telling you something positive instead!
None of us is perfect, we would be strange and rather scary aliens from outer space rather than human if we were, but we sure as heck have lots of good points and the more we focus on them, the more the people around us are likely to notice them too. That would be rather Lovely for all of us, wouldn’t it?