“Never pass up the opportunity to laugh with yourself, to delight in your own presence here, to welcome yourself home.”
-Ash Parsons
I loved what Ash Parsons had to say about ‘self-friendship’. In other words, treating yourself as you would a most beloved friend.
She said, “The more I laugh with myself…care for her, give her time for rest and creativity, listen to her, tell her she’s beautiful, make her cups of tea and buy her Chapstick, the more alive I become. I’m getting my sense of humor back about myself, and the kindness I’m cultivating in *here* is spreading to others out there. It’s changing me and bringing me home to the faith I had as a child. That God is actually crazy about me and will use everything under the sun, even my own self, to show me.”
Be gentle and friendly with yourself today, y’all…and let that spread out to others along the way. 🙂
Layla
I recently realized I’ve been saying negative things to myself for a long time. Things I would never even think about another person, much less say to them. My bff, Brenda, is the most loving, accepting, non-judgmental person I know. So when I catch myself thinking negative thoughts about myself, I stop and ask, “what would Brenda say to me?”. It’s amazing how much this helps lift me out of that negative self-talk!
A sweet thought and true. Most of us would never treat a friend as harshly as we treat ourselves.
I read today that we become better, stronger, braver not because we transform ourselves but because we realize and understand what we really are. Because we are created in God’s image. What better way to friend ourselves than by believing in ourselves like our creator believes in us. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for this post. It was just what I needed to read! I have recently finished my breast cancer journey (started last year) with surgery last week Friday. I chose to not have reconstructive surgery after a struggle with initially beginning reconstructive surgery. I have never not once questioned my decision once I made it. It was a true struggle to get to that decision. Now I feel like I am finally able to be like myself for who I am and am on the road to loving who I am and what I am about. Great post.
So powerful. Thank you.