Y'know, life has a funny way of happening, just when you weren't looking. Take today, for example. I was all excited about sending out my new year newsletter and doing 101 other things that had been ignored over the Christmas holiday and just as I sat down at my computer this morning around 9am - we had a power cut.
The power was restored at 2ish this afternoon and since then I have been playing 'catch up'. Hey ho - that's life just happening. Keeping us on our toes in case we were taking it for granted.
To balance things up a bit, I had the lovely experience, that happens now and then, when a person I don't know and have never met says something really nice about me on the internet. This afternoon we had a google alert that an article mentioning my site had been uploaded onto the internet and immediately someone else twittered that my relaxation cd was 'awesome', this prompted another nice person to visit the site and listen to a clip of said CD. He then twittered that my voice was amazing. Isn't that wonderful - I'm collecting all these great things said and using them as testimonials on my sites. It is another way to celebrate the work I do.
We can all collect nice things that others say about us. Even if they're not written but reside in the deep recesses of our minds ready to be revisited when we need uplifting from a grotty day or a dip in self confidence.
I read somewhere this week that it takes ten compliments to wipe out one critisism. It works in reverse as well - for every ten nice things we hear, just one negative comment will wipe them all out. I'm going to spend the rest of the week listening out for compliments. I'm going to really concentrate on listening for them and when I find one, I'm going to wrap it up in pink tissue paper, tie it with a pretty ribbon and put it away safely in the back of my mind for those rainy afternoons when self pity hits and I need a little treat to pick me up.
Monday, 5 January 2009
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2 comments:
When I was recovering from depression I found a fantastic array of personal self development courses run for free and with free good quality childcare thrown in too by a charity in Hastings. I really enjoyed working my way through the courses at a time when I hated Hastings as a town (we had moved there only a short while earlier) and felt that I would never fit in. On one course we had to write one nice thing we could think of for each of the other people on the course on a post-it and stick it on the person for them to read out to the class. I found writing things about others really easy as they were all a lovely (and mixed!!) bunch, but couldn't believe they would be able to find anything nice to say about me.... but they all did and when I read the comments they made me cry and I really had a job believing them at the time. One comment said 'beautiful both inside and out.' which felt like a barefaced lie as I think of myself as most unnattractive both inside and especially outside, but why would someone write that if they didn't think it was true? I trusted these people and had been on quite a long journey with a lot of them. It made me realise that what I see or think might not always be the way others see things or think. I still have those little, yellow notes of love and kindness and I often still (5years on!) get them out to have a look especially when I am very low and down in the dumps. They make me realise that the way I often see myself is not everyone elses reality of me.
Oh Indie
Thank you for sharing this. Those little post it notes are precious treasure. Read them often - not just when you are down in the dumps.
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