Make Self-Compassion a 2019 Year Resolution

I imagine you are reading a plethora of articles on tips and tricks of new year resolutions:

• what you should include
• how to make them stick
• what not to do
• why you need them
• blah blah blah and blah

Sensing the expectations? Starting to feel the anxiety of needing to tick that new year resolution off the list just to be able to say we have one? In addition to expectations we feel externally, what expectations do we also put on ourselves:

• business: get more clients, sell more work, make more money
• reputation and brand: write that book, get some speaking gigs, get into video messaging, develop a new offering
• personal relationships: spend more time with the family, friends
• community: volunteer, give back to the community, join another association/group
• health and wellbeing: do more exercise, lose some weight, eat more healthily, meditate, pursue happiness, practise gratitude and mindfulness
• doing: collaborate, innovate, contribute, network, learn
• and more, I'm sure.

Don't let the weight of expectations - others and your own - enslave you. Liberate yourself by just giving yourself the valuable gift of self-compassion. Nothing more, nothing less.

“If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.” ~Dalai Lama~

So how about it? How about taking a pause during this new year period to start showing yourself some self-compassion?

• Do celebrate all your successes however small in your own eyes.
• Give yourself a break. Look for the gift in each situation.
• Allow yourself to enjoy the present moment.
• Re-tell the story in your head in a fun way.

How else might you suggest we can practice self-compassion in 2019 - starting now?

Share your ideas and thoughts in the comments to this article so we can learn together to play with self-compassion and liberate ourselves from the tug of self judgement, our active inner critic, or our excessive expectations of ourselves and of others.

You may also find some inspiration in these two articles I have curated for your enjoyment.

Give yourself a break: The power of self-compassion

Finding the friend within: The science and art of self compassion

Wishing you a beautiful year in 2019 starting and continuing with giving yourself the gift of self-compassion so you can enjoy what comes.

Grace Thomas, PCC, partners with senior executive leaders and leadership teams to explore deeply, experiment with something new, extend what works, embed new mindsets and habits to succeed at what matters most to them, and empower people around them (in their work, their life and their world) to flourish. She does this as an executive leadership coach and a personal brand master strategist, all with 'heat and heart'.

#heatandheart #professionalcoaching #coachingexcellence #executiveleadershipcoaching #selfcompassion