Hello dear friend,
Pasha Lindy here again.
How are you?
Today I'll be talking about how we can expand on self-care by practicing feeling good about ourselves.
When you feel lovable,
Beautiful or strong,
How do you feel?
Do you feel warm or centered or relaxed?
Many people say things like that.
So how do we cultivate this?
Well,
It really starts by learning how to be happy.
Now we all deserve to find true and lasting happiness in our lifetime.
But the question is,
And this is one we're all asking,
Right?
Where and what is true happiness?
If happiness is outside of ourselves,
In material things like money,
Or in partnerships,
Or in popularity,
Then when we don't have those things,
Our self-esteem plummets.
The secret is that true happiness actually comes from within.
From the love,
Joy,
Strength and wisdom that's naturally present in our hearts.
Meaning we can actually cultivate happiness by ourselves without needing expensive clothes,
Designer labels,
Excess money,
The perfect image,
Somebody else's approval.
And tapping into these good qualities that are intrinsically ours,
We literally glow with happiness,
Which allows our true strength to shine.
And when this happens,
This just transforms our doubts and fears naturally,
Because the body relaxes,
The heart rests,
The mind settles and is full of warm thoughts.
And of course,
There are challenges to this.
Myself,
For instance,
I have ongoing work with wanting approval from others.
I feel good when I'm liked and less happy when I'm not.
But as I recognize this habit arising in me more and more,
And give myself compassion for the fact that it even arises,
This softens the tendency for me to,
People please,
Seems to lessen my craving for approval from others and I can just recognize,
Oh,
There you are,
People pleasing habit.
It's okay.
Yeah,
I see you.
I see you arising.
You know,
You're not alone in feeling that.
I send you a lot of care.
And in that way,
I'm receiving kind attention from myself.
So I don't necessarily need so much from others.
Here's an inspiring story about a young girl in Australia who wanted to send kindness to those in need.
Her and her father made a bright yellow post box and it was given a special place in her school.
And the children were encouraged to write little messages of hope.
And they called this project Sunshine Letters.
This is a true story.
You can look up Sunshine Letters on Instagram.
Most people started their letter with the words dear friend and then included a few words about what makes them happy.
Others drew a picture like Eilish's friend Ale who lives in Italy,
And he drew a picture of a big whale in a deep dark ocean lifting up a little boat.
Ale described the boat as being all alone in the big ocean,
But the whale,
Which symbolized for him community had come along to lift up the boat and carrying along the person in the boat who was in need.
These sunshine letters are taken to the soup bus,
Which is a food station for the homeless.
And when folk come to collect their soup,
They're also offered a sunshine letter.
And people have been known to cry when they open their letter because they're so touched.
What I love about this story is that these beautiful,
Generous acts of compassion from children remind us that the soul and the heart need food too.
We don't just need food and shelter.
We need love.
We need hope.
We need connection.
And yes,
Sunshine letters shows us quite clearly we can give this to others.
But we can also give it to ourselves.
In the ancient kindness teachings,
You're always encouraged to fill your own cup of kindness before you let others drink from that cup.
And one approach is to remember sunshine moments.
What have you done recently that filled you up?
Was it an act of kindness that you performed?
Or that you witnessed?
Or maybe something kind you did for yourself?
Or something you just loved or enjoyed?
So recollecting anything that gave you a sunshine moment.
And taking a moment now to recall that moment.
Letting yourself absorb the warmth and the goodness,
Just like we soak in rays of sunshine.
I don't know about you,
But when I do this,
A big smile spreads across my face.
So during the rest of the day today,
You're invited to pause from time to time and take in a sunshine moment.
Something simple,
You know,
Like a smile from a colleague.
That first warm sip of coffee.
And as a longer journaling exercise,
You could take 10 minutes to write a sunshine letter to yourself or someone else.
Just like those inspiring children did.
I'd also like to recommend a full length meditation called sunshine that we can use to help us feel warm and radiant and connect with our inner sunshine before we begin our day.
Or to help us get a good night's sleep.
Or to boost our sense of confidence and self-kindness.
And you'll find that on my channel too.
Well,
Go well dear friend.
See you next time.
Bye bye for now.
