So many people talk about intuition. You ask how to know something that would be a very important piece of information, and they answer, “You just know.” That’s an unhelpful answer. And it begs the question, “What is intuition, really?”
There are many ways to go about living life. Between all sorts of philosophies and lifestyles, it’s really hard to make a black and white assessment of what’s “good” and “bad” in terms of how to be, how to spend your time, and what to work toward. But one thing stands above all the rest, in my opinion. And it’s not what you do, but it’s if you do it on purpose.
It seems very difficult for me to get past the Thanksgiving holiday without writing something about it on this site, doesn’t it? And the funny part about this is that I didn’t really understand what was the meaning behind “thanks-giving” until just this year.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Thoughts that Bind! There are a lot of us pondering the concept of being thankful right now, whether it’s due to location or life situation or shared global experiences, it’s a poignant topic. And I’m one of them as well, for many reasons. So we’re going to talk about it it today, because recently I learned something new.
It’s getting to be that time where we start talking about “the holidays”. And you know what that means. Pretty soon, everyone’s going to be talking about New Year’s resolutions and “new year new me” and all sorts of things about bettering yourself. Things that this website seems to talk about all the time. You’d think that I’d be excited about it, but really, as usual, I’m kind of frustrated. Not that my personal feelings really matter much compared to the general consensus of how we perceive this time of year, but because I have this platform, I just thought I would talk about it.
There’s a concept that’s been on my mind recently, called closure. Although we all come into contact with the idea of closure from time to time in our lives, I can honestly say that I hadn’t really tried to work out what it meant to me until very recently. And as usual, it was one quick sentence that sparked this realization.
I’ll be honest, when people talk about double standards, they’re usually bad. In fact, pretty much always bad. It’s not fair for society to expect one thing of one person, but then when someone else fulfills the same ideals, criticize them for it. But I realized something the other day—double standards aren’t always bad.
We’ve talked about kindness before on this site. You can find that post here, if you’re interested. In it, I talked about how important kindness is, how much we really need it in this world, and how to go about living our lives in a kind way. But one thing was entirely left out of the equation. What about being kind…to yourself? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
I’ve written a lot about different topics over the years on this site. Most of them have transformed my life in one way or another, and that is why I share them. (And why I consider them worth sharing to begin with.) But there are some topics that I know in my heart that I want to address, but hold off on. I know I’m not an expert, on anything really. But if I’m going to write a post on a topic, it has to be something that I’ve at least made some headway on, and if it’s a technique, then it has to be something that I’ve seen help or work, at least on someone if not myself.
All this to say that I’ve been waiting on this idea of believing in yourself to become a post on The Thoughts that Bind. Until recently, I really hadn’t thought it over much, how I see it affecting myself and the people that I know in my daily life. And I had very few ideas as to how to combat having a lack of personal confidence. I’ve learned how to practice loving myself. How to challenge my initial self-hatred. But believing in myself? Well, that’s a whole new step. But due to some recent realizations, I’m breaking that silence about the topic now.
I want you to sit down for a moment. Now, take a deep breath and remember a time when you felt truly at peace, happy, or excited. You can even close your eyes if you want. Really get into the memory. What were you seeing? Feeling? What about who you were with? Was it hot outside? Try to work up a really vivid memory. And once you have open your eyes.