Compassionate Self-Awareness

It’s akin to someone convincing you it’s night, when you are truly convinced that it is day. However hard they might try, you will never believe them. In fact, the further they push, the more defensive you might become.

Find the Roots

The next step would be to consider a different approach. Shift your focus to a place of understanding, in order to turn every rock, and gain a holistic view on where your self-criticism is stemming from.

Herein you are neither agreeing, nor disagreeing with the self-criticism, but merely trying to understand how you arrived at it in the first place.

Your Relationships

Start by thinking about your interactions with others. When are they most likely to open up to you? You would probably find that it is when you demonstrate your desire to understand them, while having an empathic attitude towards their experiences.

Being Good to Yourself

The same applies to your self-talk. When you approach yourself with self-criticism, your self-confidence and motivation shrink further away. It is only when you try to understand the way you think and have a compassionate outlook towards your experiences, that your real self opens up.

Compassionate self-awareness is helpful in both understanding your frustration with yourself, as well as where the self-criticism stems from.

That is because once you are honest and kind with yourself, you can admit to yourself some difficult truths, and start building a better life.

Dedicated, Lon-Term Work

As you already know, self-criticism may stem from childhood experiences or other life circumstances. However, whatever might have happened in your past, it is always important to keep in mind that you are an adult now – you are strong and capable enough to change your self-assessment.

However, the human mind, as well as its tendency to self-criticize, it a complicated machine. It’s functioning can indeed be changed, but only if you work towards building and keeping your motivation, as well as strive to be self-compassionate and caring.